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Double Pleasure: Music for Two Pianos
| Article
# : |
11482 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1986 |
1,580 Words |
| Author
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Janice M. Arnold
Janice M. Arnold is an assistant editor of Clavier magazine,
and former assistant editor for The Instrumentalist. She holds
a M.M. from Northwestern University, where she is currently a
candidate for a Ph.D. in music theory. |
Soon after its invention in the 1700s, the piano gained a popularity challenged by few other instruments. The coincidence of its development and rise with the Classical and Romantic periods of music spawned a repertoire that reflects the concurrent influences of public taste, virtuosic stars, amateur players, and chamber music. The favoritism remains today, with many program managers relying on the high profile of concert pianists to be a sure draw for their concert and recital series.
For a large part of the piano-loving audience, two pianos will be that much better than one. For some people, piano duets may bring back pleasant memories of childhood lessons, when the one-note primo part suddenly sounded like a symphony as the teacher added the chords and rhythm of the secondo part. For the glory-seeking element of the audience, the drama of piano performance doubles when the two performers coordinate their four hands, feet, breathing, and body language in brilliant display. The joining of technical skills and interpretive ideas into one musical experience is the secret of the pleasure of duets.
Piano music for two performers covers three broad but distinct types of compositions. Today, with our easy access to recorded performances, arrangements and transcriptions for piano duet are somewhat discredited, but these allowed earlier audiences access to compositions at times when performers were not available to perform the works as written. At the height of this practice, even pieces written specifically for one piano but considered too challenging for those of lesser ability were arranged for two performers; Chopin's works were subjected to this less-than-effective treatment. Most piano concertos, as for other instruments, have had
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