Piano Concerto No. 5 (Villa-Lobos)

The Piano Concerto No. 5, W 521, is a piano concerto by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1954. One performance recorded under the composer's baton lasts 18 minutes, 48 seconds.
History.
The concerto was composed in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro. It was commissioned by Felicja Blumental, to whom the score is dedicated, and who gave the first performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 8 May 1955, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jean Martinon.
Instrumentation.
The work is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, xylophone), celesta, harp, and strings.
Analysis.
The concerto has four movements:
The first movement is in sonata-allegro form. After an orchestral introduction featuring a mirror motif, the main theme enters at rehearsal number 3. It is in A minor and resembles a slow waltz, alternating and metres. A bridge, in which the opening mirror motif is played by the piano, leads to the second, chromatic, Gershwinesque theme at rehearsal no. 11, in the distant key of G minor. A return of the main theme at rehearsal no. 15 is followed by a third theme in C minor, at rehearsal no. 18, closing the exposition section.