The relatively genial tone of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto inspired British composer Michael Tippett (1905-1998) to conceive a similarly pastoral concerto, completed in 1955, whose opening mvmt, Allegro non troppo, in A-flat major, resonates with his opera, The Midsummer Marriage, and his song-cycle of 1951, The Heart’s Assurance. Tippett rejected the1950’s dominant aesthetic that the piano should serve an exclusively percussive function. The musical line evolves from groups of shimmering, short notes and canny pedal effects, an unhurried lyricism. The sensibility feels spaciously decorative. The orchestral scoring aims for lightness and a misty transparency: flute, violin, celesta each contribute – and the piano cadenza that appears just prior to the recapitulation – yet the piano does not rule imperiously but adds to a lively, accessible fabric. often likened to Orpheus’ subduing of the maenads. A dancing opening theme announces the Vivace rondo finale, the piano assuming bluesy, jazz filigree with assistance from the celesta, while the cello line joins the horns for some old-world, melodic allure. The key shift from B to E-flat invokes the high spirits of Beethoven’s Fifth “Emperor” Concerto. The orchestra part flourishes after its relative reticence in mvmt two. The last pages, a jubilant rush of energetic improvisation, finish in a high-flown C Major.
The music of Antonio Vivaldi inspired Tippett’s 1958 Symphony No. 2, especially Vivaldi’s pounding bass lines in C major. In addition, Tippett’s residence in Lugano, Switzerland contributed to his desire for clear, liquid textures, much opposed to the grays of typical London music. He wanted an aggressive, dynamic Allegro first movement, a songful Adagio molto, a tricky, rhythmic Presto third movement, and a “fantasia” finale that would cyclically return to the work’s opening motif. One acoustic innovation came in Tippett’s use of both piano and harp as part of his symphonic sonority.
The Allegro vigoroso begins in Cs rising in fifths, the piano in bell tones. A major chord leads to syncopation in the solo flute, the texture thickened by trumpet and celesta for development, until the opening dancing music returns in new harmonies. The manic impetus leads to the resounding coda.
An askew motif from the trumpet announces the Adagio, with drooping figures from high piano and harp. The cello choir sails upward to a celestial trumpet climax. The middle section resembles a jazz ensemble, Miles Davis extended riff, leading to the opening music, inverted. A trombone replaces the trumpet in tandem with piano and harp in the bass; the cellos assume the former violin part, now with low brass accompaniment. Four horns, muted, end the music with an improvised lullaby.
Duple and triple meters impel the rhythmic Presto third movement, likely inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s 1945 Symphony in 3 Movements. Tippett opts for a cleaner texture than had Stravinsky, given Tippett’s bucolic makeup.
Tippett turns in his last mvmt, Allegro moderato, to a fluid theme-and-variations. The original fifth intervals appear in snare drum and strings sonority; then, a real melody rises up from violins and woodwinds. The Symphony’s low Cs opening return, gaining a major-key momentum for an elongated farewell gesture. Tippett indicates that the last chord must “vibrate in the air.”