PROKOFIEV FOR TWO
MARTHA ARGERICH
& SERGEI BABAYAN, Two Pianos
Deutsche Grammophon 479 9854 / *****
Although she may be 77 years old,
Argentine piano legend Martha Argerich continues to perform and record. A
recent release is an hour of music by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev
(1891-1953), transcribed for two pianos by Armenian-American pianist Sergei
Babayan, the latest in a long illustrious line of piano duo partners.
Twelve movements from the ballet Romeo
And Juliet are performed as a suite, and there are only several movements
in common with Prokofiev’s own original set of solo pieces (Op.75) for two
hands. New are the evocative Dance With Mandolins and the scintillating
music-box effects in Morning Serenade. The Gavotte is a familiar
dance rehashed from the 3rd movement of his Classical Symphony while
Death Of Tybalt provides a suitably dramatic and violent end.
Much of the music exploits the lower
registers of two pianos. The results are brooding and darkly sonorous but
richly detailed. Much less familiar are arrangements of Prokofiev’s incidental
music from Eugene Onegin and Hamlet, film music from The Queen
of Spades, a waltz from the opera War and Peace and one Pushkin
Waltz. The performances sound freshly-minted, spontaneous, and are
brilliantly recorded. Highly recommended.
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