Francisco Coll
Piano Concertino
Pic:Marco Borggreve
Francisco Coll’s Piano Concertino No seré yo quien diga nada (‘I’m not saying nothing’) received its UK premiere in June at Symphony Hall, Birmingham before travelling to the Aldeburgh Festival. Performed by Nicolas Hodges and the CBSO under Thomas Adès, this four-movement work, with its idiosyncratic instrumentation (a bottom-heavy ensemble of lower strings, wind, brass and percussion), flinty harmonies and taut rhythmic profile made a strong and lasting impression on audiences.
For these UK performances, Coll added a substantial cadenza to showcase Hodges’ formidable musicality even further. Drawing on material from elsewhere in the work, it provides a dynamic bridge between the icy third movement – Interlude – and the frenzied acrobatics of the final Postlude.
PRESS COMMENTS:
‘An elegant, feisty showpiece, full of vividly imagined ideas and quicksilver changes of direction and mood, through which the soloist cavorts like a high-wire artist, over an orchestra… which comments on and supports its act.’
The Guardian (Andrew Clements), 12 June 2014
‘The score dances in the stratosphere, tugged back to earth by contrabassoons, contrabass clarinet and sax. In four almost continuous movements, the work is gloriously yet anarchically pianistic.’
The Times (Hilary Finch), 23 June 2014
‘…a hectically sustained dance, the piano’s incessant chirruping woven into the percussion and piccolos in ever-changing patterns, with only tiny pauses to catch its breath.’
The Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 22 June 2014