Concerto for two pianos and orchestra

Luciano Berio (1925 - 2003) - Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (1972 - 1973) Antonio Ballista & Bruno Canino, piano London Symphony Orchestra, Luciano Berio (1975) Luciano Berio's Concerto for two pianos and orchestra was written in 1972 - 1973 on commission by the New York Philharmonic. In 1973, the work was premiered by Antonio Ballista, Bruno Canino, and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Boulez. About the work, Berio writes: "I believe that writing a traditional concerto today has no meaning. There is no longer a way to establish a homogeneity of meaning between one or more soloists and a mass of musicians of different density or nature – such as existed in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic concertos, when the 'individual' and the 'mass' could practically say the same thing despite their completely different densities and acoustic characters. Today the relationship between soloist and orchestra is a problem that must ever be solved anew, and the word concerto can be taken only as a metaphor. The problem of soloists, however, has always interested me; I have confronted it on many occasions trying to solve it from different angles: with Tempi concertati (1958-1959), for instance, for flute, violin, piano and four orchestral groups, with Chemins I (1965) for harp and orchestra, with Chemins III (1968) for viola and orchestra. This Concerto, for two pianos and orchestra could equally well have been called Concerti (concertos), since the soloists develops mobile, diversified, and very unstable relationships between themselves and with the soloists of the orchestra, often creating chamber ensembles (piano I and II, flute and piano I, violin and piano II, clarinet and piano I, piano II and strings, etc.); sometimes the orchestra interacts with the soloists, amplifying their parts in a kind of simultaneous transcription. The two soloists are also diversified in terms of different piano techniques and different degrees of identification with the orchestra however, behind all these differences lies a unifying harmonic process: it is revealed at the beginning of Concerto by the two pianos alone, almost like a map consulted before starting a journey." The structure of the work, described by Joshua Berrett, is as follows: "A cadenza for the solo pianos (subsequently joined by a third orchestral piano) opens the work. This is an extended ruminating, quasi- impressionistic passage interrupted by occasional dissonant outbursts. It is built for the most part on an E pedal point, with passing references to related pitches. The culminating point of the section comes with an insistent repeated tritone motive (E-flat-A) played in a high register, which serves to usher in the orchestra. With its entrance this sonority is sustained. The flute is prominently heard and subsequently continues in a solo passage that expands on the tritone motive in a wide- ranging, rhythmically active portion over an A-flat pedal point. After some brass passages a