One piano, four hands

By Gail McCarthy
Staff writer

May 08, 2008 12:36 am

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Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, historic composers, as well as their modern counterparts, have created music for four hands — two pianists on the same piano.

Now, residents will have an opportunity to experience the art form as part of a free lecture next Tuesday, sponsored by the Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

Piano duets were extremely popular as a form of home entertainment until after World War II, said Stephanie Woolf, education coordinator of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

"Before the advent of the long-playing record and television, many people used piano duets as both an activity all the family could enjoy, and as a way to experience great music," she said. "Transcriptions of symphonies and operas, as well as popular songs and Broadway shows, were easily available. Although the days when the entire family gathered around the piano in the evening have never returned, piano duets have enjoyed a resurgence. Four-hand piano duets are a special kind of chamber music experience."

The featured musicians will be pianists Judith Gordon and Marc Ryser, who will present music by Franz Schubert (1797— 1828) and Gyorgy Kurtag (born 1926). Their presentation is titled "Four Hands, One Piano: Is It Chamber Music?"

The duo, both Boston area professionals, will explore what happens when two musicians collaborate and literally play the same instrument. Gordon, a favorite of Rockport Chamber Music Festival audiences, returns to take part in this special event.

"Composers and performers alike have long recognized the unique appeal of four-hand duets. The attraction comes from the richness of the bass combined with the intricacies of the upper keyboard registers. The complex arrangements gain an extra resonance from the acoustic properties of the single instrument," according to fourhandpiano.com.

Schubert's first surviving composition was a duet for four-hand piano, and his "Fantasy in f minor for piano duet, D.940," is a mainstay of the repertoire.

Kurtag, a Romanian-born composer and student of the late French composer Olivier Messiaen, won the prestigious 2006 Grawemeyer Award. He wrote a group of musical miniatures, titled "Jatekok" — or "Games" — and he performed and recorded them with Marta Kurtag, his wife of 60 years, a pianist — and his frequent duet partner.

Gail McCarthy can be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com

If you go

r What: A free lecture and performance titled "Four Hands, One Piano: Is It Chamber Music?"

r When: Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m.

r Where: Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport at 4 Cleaves St. in Rockport.

r Sponsor: Rockport Chamber Music Festival's Educational Outreach Program. For information call 978-546-7391 or visit www.rcmf.org.

More music

The Alcyon Chamber Ensemble will present a free concert at 7 tonight for the community at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport at 4 Cleaves St. The concert program includes the "Melody in F" by Anton Rubenstein, "Golliwog's Cake-Walk" by Claude Debussy, and "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. The Alcyon ensemble was formed in 2005 to bring chamber music to communities through school residencies. The residency was inspired by and is in conjunction with the study of American music and the impact of jazz on European composers, which is part of the music curriculum in Rockport and Gloucester schools where the nationally recognized group will visit. For more information, call 978-546-7391 or visit www.rcmf.org. The event is sponsored by the Educational Outreach Committee of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

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