Schnittke A. Concerto for piano 4 hands and chamber orchestra. Score (Coll. Works. S. 3, Vol. 4a)

Schnittke’s Concerto for piano four hands and chamber orchestra was completed in 1988 and is his fourth concertante work for piano and orchestra. The Concerto is characteristic of Schnittke’s music of the late 1980s, in that it includes stylistic references, but only to give brief and abstract allusions to earlier styles. The piece employs both serial techniques and tonal harmonies, yet the resulting musical language is remarkably unified. The most radical aspect of the Concerto is its form, a single-movement structure made up of five sections. Subtle thematic connections link the sections together, and unity is also maintained through Schnittke’s careful proportioning and pacing of the music.

The Concerto for piano four hands and chamber orchestra is dedicated to the pianists Viktoria Postnikova and Irina Schnittke, who gave the premiere at the Large Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on 18 April 1990 with the USSR State Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The same soloists and conductor made the first commercial recording, with the London Sinfonietta, released in 1992 on the Erato CD 2292-45742-2.

This edition of the Concerto for piano four hands and chamber orchestra is its first publication in Russia.