Piano Music by Robert Helps

Berceuse (1996) [for 2 pianos, six-hands]

Ostensibly the only original work of its type (along with Percy Grainger’s self-transcription Green Bushes).
Helps places the solo piano in antiphonal opposition to the four-hand piano, a sort of rêverie vs. nightmare, cradle vs. grave, which in the final pages arrives at an unsettling synthesis.

Duration: 8 minutes

Berceuse is dedicated to Milton Babbitt

Listen to Berceuse
Sound clip - Berceuse