Erik Chisholm

Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2

The Piano Concerto No.2 was first performed in Cape Town in 1949 and in the following year was broadcast on the BBC Radio Third Programme. It was enthusiastically received by the critics, Ernest Newman writing of it 'I was particularly intrigued by the skill with which the composer has managed to fuse Hindustani modes of expression and European ways of thought and factors of design into a single organic whole. I was greatly intrigued by it'.It had many performances and broadcasts in the composer's life time but after his death, was not heard again until 2007 when it was specially recorded for broadcast one evening in 'Scotland's Music', a BBC Radio Scotland's series of weekly programmes.John Purser, writer and presenter of the series which ran for a year, comments 'The Concerto emerges as a major achievement in terms of over-all conception, technical innovation and brilliance and superb handling of the orchestra'.The soloist, Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam, said of his experience 'It is a great privilege to be working on such a wonderful Concerto! I have completely fallen in love with the piece. The work is definitely challenging, but the wealth of musical ideas, the refinement of the slow movement, the humour and boisterousness of the finale make one forget that at times fingers need to be scraped off the keyboard'.