This is a huge work from the pen of one of the most enigmatic and controversial composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Henze has often confounded those critics who have tried to label his art by writing in a mixture of styles, often in the same piece. He is an eclectic whose stylistic extremes might seem incompatible, unsuited for coexistence in the same mind, let alone in the same work. This Second Piano Concerto, a large composition of three-quarters of an hour or more, presents a mixture of such extremes; the blending and contrasting of disparate elements work better here than some might expect.

The concerto is cast in three sections within two gigantic movements, the first lasting about a half-hour. There are many tempo markings, the chief ones being Moderato, Vivace, and Meno mosso. Those in the second panel are similar: Moderato, Vivace, Lento, Vivace, and Più mosso. The piece begins in the sound world of Schoenberg, but eventually the music turns more rhythmic, the themes less tonally challenging, and the colors brighter. In short, the serial character of the work becomes less rigid, yielding to a sort of "pop" manner for long stretches, as though this Jekyll} has a rather swinging Hyde. Still, this is a serious composition that never panders and never allows its disparate musical components to clash crudely.

The structure of the work is complex, making even cursory analysis a challenging task. The first half of the first movement is slow and dark in mood, while in the latter portion there is a sort of scherzo, with a trio middle section. The finale has a fairly free form. In the end, this concerto must be assessed as an important effort from one of the most imaginative, if audacious, composers to emerge from the middle twentieth century.

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