Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? is a piano concerto by the American composer John Adams. Its title is taken from a saying attributed to Martin Luther. The work was premiered on March 7, 2019 by Yuja Wang and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. A recording, made by Wang, Dudamel, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 2019, was released digitally by Deutsche Grammophon on April 17, 2020. The piece is Adams' third piano concerto, after Eros Piano (1989) and Century Rolls (1997).
Composition The piece is in three movements, played without pauses between them:
All three movements in total last about 28 minutes.
The piece is scored for the following orchestra:
Woodwinds
piccolo
2 oboes English horn
bass clarinet 2 bassoons
Brass 4 horns in F 2 trumpets in C
Percussion (1 player) almglocken bass drum snare drum
Keyboards
solo piano honky-tonk piano
Strings
bass guitar
violin I violin II violas cellos double basses
References