BRITTEN DIVERSIONS OP21
for piano left hand and orchestra

The Britten Diversions Op21 for piano left hand and orchestra was composed for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm during WWI and is largely for having commissioned or inspired a number of contemporary composers to write piano music for the left hand alone, music that he could play. Among these works were Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand Piano, Britten's Diversions, Prokofiev's Fourth Piano Concerto, and a concerto by Franz Schmidt. Of all of these the Ravel concerto is the best know and most often performed of any of the concerted works for the left hand alone.

But the Britten Diversions Op21 is a very fine work and deserves much more frequent performance. It is not strictly a piano concerto, rather a concerted work consisting of a theme and 11 variations and was originally titled "Concert Variations". The movements are:

Theme
Var I - Reactive
Var II - Romance
Var III - March
Var IV - Rubato
Var V - Chorale
Var VI - Nocturne
Var VII - Badinerie
Var VIII - Ritmico
Var IX - Toccatas 1&2
Var X - Adagio
Var XI - Tarantella

SIEGFRIED RAPP
German pianist (1915-1982)

Franz Konwitschny conduingctor the Berliner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester

1951 live radio broadcast