Music for Two Pianos [Import]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Max Reger (Composer), Ferruccio Busoni (Composer), András Schiff (Performer), Peter Serkin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: András Schiff, Peter Serkin
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Max Reger, Ferruccio Busoni
• Audio CD (October 5, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B00000K2KP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,500 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As individual artists, Andras Schiff and Peter Serkin easily count among the first rank of today's pianists, bringing uniquely probing but quite distinctive qualities to the instrument. Yet this disc--featuring works the duo performed together in an unusual 1997 live concert tour--presents a fascinating paradox: their joint playing leads neither to a struggle of egos nor to bland compromise. Mozart's sublimely compressed Fugue in C Minor wonderfully sets the mood for the elaborate contrapuntal proceedings to follow. Max Reger is usually described as a ponderous, pedantic composer on the wrong side of history. But his neo-Brahmsian Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven (the theme in question being from one of the late bagatelles) leads to an end-of-the-world fugue that's quite exciting in the hands of Schiff and Serkin. The way in which their personalities emerge and complement each other often has the effect of peering into a hall of mirrors. The real highlight here is the vast, idiosyncratic aural cathedral conjured by Ferrucio Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica. One of the great eccentric minor masters, Busoni was inspired by Bach's unfinished summa, Art of the Fugue, to construct this half-hour edifice, full of aeries and labyrinthine turns, which also happens to exploit the full potential of the two-piano idiom. After so much counterpoint, the clarity of Mozart's only duo-piano sonata (K. 448) is like a revelation. In their joyous and raptly unified account, Serkin explores disparate shades of softness as he echoes Schiff's glassy runs. A must-have for piano nuts. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If fugues be the food of love, play on!, April 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Music for Two Pianos (Audio CD)

First off, the only complaint I have about this wonderful 2-CD set is its length, only 92 minutes. That said, I encourage every "piano nut" in the world to get it. I bought it for Busoni's "Fantasia contrappuntistica for two pianos," as I'm a Bach fan. (I bought Gould's "Art of Fugue" last week. Run to the store, don't walk.) The set is bookended by the divine Mozart, with Reger's variations on a Beethoven bagatelle the other piece. All 4 works are special. You can buy it for that fact. Or, you can buy it for the high level of playing from these two guys. And no, I wouldn't recommend this CD to the novice. I guess I covered everything: great music, great playing. Highly recommended.

10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Splendid ..., June 8, 2000

By 

"amazonavi" (KOBE, Hyogo. JAPAN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music for Two Pianos (Audio CD)

I've listened this recording many times. Their play, yes, splendid, exciting and artistic. But I couldn't indulge myself to this like other piano instrumental performance. Maybe these pieces are a little complicated for me. Like geometry I like it when I get on it, but I cannot figure out whole structure of music in my mind without big effort. Their performance is marvelous,anyway. Mozart piece is cute, Busoni glorious (but difficult for me), Reger is Beethoven-esque and beautiful (I like this piece best). I love this disc ayway because imagining these two pianists playing at New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is so wonderful thing. (By the way, I listened Schiff's recital last year in OSAKA, Japan. I wish him to visit Japan again.)

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music for Two Pianos, January 11, 2007

By 

Hime Yuki (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music for Two Pianos (Audio CD)

Dear Sir or Madam,

A CD like this should be produced more.