Concerto for Two Pianos (20th century)

Started by krummholz, January 01, 2020, 03:53:53 PM

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Christo

Quote from: pjme on January 08, 2020, 10:26:12 PM
Hurrah!  :)

It was fun though to browse through my cds and YT and discover some really good music.

P.

It was, my thanks! Last week I bought this 3cd box at JPC (I think 3 euros). A real treasure trove:

Janine Reding & Henry Piette (pianos), Orchestre National de France, Boston Symphony orchestra, The Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Strasbourg Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, Charles Munch, Eugen Jochum, Louis Martin. Label: Doremi, 3:48 hours length in total, containing:
•   Martinů: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
•   Pasquini, B: Sonata in D Minor 
•   Bach, W F: Sonata in F Major 
•   Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn for orchestra, Op. a 'St Anthony Variations'
•   Schumann: Andante con Variazioni 
•   Milhaud: Chanson Créole 
•   Alexander Tansman: Fantasy on Strauss Waltzes
•   Goossens: Rhythmic Dance
•   Debussy: Lindaraja
•   Martinů: Czech Dances (3)
•   Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos
•   Malipiero: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
•   Tailleferre: Jeux de plein air (Outdoor Games)
•   Alain: Litanies
•   Poot: Rhapsodie
•   Carmargo Guarnieri: Negro Dance
•   Bartók: Concerto for  pianos, percussion & orchestra


... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

krummholz

Quote from: Christo on January 09, 2020, 01:53:29 AM
It was, my thanks! Last week I bought this 3cd box at JPC (I think 3 euros). A real treasure trove:

Janine Reding & Henry Piette (pianos), Orchestre National de France, Boston Symphony orchestra, The Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Strasbourg Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, Charles Munch, Eugen Jochum, Louis Martin. Label: Doremi, 3:48 hours length in total, containing:
•   Martinů: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
•   Pasquini, B: Sonata in D Minor 
•   Bach, W F: Sonata in F Major 
•   Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn for orchestra, Op. a 'St Anthony Variations'
•   Schumann: Andante con Variazioni 
•   Milhaud: Chanson Créole 
•   Alexander Tansman: Fantasy on Strauss Waltzes
•   Goossens: Rhythmic Dance
•   Debussy: Lindaraja
•   Martinů: Czech Dances (3)
•   Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos
•   Malipiero: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
•   Tailleferre: Jeux de plein air (Outdoor Games)
•   Alain: Litanies
•   Poot: Rhapsodie
•   Carmargo Guarnieri: Negro Dance
•   Bartók: Concerto for  pianos, percussion & orchestra

Thanks Christo!

krummholz

Quote from: mc ukrneal on January 08, 2020, 06:46:39 PM
All the concertos can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/v/utqa8JEpDvM

Indeed they can. But the fact that it is ALL of the (one piano) concertos, 107 minutes of continuous music, is also a disadvantage for finding a particular work. In fact I had taken a cursory scan through that video over a week ago, stopping every 10 minutes or so to listen, and had not found it. There is much athematic, bravura writing for the piano in #2 and I had not happened to hit anything that I recognized. That's why I didn't post that link.

But fair enough, it IS on YouTube, and for anyone who wants to hear the Concerto #2, it starts at 29:18...

krummholz

Ordered (from Amazon)!

Daverz

Quote from: krummholz on January 09, 2020, 05:02:06 AM
Ordered (from Amazon)!

Firkusny also recorded it, though I remember finding the recording overly resonant. 

https://www.youtube.com/v/yx5SttFICe4

mc ukrneal

Quote from: krummholz on January 09, 2020, 02:42:53 AM
Indeed they can. But the fact that it is ALL of the (one piano) concertos, 107 minutes of continuous music, is also a disadvantage for finding a particular work. In fact I had taken a cursory scan through that video over a week ago, stopping every 10 minutes or so to listen, and had not found it. There is much athematic, bravura writing for the piano in #2 and I had not happened to hit anything that I recognized. That's why I didn't post that link.

But fair enough, it IS on YouTube, and for anyone who wants to hear the Concerto #2, it starts at 29:18...
One of the posts below the video actually links all the concertos and movements, so easy to find your way once you have this.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Biffo

Quote from: Daverz on January 09, 2020, 05:11:02 AM
Firkusny also recorded it, though I remember finding the recording overly resonant. 

https://www.youtube.com/v/yx5SttFICe4

I have this recording but with different couplings. I would describe the sound as warm and slightly resonant - it was recorded in 1993

Daverz

Quote from: Biffo on January 10, 2020, 03:00:58 AM
I have this recording but with different couplings. I would describe the sound as warm and slightly resonant - it was recorded in 1993

Yes, it sounds better than I remember.   I have much better audio equipment now.

krummholz

Quote from: mc ukrneal on January 09, 2020, 10:40:14 AM
One of the posts below the video actually links all the concertos and movements, so easy to find your way once you have this.

Yes, I see them now. For some reason the comments were not visible when I viewed that page earlier in the week. Weird.

Mirror Image

Quote from: krummholz on January 08, 2020, 05:40:43 PM
Solved! It turns out it IS Martinu after all, but not a concerto for TWO pianos. Rather, it is a concerto for ONE piano, his Piano Concerto #2. I can't find it on YouTube, but it is readily available on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3btrS4ToOzRXujcbCdx83x

Thanks to all who tried to help out... I feel like an idiot now, thinking there were two pianos when in fact it was just an ordinary piano concerto. Apparently not a very well-known one at that. At least I wasn't too far off on the date (1934). But obviously I should not have dismissed Martinu without sampling ALL of his concertos.

Good to know you figured out who the composer was. Of course, Martinů is a composer I absolutely adore. I might have to give this 2nd PC a listen as well.

krummholz

Quote from: Mirror Image on January 28, 2020, 07:19:41 PM
Good to know you figured out who the composer was. Of course, Martinů is a composer I absolutely adore. I might have to give this 2nd PC a listen as well.

Well I thoroughly enjoyed both the 1st and (of course) 2nd PCs on the new CD... have yet to listen to #4, but will do so soon. Martinu (how do you make that circle above the u?) was obviously a composer of considerable talent and I'm certainly keen to hear more of his work. So far those are the only two works of his that I have heard straight through, though I've heard excerpts of other concertos of his whilst searching for the mystery piece. What are the symphonies like?

This adventure was an eye-opener for me in another way: I had no idea MIDI playback was so good in freeware like MuseScore. I stopped composing when I graduated from Michigan (long ago!) because I lost contact with the performing community and had no way to hear even a close approximation of what my scribblings actually sounded like. Wish I had more time for it, but currently am trying to finish up a movement for string quartet that I started over 40 years ago. Day job comes first though...

some guy

Quote from: krummholz on January 30, 2020, 05:04:12 AM
how do you make that circle above the u?
Easiest way is to type "martinu" in a search engine, find a result that has a ů in it, copy and paste the ů.

Quickest way is to hold down the u until a wee window appears with a choice of diacritical marks common to u and select the right one. Unfortunately, not all keyboards have the ů as an option. My keyboard, for instance, does not. I have û, ü, ù, ú, and ū only. But anyone can copy and paste.

Maestro267

Quote from: krummholz on January 08, 2020, 05:40:43 PM
Solved! It turns out it IS Martinu after all, but not a concerto for TWO pianos. Rather, it is a concerto for ONE piano, his Piano Concerto #2. I can't find it on YouTube, but it is readily available on Spotify:

Thanks to all who tried to help out... I feel like an idiot now, thinking there were two pianos when in fact it was just an ordinary piano concerto. Apparently not a very well-known one at that. At least I wasn't too far off on the date (1934). But obviously I should not have dismissed Martinu without sampling ALL of his concertos.

To be honest, considering how he uses the piano as an orchestral instrument in all but one of his symphonies, I wouldn't put it past Martinu to include an orchestral piano in addition to the solo instrument upfront. I mean, Ives managed it in his fourth symphony, and I think Berio's Concerto for Two Pianos includes an orchestral piano on top of the two solo pianos.