CLASSICAL PIANISTS

INTERPRETATION

PIANO CONCERTO

MASTERCLASS

CONTACT US

ABOUT US


WOMEN PIANISTS

THE LEFT HAND

FOUR HANDS

ACCOMPANISTS

IS IT MUSIC

INDULGE ME

HOME PAGE


COMPOSERS PLAY

CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

CHAMBER MUSIC

GUEST PAGES

LINKS

PRIVACY




PIANO FOUR HANDS



One doesn't often get to hear piano music written for four hands unless one plays it oneself with a friend. Music written for two pianos is not commonly heard in concert and it is unusual to find a private home with two pianos. Many of the great composers since the invention of the piano have written marvelous music to be played by two pianists, and when being able to play music at home was just about the only way to hear it, most of the popular orchestral music was so arranged.

Wonderful music that is today largely known in its orchestral form was originally written for piano duo, the Dvořák Slavonic Dances and the Brahms Hungarian Dances, for example, as well as the latter's Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Rachmaninov wrote two suites for two pianos, Mendelssohn wrote two concerti for two pianos, and Schubert, Mozart and many others wrote for four hands.

We will explore this literature in the pages that follow. Click on the composer links or the links to performances by renowned piano duos below to enjoy this wonderful form of piano music.

You might wonder at the sparsity of names on the lists below. There are many very fine piano duos, but the names I have listed below are those for whom I have already have gathered material for an eventual page. More to come, I promise. 



Anton Arensky 

Bela Bartok 

Georges Bizet 

William Bolcom 

Johannes Brahms 

Benjamin Britten 

Antonin Dvořák 

Gabriel Fauré 

Gustav Holst 

Franz Liszt 

Darius Milhaud 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

Francis Poulenc
 

Sergei Rachmaninov 

Maurice Ravel 

Camille Saint-Saens 

Franz Schubert
 

Igor Stravinsky 



José and Amparo Iturbi
 

Gaby and Robery Casadesus

Emil Gilels and Yakov Zak
 

Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire 

Igor Machlak and Olga Kharitonova




For those of you who enjoy murder mysteries, here is my first with a strong musical polemic as background

Murder in the House of the Muse

which is also available as an audiobook.



And this is the more recently published second mystery in the series:

Murder Follows the Muse



Follow these links to our main subject categories


CLASSICAL PIANISTS

INTERPRETATION

PIANO CONCERTO

MASTERCLASS

CONTACT US

ABOUT US




WOMEN PIANISTS

THE LEFT HAND

FOUR HANDS

ACCOMPANISTS

IS IT MUSIC

INDULGE ME

HOME PAGE


COMPOSERS PLAY

CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

CHAMBER MUSIC

GUEST PAGES

LINKS

PRIVACY



[?]Subscribe To This Site
  • XML RSS
  • follow us in feedly
  • Add to My Yahoo!