It is a powerful work in the nineteenth-century Romantic tradition, and at the time it was hoped it could prove to be a British "Emperor" concerto.
I am learning a lot by listening to these young players — the standard is high — and my Piano Concerto is going to benefit from the experience.
[2] Its premiere was given on 10 June 1939 by the British pianist Solomon, with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Adrian Boult, in Carnegie Hall.
[1] The other works commissioned for the occasion and given their premieres that night were Sir Arnold Bax's Seventh Symphony and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.
[5] The UK premiere was also given by Solomon, at the Queen's Hall, London, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood, on 17 August 1939.
[7] In his program notes, Bliss wrote: "It was to be played by Solomon and dedicated to the people of the U.S. so obviously it had to be a concerto in the grand manner and what is loosely called 'romantic".
[9] After the concerto's premiere, Bliss and his family (they now had two daughters) remained in the United States for some time (he taught at Berkeley).
The Piano Concerto was immediately taken into the repertoire of pianists such as Noel Mewton-Wood, Ruth Gipps, Clive Lythgoe, Shulamith Shafir and Kendall Taylor.