Ivory Classics Online

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791):

Concerto in E flat major for Two Pianos and Orchestra, K. 365

• [01] 1st Mvt.: Allegro 09:43 ('75)
• [02] 2nd Mvt.: Andante 08:18 ('75)
• [03] 3rd Mvt.: Rondo: Allegro 06:47 ('75)

piano: Earl Wild

piano: Zaidee Parkinson

orchestra: National Philharmonic

conductor: Richard Dufallo

Sonata in F major for Piano Four Hands, K. 497

• [04] 1st Mvt.: Adagio - Allegro di molto 07:38 ('75)
• [05] 2nd Mvt.: Andante 09:41 ('75)
• [06] 3rd Mvt.: Allegro 06:20 ('75)

Sonata in D major for Two Pianos, K. 448

• [07] 1st Mvt.: Allegro con spirito 07:44 ('75)
• [08] 2nd Mvt.: Andante 08:20 ('75)
• [09] 3rd Mvt.: Allegro molto 05:35 ('75)

Disc.Reviews

Four hands sometimes better than two

When the subject is music for two pianos, as in this Mozart recital by Earl Wild and Zaidee Parkinson, you're really talking about three distinct genres, slightly different in texture and emphasis. First, the duet for piano, 4 hands, in which the perform sit side by side at the same keyboard, one playing the treble part, the other the bass. The genre lent itself to intimate music making in the home and was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries for the opportunities it provided for courtship. The sonata for 2 pianos, on the other hand, has the performers seated at different pianos facing each other and taking their cues from one another, a sort of chamber music for keyboards. Finally, in the concerto for 2 pianos the performers interact with each other and the orchestra, adding another degree of complication.

All three are represented here in this 1975 recording remastered for compact disc by Ivory Classics. First, we hear Mozart's Concerto for 2 Pianos in E-flat, K365, with the National Philharmonic under Richard Dufallo. The composer augmented the usual orchestration with kettledrums and trumpets, the version heard here, adding a good deal of brio. The orchestral execution is not as smooth as one might wish, but all is forgiven when the soloists enter the scene. Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Wild are equally sensitive to the nuances in the music and in each other's performance. Most remarkable here is the Andante, one of those fetching slow movements we associate with Mozart. The work isn't complicated emotionally, just beautiful.

The Sonata in F for Piano, 4 Hands, K497, by contrast, begins mysteriously with a slow introduction, as solemn, indeed tragic, in mood as anything in Don Giovanni. What sort of domestic "hausmusik" is this? But Mozart doesn't keep us in doubt for long, and the opening movement proper swings into an Allegro di molto characterized by a ritornello in which the players engage in truly thrilling passages with repeated notes and halved time-values creating molto excitement. The sheer fun of 4 hand music making is exemplified here. The slow movement is another Andante, as sublime as the one we heard previously in the concerto. More surprises are still to come in the Sonata in D for 2 Pianos, K448 which begins with a jolly march. Elegant simplicity, in the music and its performance by Wild and Parkinson, is the hallmark of this sonata.

They perform, incidentally, on a matched pair of Bösendorfers. That may seem like sonic overkill in light of the fact that the "authenticity" revival has accustomed us to hearing this sort of music on lighter 18th-century style instruments. But the Bösendorfer can be an instrument capable of very subtle distinctions of tone, with a richness and a resonance that serve the purposes of Mozart's music very handsomely indeed. Especially as played here.