This week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys. “The Spirit of 176 Part 2,” is entirely devoted music for two pianos
“I’ve been a two-piano nerd for decades,” says Jed Distler, host for Between the Keys, and the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence. “I loved to play through all kinds of repertoire in college, while one of my first major professional engagements involved the premier of Andrew Violette’s Third Sonata for Two Pianos. That was kind of a baptism by fire, from which I’ve never recovered, thank goodness!”
Distler will feature longer works this week, including the much loved Brahms Haydn Variations with Martha Argeirch and Nelson Freire live from Salzburg. There’ll also be a spirited performance of Chopin’s Rondo with Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifinov. However, true to form, Distler throws in some less familiar yet worthy selections.
“For example, I’m just getting to know the music of Arlene Sierra, an American composer based in London, and I think her two-piano piece ‘Of Risk and Memory’ is serious, substantial and quite energetic. And I stumbled on a pair of CDs containing two-piano arrangements of orchestral works by Delius, which I didn’t know existed. We’ll hear some of that. The opening work on the show is by someone whom I only knew as a pianist, Marcel Bergmann. But I had no idea he was such a fine composer as well.”
Tune in this Tuesday night February 26th at 10 for a rich and varied two-piano program on Between the Keys, an exclusive production of the Classical Network and WWFM.org, proudly sponsored by Jacobs Music.