Farr took inspiration for his concerto from award-winning Sydney-based pianist Tony Lee, who premiered the work. Lee, at the age of 15, had studied at the Central School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, a high school that offers intensive music education. He lived and studied in the country, learning Russian before returning to Sydney to study at the Conservatorium of Music. After Farr saw Lee perform, knowing of the pianist's background, along with his own acknowledgement of a Russian influence in his writing for piano, a fitting artistic partnership was established between the composer and pianist. Commenting on the resulting concerto, Lee says:
"The work is virtuosic – dark, yet brilliant, with a touch of funk. All of this comes to mind in this concerto. It is rhythmically and harmonically complex, and it has a lot of the passion and drive we would usually hear in the classic concerti, but with fresh ideas and colours we've never come across before."
I'm obsessed with the piano concerto as a musical and dramatic concept and I've wanted to write one since I was 17. The work pays homage to my compositional heroes; Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Bartók, and Ravel – all of them being masters of writing for this form. Piano concertos have long been stereotyped as romantic, sweeping and epic. In this work I have touched on this idea but for the most part I've focused on darker symphonic explorations. There is an ominous urgency to much of the first and third movements while the second has an almost machine-like atmosphere.
Based on just one listen I have no doubt that this marvellously inventive piano concerto is bound to develop an international life all its own. Rarely have I heard a new piece in which I felt we got the absolute essence of the composer, but this was such a piece. Farr has stated that the piano concertos of Prokofiev, Bartók, Ravel and Shostakovich were long-term favourites and each of these composers' influences this new concerto of delights. With marvellously free piano writing surrounded by orchestral sounds that conjure up memories of Prokofiev ballets, Ravel's L' Enfant et les Sortileges and even the Bartók first Piano Concerto, the ear was tickled bar after bar. But this is no mere pastiche piece; the distinctive Farr sound was always there and one could sense Farr the puppet-master hovering over the music, pulling the strings and enjoying every second. With some wonderful piano playing from Tony Lee and superbly involved orchestral support – titillating percussion sounds still resonate – this was utterly special.
