Forte e piano – music for two pianos and orchestra (1967)

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Alfons i Aloys Kontarsky - piano, Kölner-Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, cond. Michael Gielen, „Warsaw Autumn” 1970

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According to Tadeusz A. Zieliński, it can be regarded as one of “the strongest manifestations of Serocki’s vitality in his entire oeuvre”. This means that the dominant feature of the work is energy and dynamism, though it also – as the title itself suggests – contains delicate and quieter elements. The composer builds his work on the basis of his favourite principle of contrast.

The form of the piece can be divided into four main parts (not distinguished in the score). The first begins with timpani and piano beats in a low, bass register, after which tension systematically increases towards high piano clusters. These begin the next stage of the musical progression which ends with a piano tremolo on all notes of the scale. The essence of this part is thus a careful distribution of the sound material across registers. Part two is a virtuoso part, fast, scherzo-like, sparkling with various colours and types of textures. Part three brings with it a change of mood into lyrical and pensive. The central role is played here by a growing, expanding cluster of bowed string instruments, against the background of which we have delicate piano arabesques turning into stormy and dramatic figures. The final, fourth part consists of two sections. Static sounds of the orchestra and cadenzas of both soloists are followed by a joyful and lively finale full of piano clusters and percussion effects. The whole ends with a reference to the beginning – timpani beats and low piano tones.

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• Tadeusz A. Zieliński,O twórczości Kazimierza Serockiego [On Kazimierz Serocki’s Oeuvre, Kraków 1985.

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