Samuel Barber was the dean of a generation of mid-twentieth century neo-romantics whose adherence to lyric melodies and tonality earned them snubs from the academic devotees of serialism and the avant-garde. Although the modernists had written a death certificate for tonality, critics and audiences embraced Barber as the master of a distinctly American style. The Piano Concerto earned the composer his second Pulitzer Prize and Music Critics’ Circle award.

In his childhood, Barber showed a prodigious musical talent; he was encouraged by his family, especially his aunt and uncle, the contralto Louise Homer and composer Sidney Homer. The two served as his mentors for more than 25 years and profoundly influenced his aesthetic development. At age 14 he enrolled in the newly founded Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia, studying voice, piano and composition, graduating in 1934. Two of his early compositions, a Violin Sonata in 1928 and his first published large-scale work, The School for Scandal Overture (1931), won him prestigious prizes and, more importantly, public performances that brought him to the attention of the leading conductors of the day. The Adagio for Strings (1936), promoted by Arturo Toscanini, secured his reputation with the public.

Whatever their musical philosophy, twentieth-century composers were all swimming in the same pool, as it were. They shared an august tradition and were aware of each other’s music, sometimes indulging in crossovers and borrowing. During the composition of the Piano Concerto, Barber’s worktable was spread with scores by the Serialist triumvirate, Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern.

Barber composed the Piano Concerto on a commission in 1959 from the G. Schirmer, Inc, to celebrate its 100th anniversary. He worked closely with a young pianist, John Browning, whose style of playing he had admired, studying his approach to the instrument and consulting with him. Before Barber set pen to paper, in fact, he had Browning play through his entire repertory in order to fashion the Concerto to his pianistic strengths and predilections. The Concerto had a long gestation, premiering finally in September 1962 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf for the inaugural week of New York’s Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) – while Barber was still making changes.

Barber composed the second movement, Canzone, first, borrowing heavily from an earlier work, Elegy for Flute and Piano, which he had written for artist, friend and amateur flutist Manfred Ibel. It is a simple but elegant melody that one might expect from the composer of the Adagio for Strings and Knoxville, Summer of 1915. The delicate piano part shares the limelight with the orchestra’s principal flute and oboe, often providing delicate accompanying filigree, instead of dominating the other instruments.

The outer two movements are more dynamic and aggressive. In the first, the piano begins with what Barber himself called a “recitative,” but others refer to as an opening cadenza. The angular lines and peppery dissonances of the first theme are the composer’s take from the works of his atonal colleagues. But Barber repeats it frequently enough to ingrain it in the memory. The oboe introduces a second theme, still spiky, but in a languorous mood with sweeping string orchestration. The movement develops as a dialogue between the two moods. Barber based many of the displays of pianistic virtuosity on Rachmaninov, in whose works Browning excelled.

The final movement, composed in 5/8, has the rhythmic percussiveness of a toccata, the piano opening with a staccato ostinato. The fury calms down towards the middle with an ensemble of woodwinds, followed by a delicate echo in the piano. Like the first movement, the finale is a study in contrasts and sharp turns. It concludes with a frenetic climax and some challenging writing for the brass.