Concerto pour percussion et orchestre de chambre
by André Jolivet
Composed in 1958 and premiered by the percussionist Jean Batigne with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Concerto pour percussion et orchestre de chambre is André Jolivet's most ambitious percussion work and a major monument of 20th-century music for the instrument. The solo part encompasses xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, snare drum, tom-toms, bass drum, and cymbals, demanding from the soloist an extraordinary range of technique across the three movements. Jolivet's unique musical language — drawing on Varèse, primitivist energy, and a complex rhythmic sophistication rooted in his studies of non-Western music — gives the work an uncompromising intensity and formal rigour that set it apart from all other percussion concertos. It remains the most demanding and intellectually serious work in the repertoire.
Editions
Gérard Billaudot
André Jolivet, 1959
Original composer-authorised edition; the primary performing text with detailed notation for the multiple percussion instruments.
Gérard Billaudot
Editorial staff, 1975
Revised edition incorporating performance revisions suggested by Jean Batigne; the standard text for professional performance.
Ricordi
Editorial staff, 1990
Study score edition with a preface on Jolivet's percussion writing and the work's place in the 20th-century concerto tradition.