Bruno Mantovani

Concerto pour deux altos et orchestre

Since I began writing music, the idea of conflict is one of my primary preoccupations. It has fuelled both my fondness for the concerto genre, and for spatialization. Over the last several years, I have tried to synthesize these two aspects in the composition of pieces with a solo part attributed to several like instruments. For this piece, two violas have been given the principal role. During this lengthy piece (35 minutes), both instruments are either governed by a principal of fusion (identical rhythms), or responses in rapid relays that give the illusion of a single melodic line enhanced by the passage from one sonority (in relation to a space) to another. Conflict is also present on a formal level, in so far as certain elements are presented in juxtaposition, without the slightest logic aside from the quest for contrast. Due to a play between repetitions, the form becomes coherent, relying as well on a relative economy of means.Commissioned by Radio France, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liege and the WDR, this concerto is dedicated to Tabea Zimmerman and Antoine Tamestit, the artists who premiered it. Bruno Mantovani