The longest movement in the concerto, and the one most conscious of the fact. It is here that the work first allows itself to slow down, having spent two movements demonstrating that it could keep up.

The xylophone is not an instrument built for sustained line—every note it plays begins dying the moment it is struck—and a slow movement therefore asks of it the one thing it cannot do. Cilwa's response was to write the slow movement anyway and let the orchestra hold what the soloist cannot. The effect has been called ingenious, and has also been called cheating, generally by the same people on different days.

Back to Xylophone Concerto #2.