ABSTRACT
Within the context of Skalkottass free dodecaphonic technique, and similar to the First Piano Concerto of his formative years, in the Second Piano Concerto Skalkottas experiments with various approaches to manipulating his source twelve-note material. In this movement Skalkottas explores the use of one source twelve-note set and its variations. The second theme, played by the solo clarinet, is based on two varied presentations of the set. The third, closing theme, played by the horns, is based on a varied presentation of S1. The second movement, Andantino, in binary form, is predominantly built on one thematic set S1 and several other pitch-class collections. The piece epitomizes Skalkottass free dodecaphonic technique and his predilection for integrating traditional formal prototypes and fusing Baroque and Classical compositional processes. In terms of its dodecaphonic pitch-class structure, the opening of the Presto is built on many twelve-note pitch-class collections, each exposed within one bar, and each resulting from the superimposition of dyadic and tetrachordal segments.
