Smokey Mountains Concerto, The

(Richard Addinsell)

This concert piece written by Richard Addinsell possibly for the American pianist, Leo Litwin, who was a champion of Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, and has never been linked to a cinema or theatre production.  It is derived from American folksong influences and was recorded in a solo piano version not long after it was written in 1950.  It consists of three movements:

(i)                First movement

(ii)               Valley Song

(iii)              Old Joe Clark

The first movement is symphonic and is said to mimic Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, the second movement has a faint blues-type melody, and the third movement opens with a violin and banjo duet in a hillbilly style.

BBC Concert Orchestra recordings
Marco Polo 8.223732 (CD: Richard Addinsell: Goodbye Mr. Chips/A Tale of Two Cities)
Conductor – Kenneth Alwyn
Piano – Philip Martin

Source:

1. http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.223732