Benjamin Frith, Peter Hill - Stravinsky: Music For Two Pianos (1996)

Igor Stravinsky is not regarded as a major composer for the piano, yet this disc presents three works that are significant contributions to the instrument's literature. The Sonata for two pianos, a light and accessible composition, was originally intended to be a solo keyboard work until Stravinsky realized that the music's growing complexity called for two more hands. The Concerto for two pianos was written as a showpiece for Stravinsky's son, Soulima, and is more ambitious than the sonata both in structure and in development of material. A work from Stravinsky's middle, neo-Classical period, its music is more rigorous and intellectually challenging than the sonata, though perhaps less ingratiating for its irony and formality. The Rite of Spring was originally composed at the piano, and this four-hand arrangement was written for rehearsal purposes, simultaneously with the orchestral score. How much the keyboard's sonority and percussive quality may have influenced the ballet's orchestration is debatable, though many figurations in the score are recognizably pianistic. In this piano reduction, Rite undergoes few alterations and seems to lie well under the hands. Recorded in 1995 at St. Silas Church, Kentish Town, London, the sound is good, though it is a little too thin in the bass.