Concerto No. 2 for marimba and orchestra op.25 (Piano Red) by Nebojsa Zivkovic

The Concerto, commissioned by the Yamaha Foundation, was composed in 1996 and ’97 and was given its first performance on April 9 of the latter year in Munich, with the composer as soloist and Jean-Pierre Faber conducting Munich Symphony Orchestra. I intended to span the broadest possible spectrum of elements, not only in relation to the construction of the work, but in relation to the character of the instruments. I wanted unite the quintessence of Nature and archaic elements (rhythm as the primal origin of all music, as the force that gives birth to music) with theatrical qualities and a new articulation of tonality with the “classical” tonal language of this century to produce a music that DOES communicate with the listener. Only such a unity of factors can represent the free expansion of today’s music beyond old notions of avant-gardisme. This concerto allots the soloist a single very familiar instrument and includes a large percussion complement in the orchestra itself. This is a symbolic gesture, that represent a kind of ritual in which an individual is accepted into a community after a ritual of initiation.