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Sublunar Mechanics

(Piano Concerto, 2011)

  • Solo Piano + Orchestra: 3333/4332/13, 2nd Pianist, Strings, Tape

  • Instrumentation: 3 Flutes (3rd doubling Piccolo), 3 Oboes, 3 Clarinets in Bb, 3 Bassoons (3rd doubling Contrabassoon), 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets in C, 3 Trombones, 2 Tubas, Timpani, Percussion (3 players), Solo Piano, 2nd Pianist (page turner), Strings, Tape

  • Duration 38 min.

  • Commissioned by Jean Sibelius Gesellschaft Deutschland e.V. with funds from LUSES. Written for Sami Väänänen.

  • First performance on April 19, 2011, in Recife (Brazil) by Sami Väänänen, solo piano and Orquestra Sinfônica do Recife, conducted by Osman Giuseppe Gioia



I. Repetitio

II. Allegretto

III. Scherzo Meccanico

IV. Ripresa

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The title, Sublunar mechanics, refers to the Copernican time when all phenomena on earth, or ”under the moon”, were thought to work with some laws of mechanics. Different kinds of repetitions play a central role in this concerto. This is obvious from the beginning of the first movement, Repetitio. The first cadenza is a simple, minimalistic moment played with one hand and accompanied by delicate electronic sounds. The second movement, Allegretto, has some heavy, even grotesque, Beethoven quotes. The concerto’s second cadenza includes a surprise when the page-turner starts to play with the soloist a four-hand passage. Tape solos blur the borders of different movements. After the third movement, Scherzo Meccanico, the concerto concludes in the final Ripreresa, a repetition of the end of the first movement. TR, 2012

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