Proms 2011: Kevin Volans - Piano Concerto No. 3 (World Première)

If one thing has dominated the premières at this year's Proms, it's the presence of the concerto; thus far, we've heard no fewer than six (Dalbavie, Carter, Holloway, Holt, Larcher & Aperghis), with more coming in the days ahead • Monday's Prom brought yet another concerto into being, Kevin Volans' Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by Barry Douglas with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard •

The opening few minutes give a clear indication of what lies ahead, the piano presenting a stabbing ostinato that immediately infects the orchestra, responding in glittering accented chords • The piano then dissolves into a fluid, grace note-strewn passage, bringing proceedings briefly to a halt; starting up again, the sections of the orchestra now take turns to predominate • This is the essence of the piece, & also its unifying aspect, since Volans is not concerned here with conventional notions of material development • He has very different ideas, & indeed, his working method—each day to continue where he'd left off, making no amendments to previous work—is audibly etched into the grain of the music • It neither develops nor evolves; in a sense, it unfolds, but even this doesn't quite fit; perhaps all one can say is that it just happens, swiftly passing from idea to idea with only the barest of constants • There are occasions when Volans allows himself to revisit earlier material, but for the most part, this concerto is a flight of fancy, restlessly keen to press on, with barely a glance behind •

As one might expect from Volans, the work is nicely vague, stylistically speaking, & the overall manner it projects—characterised by a constant return to phrases that hammer out repeated notes & chords—which in lesser hands might just become emptily extroverted, is fascinatingly inscrutable: is the piece playful or pugilistic? heartfelt or calculated? loosely-spun or tightly-wound? is it a discourse or just a game?—indeed, is it all of these things? • Volans' resistance to pin the music down or seek to define it (still less, to explore some programmatic concept), is one of its chief successes; it provokes our curiosity & keeps us guessing • & it also succeeds in a way that might sound like a criticism: not everything we hear is vital, not every note counts—by which i certainly don't mean parts could or should be cut from the piece, but rather that Volans has the chutzpah to put material down & just see how it sits, without feeling the compulsion to trim off any 'fat' • This is most audible in the concerto's lengthy, halting central episode, where one practically witnesses Volans trying out different ways forward, without simply presenting the 'right' one • It's brave to afford oneself this kind of honest spontaneity, & the fact the material works itself out as convincingly as it does, is not so much a demonstration of an innate sense of direction than of Volans' confidence to continue, regardless of whatever uncertainties may worry the music's surface •

As a compositional attitude, it's admirable, but the price one pays for that attitude is music that's not necessarily terribly memorable • For some, that will matter, but to approach this concerto on its own terms (as one should at least try to do) is, i think, simply to trust it while it's happening, & take from it what you will • There's invention in bucketloads, & there's confusion too, lots of it • i, for one, would much prefer to come away from a piece scratching my head than nodding sagely •

Kevin Volans - Piano Concerto No. 3 (World Première) [31:11]
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