Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra

I first met Katia and Marielle Labèque during rehearsals for a concert we shared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel several years ago. The orchestra was premiering a recent work of mine, paired with Katia and Marielle performing Philip Glass’s Concerto for Two Pianos. During that week in Los Angeles I became acquainted with their incredible playing and profoundly open and inspiring musical universe. I had also recently moved to Paris, and Katia and Marielle would quickly become a second family to me in France. Soon after that we started planning our future collaboration, which materialised with my Concerto for Two Pianos. - recalls the composer Bryce Dressner. The piece was composed for Katia, Marielle and the London Philharmonic Orchestra throughout 2017, with a large portion of the development taking place in Katia and Marielle’s piano studio on Rue Quincampoix in Paris and their house on the Basque coast where they spend most of the summer. I spent a lot of time familiarising myself with the repertoire they have performed over the years, and doing research on the deeply personal and intertwined musical history and style that they share. I also shared the score with them several times as it developed, to get their feedback and to be sure the ideas were translating well to the piano. I had previously composed a 20-minute piano duo for them in 2015 called El Chan, which they have toured extensively and recorded. Working on this first duo piece together was a great learning experience for me, in shaping how to address the challenges of writing for two pianos. My Concerto is a tribute to two great musicians who I am honoured to work with and who I am even luckier to call my friends (Bryce Dessner, April 2018). “As we got to know him,” Katia recalls, “we were struck that he could write whatever he wanted. I’d never met anyone like him, because he can articulate his music in both the classical and rock worlds with the same facility, the same passion. He’s not afraid to show all his love for different musics; Bryce is an amalgam of them all.” The three movements of the Concerto attract with the vivid contrast and colour of the musical material. The virtuosic opening of the first movement dissolves into a meditative dream, alternating between different moods. Various images are superimposed on the pulsating rhythmic of the second movement. Various textures unfold in the energetic third movement, with an overflowing imagery similar to the first. To this end, the composer also uses the timbre of various percussion instruments.