20th Century Masterpieces for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Vol 2

 20^th Century Masterpieces for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Vol 2. Pierre Max Dubois: Concerto Italien for Two Pianos and Orchestra; Roy Harris: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra; Arthur Benjamin: North American Square Dance Suite for Two Pianos and Orchestra; Walter Piston: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra; Quincy Porter: Concerto Concertante for Two Pianos and Orchestra; Morton Gould: Dance Variations for Two Pianos and Orchestra. With Kirk Trevor/Slovak Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra; David Amos/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Society of Moravia  MS 1652 (2 CDs)

by Bill Heck

Huh? There are 20^th century works for two pianos and orchestra? (Never mind whether they all are masterpieces.) Who knew? Well, it seems that Joshua Pierce and Dorothy Jonas knew, as they had previously released a Volume 1 and now have moved on to Volume 2, reviewed here.

The brief but interesting program notes accompanying this 2-CD set nicely describe the confluence of factors that moved contemporary composers to write for the combination of dual pianos and orchestra at all, the factors being interest in the neo-Baroque and the revival of piano duos. The notes also hint that some of these works had to be rescued from obscurity by Jonas and Pierce (and others) – and given this sample, we can be happy that they did.

Of course, there’s little point in trying to compare the recordings here to previous efforts because there are no previous efforts, or at least none readily available in the catalogs. Fortunately the playing that I heard through the two CDs was technically secure and sympathetic to the music itself, both from the pianists and the orchestras. (In other words, don’t let the lesser known names dissuade you from listening.) Let me run through capsule summaries of these works to see what might pique your interest.

The first work on the first disc is by Pierre-Max Dubois: Concerto Italien for Two Pianos and Orchestra, and I found it an excellent place to begin: imaginative and highly listenable. The first movement is a sprightly drive (do I hear a reference to car-like physical mechanisms?) with a bit of an edge. The accompaniment from the orchestra provides a musically interesting setting for a nervous workout for the two pianos. The second movement is quite a contrast, a slow movement with an occasionally dissonant single piano, eventually joined by its colleague, all against a softly moving orchestral background. There are perhaps echoes of traditional spirituals, although the overall effect is anything but that. The third movement offers contrast again, speeding back up with occasional bursts of syncopation, all ending with a resounding major chord.

Description is tougher for the second work on the disc, the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Roy Harris. Sort of Celtic music meets 20th century dissonance? Harris uses the pianos in very percussive ways throughout the work, with strong rhythms abounding. A strident first movement yields to a slower, yet disturbed-sounding second. The third, faster again, contains passages that genuinely remind me of Scottish reels.

Next we have Arthur Benjamin's North American Square Dance Suite for Two Pianos and Orchestra. This work comprises a series of eight short vignettes, each, one supposes, depicting an episode at the county square dance. The titles of the movements, such as “The Old Plunk” and “The Bundle of Straw”, are in keeping with the square dance theme, but not really informative about the content of the music. Never mind that: in several of the movements, it's easy to imagine the dancers romping across the room, while others seem to focus on quieter moments that might represent the interactions of couples who will soon be whirling across the floor again. All in all, quite enjoyable.

The second disc starts with the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Walter Piston, this time with orchestral support from the Royal Philharmonic.  The piece opens with a couple of calls in the brasses and a jazzy riff from the pianos – and within a few measures shifts gears entirely. The strident brasses return, the pianos talk back, all with a good bit of dissonance and a sense of random direction. Interestingly, the orchestral parts are, for the most part, fairly traditional, in some cases perhaps neo-Romantic in feel. The pianos mostly play off with more dissonance against the former, resulting in some interesting contrasts; this is especially evident in the slow second movement. The third movement opens with a whack on a bass drum and proceeds energetically indeed from there along the same general lines, but the dissonances are resolved and the entire work ends with a triumphant major key flourish. If I had to choose just one word to describe this work, I think it would be “restless”. The music is searching, especially the pianos; fortunately, it gets where it needs to be in the final burst. By the way, at least for much of this composition, if I were told that the piece was written by a pupil of Shostakovich, I would be inclined to believe it.

Dorothy Jonas and Joshua Pierce

Next up is Quincy Porter’s Concerto Concertante for Two Pianos and Orchestra, this time with the Philharmonic Society of Moravia Orchestra doing the honors behind the pianos. Here I must admit that description fails me: although this composition is in the same vein as the others in this collection, I simply don't have a handle on a particular characterization that might mean anything to anyone else.

The last work on disc two is Dance Variations for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Morton Gould. Here the Royal Scottish Orchestra plays a slightly larger role and integrates with the pianos perhaps a bit better than in the other works, both musically and sonically. The first variation has a slight Mexican flavor in a cockeyed way; occasional bursts of dissonance remind us that this is indeed 20th century music, although generally it is quite tonal. The second variation continues the frivolity with a less Latin feel. In the third variation, the pianos trade notes back and forth in a slow, almost wistful picture, while the orchestra fades in and out with complimentary parts. The final variation has a nervous, high strung energy, nicely depicted especially in the orchestral parts. Of all the works on this disk, this in some ways sounds the most 20th century-ish in that certain passages sound almost random -- but somehow they aren't and we soon pull back to comfortable tonality. For me, the journey felt interesting and well worth the time and attention to follow it along.

While all of these works clearly belong to the 20th century, none tips over into any of the schools that many listeners would find obnoxious. No, you will not hear the sorts of melodic lines that you would hum in the shower, but the music is easily appreciated by even a novice classical listener.

Meanwhile, the MSR recording team has done a fine job. My minor complaint is that the pianos mostly are a little bit too forward to be quite realistic, but that’s a matter of degree, not one of those old DG jobs in which the orchestra appears about 30 feet behind the piano. Otherwise, details both soft and loud are clear and well-placed.

So where does this set fit in? I was happy to hear such novel (to me) music so well played and recorded, and I suspect that many readers of Classical Candor will be as well. Are these works, or any of them, masterpieces? We can leave that to the judgement of history: I have my favorites (and I’m not going to say which they are lest I bias your reactions), but it’s fun to have such variety. Take a listen and see what you think. Me? I’m heading off to check out Volume 1.