Hastings composer Polo Piatti releases his Bohemian Concerto

SussexWorld

After a successful premiere in the States, Polo Piatti’s Bohemian Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is being launched on CD in the UK.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning. Huge pleasure this morning to speak to Polo Piatti, who lives in Hastings.

00:06 And Polo, you have a fantastically significant composition coming out now. It's your Bohemian

00:12 Concerto. It's being released on Seafront Records, recorded by the National Symphony

00:17 Orchestra. And it sounds like this is a piece that you had to write. To an extent, it's

00:23 about you, because it's about the artist, isn't it?

00:27 Yes, it is all about the artist's life, the Bohemian life of an artist going from place

00:34 to place and trying to make ends meet, trying to have some success, but also say something

00:44 with your work. Yeah, I'm very excited about that.

00:49 And what's happened that you are able to write this now? Because clearly it's something you've

00:54 been thinking about for a long time. So what changed that you did it?

00:58 Yeah, I woke up in the middle of the night with the main theme of the concerto. And I

01:06 woke up with a complete orchestration of it in my head. So I went to my studio, woke up

01:15 my wife as usual. And anyway, I wrote it down. And usually when you write something just

01:26 in a half dream, the next day it doesn't work very well. That's the truth. You dream from

01:31 something, nightmares. It doesn't work very well in the concert hall. But that gave me

01:38 the reason to say, OK, there is some substance and I should continue. And then it took off,

01:44 you know.

01:45 And that's so interesting that it came to you. You weren't chasing it, chasing it, chasing

01:49 it. It came to you in your sleep.

01:52 No, because I didn't want to chase it because I wanted to be commissioned to write the concerto.

01:57 I usually am commissioned, I'm paid to write an orchestral work. You have to imagine I

02:02 worked months on something. But that was a pull that was important as my legacy to leave

02:10 that concerto written and recorded.

02:14 And this piece was premiered in the States, wasn't it, a couple of years ago?

02:17 It was premiered in the States. We had a standing ovation, which encouraged me very much to

02:24 record it in the UK.

02:25 Wow. And you have the recording there. Hold it up. Let's see.

02:29 I have to record it.

02:30 What does that feel like to you? What does it mean to you to have that in your head?

02:38 I don't know. It's like probably for somebody to have a child. I am exaggerating terribly,

02:47 but it's my baby, you see. So I feel very proud of the recording of the pianist that

02:53 recorded Thomas Van Dolfys, who is coming to the UK to promote the launch, to John Andrews,

02:59 the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, and all the musicians that did an absolute

03:04 fantastic work.

03:06 Yes. So what happens now, now that you're putting it out there, that you're handing

03:11 your baby over? What do you hope happens?

03:16 I hope that many orchestras around the world take the work on. I have the publishing, so

03:23 I need only an orchestra to contact me and release the score and the parts and all of

03:29 that. I want the concerto to be publicly known for two reasons. One is the symbology of the

03:38 bohemian life of an artist. And the second is because I think it will be very accessible

03:42 to many people. If you see the introduction online, on YouTube, there is an introduction

03:49 to the concerto where the pianist, myself and the conductor talk about it. It is very

03:55 filmic, the music. And I hope that maybe a film about the life of an artist, for example,

04:03 takes it on. That would be the second dream. This is the first one. The second one would

04:10 be that they include it in a film. Why not?

04:13 That will be fabulous. Well, congratulations on the piece. It sounds and looks brilliant

04:18 and really lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time.

04:21 Thank you, Phil. Thank you.

04:22 Thank you.

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