Two Pianos Archive
Kris Davis and Craig Taborn – Octopus – Pyroclastic
Two are better as one. Kris Davis and Craig Taborn – Octopus [TrackList follows] – Pyroclastic PR 03, 58:38 [1/28/18] ****: (Kris Davis – piano; Craig Taborn – piano) What’s better than one? Two, of course. Duets in jazz are nothing new. But two pianos improvising together is still somewhat rare. Such collaborations need simpatico, communication and two minds working as one. Such is the case with Kris Davis and Craig Taborn. The two were part of Davis’ 2016 CD/DVD, Duopoly, a series of duets with Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Julian Lage and others. During their time in the studio, it became evident Taborn and Davis had a stimulating chemistry. The two decided to go out on the road on a 12-date tour in Autumn, 2016 with engineer Ron Saint Germain. The result is the hour-long, six-track live document, Octopus, issued on Davis’ Pyroclastic imprint. The performances, which run in length from seven minutes to nearly 15 minutes, incorporate pre-composed material; wholly improvised sections; and two carefully chosen cover tunes. Taborn and Davis’ conversant style is parallel to the free jazz of likeminded pianists such as Cecil Taylor, Don Pullen or Paul Bley. Throughout the program there’s a sense of […]
The Labéque Way (2017)
A wonderful documentary on probably the leading two-piano team in the classical world. The Labéque Way (2017) Cast: Katia & Marielle Labéque, Alessandro Baricco, Sir Simon Rattle, Semyon Bychkov Director: Félix Cabez Studio: EuroArts Music International 2064058 (3/3/17) Video: 1.33:1 for 16:9 screens, color Audio: English, PCM stereo No region code Extras: Complete performances of POULENC: Concerto for 2 Pianos & SAINT-SEANS: Carnival of the Animals for 2 Pianists & Orch. Length: 90 min. Rating: **** The New York Times says this is the best piano duo in front of an audience today, and the legendary piano duo of the Labéques is difficult to label, getting into avant-garde and flamenco as well as classical areas. They trace their Spanish roots with playing of Ravel’s Bolero, complete with a special percussion section of Basque origin. Their friends and collaborators appear in the film, as well as performances of works of Mozart, Schubert, Ravel, Albeniz, Golijov and Gershwin. The duo commissioned a new two-piano concerto especially for this film, Nazareno. A truly delightful documentary and the sisters look and play as lovely as ever. The mastering of ordinary DVDs has gotten so good that one would easily think this was a Blu-ray, […]
SAINT-SAENS: Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Vol. One = Martin Jones & Adrian Farmer, p. – Nimbus
A deliciously joyful collection of four-hand work to complement your Saint-Saens library. SAINT-SAENS: Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Vol. One = Tarantelle, Op. 6; Duettino in G Major, Op. 11; Le Rouet d’Omphale, Op. 31; Koenig Harald Harfagar, Op. 59; Septet: Menuet & Gavotte; Polonaise, Op. 77; Feuillet d’album, Op. 81; Berceuse, Op. 105; Scherzo, Op. 87; Pas redouble in B-flat Major, Op. 86 – Martin Jones & Adrian Farmer, pianos – Nimbus Alliance NI 5940 65:35 (8/12/16) [www.wyastone.co.uk] ****: This recording (May & October 2015) presents the first of two volumes of original compositions and arrangements for piano duo and duet by Camille Saint-Saëns. This program offers the substantial Scherzo, Op. 87 and Polonaise, Op. 77 for two pianos, alongside a number of smaller works for two pianos and piano four hands. Saint-Saens (1835-1921)himself re-cast several of his chamber music compositions for piano-duo performance, as in his 1857 Tarantelle, Op. 6. Typically, this composer’s music enjoys the brio of life, its sparkle and elan. Playful clarity combines with serenity in craft and security of expression. The other significant chamber music arrangement, from the 1880 Septet, Op. 65, arranges the staid Menuet & Gavotte in liquid tones. Two orchestral […]
SMETANA: Ma Vlast – Evelinde Trenker and Sontraud Speidel, pianos – MD&G Gold
SMETANA: Ma Vlast – Evelinde Trenker and Sontraud Speidel, pianos – MD&G Gold Records MD&G 930 1960-6 multi-channel SACD with additional 2+2+2 80:00 (8/5/16) [Distr. by eOne] ****: A unique transcription of the Smetana classic arranged for two pianos. Smetana’s Ma Vlast is a standard part of the concert repertoire. It was the composer’s manifesto of national destiny for Czech listeners and it went on to worldwide acclaim. Smetana debuted the piece in 1882, and by that time the composer was almost completely deaf. In structure, it is similar to Lizst’s symphonic poems. Heard with a full orchestra it’s a thrilling piece. Here we get something a little different, with a performance for duo pianos by Eveline Trencher and Sontraud Speidel. The two virtuosi have toured the world in concert, playing acclaimed transcriptions of Mahler and Bruckner at Lincoln Center and at various venues and festivals around Europe. I can’t say I prefer the Smetana for two pianos, but it is a captivating listen. The use of two pianos provides a tonal depth that one piano would not, and the pianists preserve the emotion and lush dynamics of the piece. It’s a surprisingly good listen. The 5.1 channel SACD is […]
BRUCKNER: Sym. No. 9 arr. for 2 Pianos & Mass No. 3 – HDTT audio-only Blu-rays
Two newly-recorded Bruckner items in hi-res surround on Blu-ray. ANTON BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in d arr. for Two Pianos – Till Alexander Korber & Reinhold Puri-Jobi, pianos – HDTT 4-channel 24/192 (2015) DTS-HD MA audio-only Blu-ray ****: ANTON BRUCKNER: Mass No. 3 in f – Cynthia Clayton sop./ Melanie Sonnenberg, mezzo/ Joseph Evans, tenor/ Timothy Jones, bass-bari./ Sigurd Ogaard, pipe organ/Houston Sym. Chorus/Moores School Sym./ Franz Anton Krager – HDTT 5-channel 24/96 DTS-HD MA audio-only Blu-ray, TT: 1:18:43 ****: Considering the orchestral impact of most of the Bruckner symphonies, to reduce the immense sonics, including major crescendos, of the full orchestra to just two pianos in an arrangement seems a bit unneeded. However, this live public concert (just recorded by John Proffitt last year at Stift St. Florian in Austria) by the two pianists does stress the clarity of Bruckner’s themes and counter-themes and shows that he really poured everything he had into his Ninth Symphony – which he worked on up to and including the day of his death. A German author and critic, Karl Grunsky (who died in 1943) transcribed all nine of Bruckner’s great symphonies for two pianos, and this is the last of them. This […]
BRAHMS: Sonata in f minor for 2 Pianos; Variations on a Theme by Haydn – Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti, pianos – Brilliant Classics
BRAHMS: Sonata in f minor for Two Pianos, Op. 34b; Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56b – Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti, pianos – Brilliant Classics 94956, 60:22 (7/31/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two of the Brahms orchestral works have their alternate egos realized in glowing terms on two pianos. This first disc in a projected complete series of Brahms’s duo-piano works, all to be recorded by the young Italian musicians Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti; this pairing of two-piano arrangements of larger scores derives from sessions 24-25 July 2014. Brahms in 1871 had already worked his 1864 Two-Piano Sonata from a string quintet, only to have had both Joachim and Clara Schumann declare that its form suited neither medium satisfactorily. The task of composing his first symphony lay ahead, and several of the motifs of the first movement would find heir way into that long-delayed work. But rather than destroy the Sonata, Brahms went forward with this publication, dedicating the score to Princess Anna of Hesse. Brahms would then settle for a hybrid of his former ideas, the Piano Quintet, Op. 34, as a fit medium for its weighty, symphonic conception. The opening Allegro non troppo gravitates […]
“From Bach” = Music by many composers and performers (TrackList follows) – Music@Menlo Live 2013 (8 CDs)
First-rate performances in “neutral, honest sound” thruout this 8-CD set.
PROKOFIEV: Suite from the ballet Romeo and Juliet for two pianos (trans. by Arthur Ancelle); Suite from the ballet Cinderella for two pianos (trans. by Mikhail Pletnev) – Ludmila Berlinskaya & Arthur Ancelle, pianos – MelodiyaHERMAN GROENEWEGEN: 24 Preludes for Piano – Andrew Clark, piano
Suites for piano from Prokofiev and Herman Groenewegen.
PROKOFIEV: Suite from the ballet Romeo and Juliet for two pianos (trans. by Arthur Ancelle); Suite from the ballet Cinderella for two pianos (trans. by Mikhail Pletnev) – Ludmila Berlinskaya & Arthur Ancelle, pianos – MelodiyaHERMAN GROENEWEGEN: 24 Preludes for Piano – Andrew Clark, piano
Suites for piano from Prokofiev and Herman Groenewegen.
* “Zoforbit: A Space Odyssey” = URMAS SISASK: The Milky Way; HOLST: The Planets; GEORGE CRUMB: Celestial Mechanics; DAVID LANG: Gravity – Zofo – Sono Luminus
************* MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH *************
A knock-your-socks off album of tremendous sonic import, with radiant performances to boot
CONLON NANCARROW: Studies for Player Piano 16, 20, 26, 32, 44; Suite for Orchestra; Three Movements for Chamber Orchestra; Septet (fragment); PAUL USHER: Nancarrow Concerto for Pianola and Chamber Orch. – Wergo
Maybe not the best introduction to this fascinating and innovative composer, but well-played and offering an “almost” completion as well.
![GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; Eight Gershwin tunes – Uri Caine Ensemble [TrackList follows] – Winter & WinterGERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; West Side Story Suite – Katia & Marielle Labqèue, pianos – kml recordings](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/RhapsodyBlue2.jpg)
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; Eight Gershwin tunes – Uri Caine Ensemble [TrackList follows] – Winter & WinterGERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; West Side Story Suite – Katia & Marielle Labqèue, pianos – kml recordings
Two quite different approaches to the Rhapsody in Blue.
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; Eight Gershwin tunes – Uri Caine Ensemble [TrackList follows] – Winter & WinterGERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; West Side Story Suite – Katia & Marielle Labqèue, pianos – kml recordings
Two quite different approaches to the Rhapsody in Blue.
DELIUS: Orchestral Music Arranged for Two Pianos, Vol. 2 – Paris, the Song of a Great City; Eventyr; Fantastic Dance; Summer Night on the River; Song of the High Hills – Simon Callaghan & Hiroaki Takenouchi – Somm Celeste
The second volume of fascinating two-piano transcriptions of Delius orchestral works.
GOUVY: Works for Two Pianos = Sonata for Two Pianos; Scherzo; Lilli Bullero; March; Fantasie for Two Pianos; Divertissement – Laurent Martin & Carole Dubois, pianos – Ligia CHABRIER: Complete Solo Piano Works and 4 Works for 4 Hands – Bruno Canino & Bertrand Giraud, pianos – Anima Records (2 CDs)
A pair of delightful two-piano CDs by French and half-French composers.
Nettle & Markham in France – 28 Contrasting Pieces for Two Pianos – Netmark: Bougainvilleas of the Soul – Two-piano Music by ELENA MARTIN – Elena Martin & José Melitón, pianists – Centaur
A pair of delightful two-piano albums.
Chick Corea & Friedrich Gulda – “The Meeting” (1982/2012)
We’ve waited 30 years for this video, and it’s well worth watching.
ARENSKY: Five Suites for Two Pianos – Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov – SWR2/cpo
Simple and direct melodies and miniature dance forms in these delightful two-piano suites.
“In Seven Days” = THOMAS ADES: In Seven Days; CONLON NANCARROW : Studies No. 6 & 7 – Signum Classics CD+DVD
The always interesting Ades in a fascinating multi-media work.
Alan Pasqua, pianos – Twin Bill – Two-Piano Music of Bill Evans – BFM Jazz
Alan Pasqua hits a home run.
BUSONI: Fantasia Contrappuntistica; REGER: Sonata – Marlboro Festival performers – Sony
Intellectual and digital fortitude prevail in these classic performances from Marlboro, but the music will find few adherents beyond experimenters and connoisseurs.
MOZART: Complete Works for Two Pianos – Pierce and Jonas, duo-pianists/ Slovak Philharmonic/ Paul Freeman – MSR
Life-asserting music from Mozart; too bad there aren’t more two-piano works in his catalog.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
