Concertino: vibraphone (also side drum), celesta, harp, electronic organ
Orchestra: 2(II=picc)-2(II=cor ang)-2(I=Ebcl; II=bass cl)-sop sax-2(II=contrabsn) / 4-2-3-1 / 2 perc / pno / strings
Commissioned by Lisa Moore with financial assistance from the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
Program note
Imaginings is a piano concerto in all but name. It is in three untitled movements, the first of which is a short upbeat to the other two, which play continuously. The second, slow movement is a passacaglia on the chord changes from John Lennon’s song, ‘Imagine’.
The title of the concerto is more than a derivation from Lennon’s song. It is also a description of the form of the piece, especially the prelude-like first movement in which the soloist seems to imagine and conjure up the orchestra, beginning with it’s alter ego – a second piano at the back of the orchestra. The next thing the soloist imagines is an extension of its own sonority in the form of a concertino group of vibraphone, celesta, electric organ and harp surrounding the soloist. Then there’s the orchestra itself.
Imaginings was commissioned and written for the pianist Lisa Moore.
A.F.