Britten composed the Piano Concerto in 1938, at the age of 25. Unlike the usual concerto form, it consists of four movements, each with a title referring to its character: “Toccata” – “Waltz” – “Impromptu” – “March”. The concerto was “conceived with the idea of exploiting the various important characteristics of the piano, such as its enormous compass, its percussive quality, its suitability for figuration; so that it is not by any means a symphony with piano, but rather a bravura concerto with orchestral accompaniment.” The opening movement fits the composer’s description in that roughly all along the piano acts as a percussion instrument essentially, and throughout the movement tension is maintained by this exciting rhythmic effect. The piano part is “tamed” in the long and virtuoso cadenza, and is smoothed out in sparkling passages, arpeggios, trills and glissandi. “Waltz” runs a special dramatic course by beginning pianissimo and with a chamber-music orchestration and ending in pianissimo possibile; the middle section, becoming progressively faster, is essentially a grand introduction to the waltz theme that returns at the climax in fortissimo. Britten replaced the original third movement (“Recitative and aria”) for a new one in 1945, which is in fact a series of variations; it is asymmetrical and the 4+5-bar theme, introduced by the piano, is repeated seven times, each time with a different orchestration and harmonisation and florid ornamentation from the piano, while the individual variations are linked by cadenzas of different length. The shrill, clamorous woodwind and percussion timbres in the fourth movement have a comic and hostile effect; the rigorous waltz rhythm that persists through the movement does not come to a halt even in the cadenza accompanied by a cymbal.