Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote his Piano Concerto No. 3 (subtitled Gift of Dreams) in 1998, nine years after his previous concerto.
The work was commissioned by the eminent conductor/pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy as a concerto which could be conducted from behind the piano, with Ashkenazy serving as soloist and conductor simultaneously. Ashkenazy did premiere the concerto in this dual role with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999. He has since toured around the world performing the concerto, subsequently recording it on Ondine, a Finnish record company.
The work is in three movements, with a poignant central adagio. The work adopts tonal harmonies, as in Rautavaara's Piano Concerto No. 1, but the overall mood is much more calm and serene.
Structure The piano concerto is in three movements, and plays for 25 to 30 minutes:
Instrumentation
Woodwinds 2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets in B 2 bassoons
Brass
4 horns in F 2 trumpets in C 2 trombones
Percussion timpani
vibraphone tubular bells gong (30') tam-tam (60') gran cassa side drum 4 tom-toms xylophone
Keyboards solo piano
Strings
violins I violins II violas cellos double basses
Recordings Vladimir Ashkenazy (pianist/conductor), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Ondine, Inc. (record company) Laura Mikkola (pianist), Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eri Klas (conductor), Naxos (record company)
References