On 8 October Francisco Coll’s Piano Concerto makes its North American debut with Kirill Gerstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Nelsons at Symphony Hall.
The 21-minute work is cast in three movements. 'Humoresque (impromptu)' opens the piece with wild abandon; 'Paisaje' – meaning panorama, or landscape - sees the piano spin out long, quasi-improvisatory lines, from which huge expressive climaxes emerge. It concludes with a manic, jazz-inspired finale – ‘Rag’ – that suggests a player piano whose ferocious mechanisms are flying out of control.
The Piano Concerto was commissioned by Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It received its Spanish premiere in Valladolid in April and made its Australian debut, conducted by Jaime Martín, in May. Gerstein returns to the piece alongside Thierry Fischer – who conducted its Spanish premiere – with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo on 29 October for its South American debut.
In 2024 Gerstein premiered Coll’s Two Waltzes Toward Civilization – a 10-minute work inspired by Lorca’s Poet in New York – at Chamber Music in Napa Valley before outings at Severance Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Salle Bourgie, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal – a tour lauded by critics. In spring 2025 Gerstein gave European premieres of the work at Saffron Hall, Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari), Don Bosco (Basel), the Musikverein, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the Boulez Saal. Just as Lorca’s verse teeters on the point of crisis, Coll’s dramatic, colourful music of extremes exists on a knife edge.
The Piano Concerto complements two existing compositions for piano and orchestra in Coll’s catalogue: the Piano Concertino (2012) – written for Nicolas Hodges and subsequently performed by Thomas Adès and the CBSO – and Ciudad sin sueño (2023) – a 20-minute fantasia for piano and orchestra premiered by Javier Perianes and Gustavo Gimeno in February 2024 in London and Toronto.
Loosely following the pattern of Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Ciudad sin sueño is a concertante work with a special spotlight on the solo piano, inspired by flamenco. It will appear in May 2027 in Madrid with Perianes and the Spanish National Orchestra, conducted by David Afkham.