(After I wrote the above paragraph, I came across Basil Deane's commentary on the Concerto and, somewhat to my surprise, discovered that he essentially agreed with me. Or the other way around. "There are, however, several features which distinguish this movement from any other example of Roussel's sonata form. The beginning in particular is unique.... The composer employs a colouristic linear dissonance to a greater extent here than elsewhere.")

Another work from the years 1927-28 also bears the stamp of a strongly modern palette, Jazz dans la nuit. This is a clear indication of the fact that Roussel was always ready, even as he approached his sixtieth birthday, to try something new.

The concerto is arranged in typical Rousselian fashion, in three, fast/slow/fast movements. The first movement in particular is harsh and dissonant. The second, which starts with a beautiful cor anglais solo, sounds much like other slow movements of Roussel's neo-classical period: transparent scoring, long lines, and lots of emotion. The orchestra dominates in much of this movement; so much so that you might say the piano accompanies the orchestra!

The piano concerto took longer to "grow on me" than most of Roussel's works, but I now appreciate it as one of his most forceful pieces, with many similarities in sound with the mighty (and contemporaneous) Psalm 80. It is one of only two instrumental concertos that he wrote, the other being the Concertino for Cello.

He was never at his best in writing for the piano, and the concerto of 1928 is an ungrateful work in which the solo instrument is treated largely percussively. [Martin Cooper]

The rather undistinguished material and the clogged orchestration, particularly in the first movement, do not entice one's attention. [Christopher Grier]

The two outer movements, allegro molto and allegro con spirito, do have their dash and brilliance; Roussel has deliberately concentrated his effects there in order to set off the poignant adagio and give it full scope. [Dr. William B. Ober]

None of the pyrotechnical bombs of the Grieg, Tchaikovsky, or Rachmaninov concerti, but all the technical chemistry that makes Roussel's music fresh is present here. There is virtuosity, but it is subsidiary to the corporate work. This is why few pianists know it, and fewer play it. The loss is theirs and unfortunately ours. [Arthur Cohn]

This is one of the best French piano concertos of the century. Because of its concertante style, pianists are not prone to sacrifice the hours needed to learn its biting pianism.... There is not an excess note is this superbly developed work, and it exploits the bass range in an important way. [David Dubal]

This concerto, which must rank as one of the most individual examples of the form written in this century, is comparatively unknown.... The slow movement, a ternary Adagio in E flat major, is one of the most deeply moving of all Roussel's inspirations. [Basil Deane]