Konzert für zwei Klaviere

In its original incarnation, this concerto featured only one pianist, with a digital (MIDI) keyboard programmed in such a way that for every note played by the pianist, the computer added one more notes, separated from the original note by intervals specified by the composer. Thus, if the pianist played a fast scale, the audience heard two parallel fast scales. The MIDI program increased the pianist´s virtuosity far beyond what ten fingers are capable of achieving.
It was this technological idea that first gave rise to the work title CAP-KO (Concerto for Acoustic Piano, Keyboard, and Orchestra). The digital piano was the primary soloist, in addition, an acoustic piano was used, in the composer´s words, as part of the orchestra, a kind of “echo chamber”. On the digital keyboard, the coordination of the parallel voices was always 100% precise.

In 2007, I made a fully acoustic version of the work, partly for practical reasons (for instances when the technology was not available) and partly to challenge the soloists to achieve the same degree of precision with four human hands.

/Peter Eötvös/

Most of the second movement is dominated by a perpetual parallel motion for two pianos. I use a large number of different scales to generate a high level of kinetic energy. The runs are punctuated by intermittent percussion solos and complemented by orchestral countermelodies moving in long and connected (legato) notes. A more static third movement follows without a break, characterized by sharp rhythmic attacks and an expecially prominent low brass. The tempo gradually increases and the piano parts pick up great rhythmic momentum, reaching a climax toward the end of the movement.
I call the fourth movement: “Bartók accrosses the ocean”. This movement is in a slow tempo throughout. The steady chord progressions of the two pianos, proceeding in even eighth-notes, are set against the shorter melodic phrases of the horns and trumpets. The music briefly becomes more agitated as we hear a momentary fortissimo outburst for the full orchestra. Then a quiet piano duo concludes the movement, with a single three-note “farewell” motif from the first trumpet.
The last movement is another mad rush, with the two pianists and the three percussionists in the leading roles. The rhythms are more irregular than before, with offbeat accents and complex alternations between notes and rests adding to the excitement all the way to the end.

/Peter Eötvös / Peter Laki 2008/ (Cleveland)