Polytonality

Polytonality — the simultaneous use of two or more different keys — is Darius Milhaud's most distinctive compositional fingerprint and one of the defining innovations of early 20th-century music. Milhaud discovered the technique around 1914 and used it consistently throughout his career. In the Saudades do Brasil, it typically takes the form of bitonality: the right hand plays in one key and the left hand in another, creating a shimmering, dissonant-yet-tonal harmonic surface that is both modern and immediately accessible. The effect ranges from gently pungent (as in Corcovado, which uses superimposed triads) to vigorously abrasive (as in some of the Rag-Caprices). Milhaud argued that polytonality does not destroy the sense of individual tonalities but enriches it: each key retains its own character while combining with the other to produce a colour that neither could achieve alone. The technique influenced Bartók, Britten, and many others.

When playing polytonal Milhaud, resist the temptation to hear the dissonances as errors or blurrings of tonality. Each hand has its own tonal logic, and the effect is cleanest when both are played with conviction in their respective keys. In the Saudades, the two-hand independence needed is similar to that of contrapuntal Bach but with a very different harmonic result. The pungency of the bitonality should be accepted as an expressive resource rather than smoothed over by pedal blurring. Practise each hand alone first to establish the individual tonal identity before combining them.