George Lloyd: Piano Concertos No. 1 'Scapegoat' & No. 2

George Lloyd writes: "In the early 60s, I was browsing over the idea of writing a piano concerto when I heard John Ogdon for the first time; from then on I knew the style of playing I needed and always had the sound of that great player in my head. It was fortunate for me that Sir Charles Groves decided to give the first performance of my piano concerto No. 1 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and John Ogdon as soloist. I had intended writing a large scale concerto with three movements but early on the first movement took on so much life of its own that it became the single-movement concerto I called "Scapegoat." When I had finished "Scapegoat" I still had the ideas for a long slow movement and a finale for the concerto I had intended to write so I set to work providing another first movement. Alas, I was no more fortunate than I had been at my first attempt. Once again the music dictated events, became too long and turned itself into another single-movement concerto which is my Concerto No. 2."