I. Cantilena Ocean Sky: Expansive, tender and slow

II. Canticle of the Birds: In constant flight – fast

A large-scale two movement work of about 32 minutes duration, Piano Concerto was commissioned by Australian-British pianist Rosemary Tuck and was composed in beachside isolation in Bronte, Sydney, during the COVID epidemic in 2021. The overall shape of the Concerto is similar to my earlier Violin Concerto (opus 55, 1996) – with a slow first movement (Cantilena Ocean Sky: ‘Expansive, tender and slow’) and a fast, virtuosic and dramatic moto perpetuo second movement (Canticle of the Birds: ‘In constant flight – fast’).

The work is dedicated ‘In memoriam to Richard Meale’ and draws on some of his brief sketches and ideas for a planned piano concerto which he had titled Simurgh. Simurgh is the legendary bird of Persian literature, the epic search for whom leads only back to oneself:

‘The shadow and its maker are one and the same,
so get over surfaces and delve into mysteries.’

[Farid ud-Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds]

Richard Meale had been discussing the new work with Rosemary Tuck prior to his death in 2009 and she in turn passed on some of these very brief sketches to me.

Piano Concerto was commissioned with assistance from the Australian Music Foundation, London.

© Andrew Schultz, 2021.

www.andrewschultz.net

Here is the cadenza from the second movement of the new Piano Concerto performed live by Rosemary Tuck at Cadogan Hall, October 2025.

Click here to read Rosemary Tuck’s article in Limelight describing the germination and development of the new Concerto by Andrew Schultz and its connections to Richard Meale.

For information about the premiere of the Piano Concerto in October 2025 at Cadogan Hall in London, click here.

An interview with the composer discussing recent work, including the Piano Concerto, can be heard in the December 2025, 100% Australian Made podcast with Julie Simonds, 2MBS-FM Fine Music Sydney. Click here to listen at this link.

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