• 1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, strings, solo piano

• Duration: 18'
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2017
• First performance: 02.07.17 Nicholas Ho (piano) and ADDO chamber orchestra conducted by R. Casteels Reuben Menasseh Meyer Hall, Singapore
• ISMN 979-090-16-5393-1 and 979-090-16-5392-4
• Parts: To rent the parts, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  Suite_and_Concerto_pour_le_piano_V5_FINAL_SCORE.pdf

The full title of this first endeavour in piano concerto writing is as following: Concerto pour piano et orchestre de chambre en mi bémol un tant soit peu majeur, opus 108, d'après de vieux cahiers. Composed in three days, this short but intense piano concerto is based on a solo piano piece opus 2 entitled Suite composed by R Casteels in 1982. Parts of the 4 movements of the Suite (Intrada, Notturno, Giga, Finale) found their way in the concerto opus 108 but in a different order and with unexpected resolutions into e flat triads. 

Review

Outstanding Piano Concerto

Playing for some 15 minutes, both piano and orchestra (strings and winds) probed and ruminated over a plethora of thematic ideas, with the ostensible aim of finding its home key of E flat major. Eventful, inventive and quasi-improvisatory, there were alternating moments of serenity and violence, several false dawns and vocalisations of that elusive E flat by orchestral members. The end finally came with an emphatic and abrupt succession of E flat major chords, closing with the pianist plucking an E flat string in the innards of the piano. 

A worthy addition to the small canon of Singaporean piano concertos.
Chang Tou Liang, Singapore