Piano Concerto, Op. 38

The concerto unfolds in three movements.

I. Allegro appassionato opens with the piano alone, stating a bold, declamatory theme before the orchestra enters; the movement alternates between percussive, driving passages and lyrical, songful ones, building to a cadenza (an unaccompanied solo passage) that shows off the pianist's technique before the orchestra returns for a forceful close.

II. Canzone: Moderato is the emotional center, a long-breathed, singing melody first heard in the oboe and then taken up by the piano; it moves slowly and calmly, offering a lyrical rest between the two faster movements.

III. Allegro molto is a brilliant, rhythmically sharp finale built on an insistent, dance-like pulse in an irregular five-beat meter; the piano hammers out repeated figures against the orchestra in a display of stamina and precision, driving to an emphatic ending. Listeners new to the piece can listen for the contrast between the first movement's grand, improvisatory feel, the second movement's warm melody, and the finale's relentless drive toward the close.

Barber wrote the concerto in 1962 on commission from his publisher, G. Schirmer, to mark the firm's 100th anniversary. He composed it with pianist John Browning in mind, and Browning gave the premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf in September 1962, at the opening of Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall) in New York's Lincoln Center. The work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1963. It quickly became one of Barber's most performed large-scale works and remains a staple of the American piano concerto repertoire, valued for combining virtuosic display with the lyrical warmth found throughout Barber's music. The slow movement, the Canzone, is sometimes performed and recorded on its own.