Piano Concerto (Delius)

The first public performance of any version was played by Julius Buths with the conductor Hans Haym on 24 October 1904 in Elberfeld, Germany.

But, despite his starting on it shortly after that, and completing a number of sketches, it was not until 1897 that he finished the first version of the piece (Fantasy in C minor for Piano and Orchestra) which consisted of three continuously played parts including a middle section in D-flat major.

[1] For reasons that are unknown, Delius revised the Fantasy, which he extensively reconstructed into traditional concerto form with three movements.

Additionally, his consultation with the Hungarian pianist Theodor Szántó, a pupil of Busoni, led to very substantial revisions in the solo part.

Recent study shows that these two themes reflect the influence of spiritual music which the composer heard in his period in Florida.

Shortly after the recapitulation of the second theme, the tempo changes into Vivace and the soloist plays arpeggio against a timpani rhythm echoed from the first section.

Finally, the concerto ends in C major where the piano soloist has a triumphant scale while the timpani beats the previous rhythm.

[7] The 1904 version comprises three movements of "Allegro ma non troppo", "Largo", and "Maestoso con moto moderato".