David Matthews may have come late to writing piano music – “For a long time I thought that my own limited playing technique was a barrier to writing truly idiomatic piano music” – but following an invitation from Gavin Henderson, Matthews began work on a piano concerto. One that “avoided the rhetoric and grand scale of the nineteenth-century concerto,” that was “more Mozartian in conception.”
 
This concerto opens a new disc exploring Matthews’ growing catalogue of piano music. Released this March on Toccata Classics, it features dazzling Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola, with Orchestra Nova and conductor George Vass. Other works include the Piano Sonata (15 mins), Matthews first attempt to write “a really substantial piece of piano music;” the ‘classical’ Theme and Variations (16 mins); and two smaller pieces, Two Dionysus Dithyrambs inspired by Nietzsche’s last poems and the “slightly manic” One to Tango.
 
The CD will be launched at a King’s Place on 9 March when the Schubert Ensemble is to perform Matthews’ Five to Tango.