Don's Weekly Listen: An Eclectic Suite

Happy Thursday!

For this week’s Listen, we will be touring a seldom-explored corner of the repertoire: works for piano solo and string orchestra only.

One might ask why a composer—with the winds and brass of a romantic orchestra at their disposal—would choose to write only for strings. And the answer is that most wouldn’t. But necessity is the mother of invention! Britten would never have given us the chamber opera had he had consistent access to a symphonic pit orchestra. Most of the following pieces owe their existence to similar constraints. Like Britten, these five composers epitomize the creative spirit of wringing the most out of limited resources. Their works prove that the partnership of piano and strings has far more to offer than we might initially suppose.

(For those orchestra administrators out there looking to save a bit of green next season, consider programming these pieces. Find a great pianist and give your wind and brass sections a couple weeks of vacation! Your audiences will relish the variety.)