infotext:
transcriptions "Four hands, again" (with wistful emphasis on a). a piece of furniture" and with a repertoire that one can "take up in the family and at home" just as one "hangs up the pictures of one's classics". Piano four hands thus as the epitome of bourgeois musical practice - with a considerable number of "original compositions" available, but many more arrangements "from the symphonic and chamber music literature". They did not appear questionable to Adorno, »because even a compositionally rich piece like the first movement of Brahms's fourth seems so natural for four hands that I can’t get rid of the feeling that it was subsequently raised from the area of the monochromatic, tragic-intimate duet to instrumental diversity.« And a little later the farewell: »Playing four hands has become a gesture of remembrance and few live, certainly among the musicians who practice the old-fashioned art«. 1968 when he published this text in the Impromptu thought it was worth re-release, he must have known better for a long time. Pianistic duo playing on one or two pianos had begun to boom. Composers like Messiaen, Boulez, Zimmermann, Stockhausen had entrusted important ideas to the piano duo – or were about to do so. The »old-fashioned art« gained new topicality, the ensemble of two pianists thoroughly emancipated itself from Adorno's memory of »outdated-domestic and amateurish-untrained« lovers. Piano duos have long had to be highly specialized virtuosos, so unpretentious that they share the music, fame, applause (and hopefully not the fee), and they have to react to each other with positively telepathic sensors. You have a lot of exquisite things to play – albeit in much smaller quantities compared to the »two-handed« repertoire; which is why the searching looks of piano duos fall more and more on peripheral areas, and therefore on arrangements. What discoveries are there to be made and what concert dramaturgies rich in associations are to be produced – as long as one brings oneself to push aside respect for the Urtext and the original. But what does original mean when the arrangement comes from the composer himself, and the piano version even came before the orchestral version! By Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream-Music to Gershwins Americans in Paris there are quite a few orchestral pieces whose original version was for two pianos. Before others did, Johannes Brahms (see Adorno above) arranged his entire symphony (even the orchestral part of the German Requiem), the Mahler Symphonies No. 4 and No. 7, Richard Strauss' Don Quixote and Sinfonia domestica in four-handed versions. Arranged by Debussy The sea, Ravel transposes the majority of his orchestral pieces to the piano and vice versa, Stravinsky's four-hand excerpt from The Rite of Spring is created at the same time as the score. The main reason and excuse for such arrangements, especially those of the 19th century, is always referred to the rare occasions when one could experience orchestras at that time, which, moreover, only performed in metropolises. And: there were still no electronic distribution options, so the auditoriums were dependent on piano arrangements that they could play themselves or have someone more competent play for them. These reasons have long since disappeared and turned into their opposite in a kind of »dialectics of musical enlightenment«. In the "age of technical reproducibility" and the global threat of a classical music infarction, rarities in particular have a chance to be recorded: the Mahler and Brahms versions mentioned are available on CD (with the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo there are already four-hand versions of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Hindemith Mathis the Painter, Shostakovich fifth and also the Brahms Requiems before). Hardly any objections are raised, either against arrangements made by the composer himself or against those of others; yes, there is increased interest in getting to know great composers as arrangers for more or less respected colleagues. It is then still up for debate how severe the loss of orchestral timbre really is – and one almost always comes to the conclusion that this deficit is offset by a gain in “structural clarity”. This applies, for example, to the polyphony in Mozart's magic flutes-overture, which in Busoni's version becomes a vigorous antiphonal toccata. In Debussy's own arrangement of Prelude to the afternoon of a fauna, written at the same time as the score, draws somewhat more emphatic attention to the fact that the famous (flute) theme, which appears eleven times, changes its melodic-harmonic form with each appearance. Debussy's Saint-Saëns arrangements, on the other hand, belong to the species of »contre cœur« transcriptions written as breadwork for enterprising publishers: neither does one hear the virtuoso piece Introduction and Rondo capriccioso Debussy's aversion to Saint-Saëns, if one were not familiar with the violin version, one would immediately get the idea that the two-piano version was not the original. Like Bruckner, Max Reger was a Wagnerian without a clue about musical drama. His Tristan-Prelude arrangement is a homage to the matrix of all new music - his own included. The Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky arrangements by Victor Babin, the male half of the formerly famous piano couple Babin-Vronsky, are tailored to their own pianistic needs, as are the (three) versions of the Bach chorale Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Dame Myra Hess. The only piece one would have sworn to resist any piano transcription, Ravel's Boléro, turns out to be surprisingly suitable. The loss of the timbre parameter sharpens attention to the increase in "subcutaneous" harmonic-rhythmic intensity, to the peculiarities of the different mixture sounds (the piano effect of the famous flute-horn-celesta passage after figure 8 is astounding). Ravel's wheelwork of musical magic also gets going four-handed with frightening unstoppability. Rainer Peters |
program:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
[01] Jesus remains my joy (Chorale from Cantata 147) 03:18
Transcription for two pianos by Myra Hess
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
[02] Prelude to the afternoon of a fauna 08:31
Transcription for two pianos by the composer
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
[03] Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, op. 28 09:08
Transcription for two pianos by Claude Debussy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
[04] Overture to “The Magic Flute” 06:48
Transcription for two pianos by Ferruccio Busoni
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
[05] Prelude from “Tristan and Isolde” 08:45
Transcription for two pianos by Max Reger
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
[06] Vocalise, op. 34 no. 14 06:29
Transcription for two pianos by Victor Babin
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
[07] Waltz from Swan Lake 08:06
Transcription for two pianos by Victor Babin
Maurice Ravel (1875-1935)
[08] Boléro 14:42
Transcription for piano four hands by the composer
total time 65:54
Press:
07 / 08 2012
20.04.2012
25.03.2012
CD of the week
“Transcriptions”
Two pianos instead of a whole orchestra – the GrauSchumacher piano duo's recipe for success for a long time. This also applies to their new CD Transcriptions. What is unusual for the two pianists, however, is the choice of works: short and catchy - a colorful bouquet of classical showpieces. From the overture to Mozart's Magic Flute to Rachmaninoff's Vocalise to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Waltz.
In their search for literature, Götz Schumacher and Andreas Grau came across very different original editor constellations. On the one hand there are pianists like Victor Babin, who rewrote Rachmaninoff's Vocalise and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Waltz for two pianos. Or the Briton Myra Hess, whose arrangement of Bach's chorale Jesus bleibet meine Freude makes it shimmer as if through a filigree, light-drenched prism. Of course, the great editors also have their say. Max Reger's version of the Tristan and Isolde prelude brings an unusual clarity to Wagner's orchestral colossus. And Busoni gives Mozart's Magic Flute Overture a rhythmically springy lightness. Finally, there are the composers who have arranged their own works. Just like Maurice Ravel, who made a version of his Bolero for piano four hands.
The fact that the richness of color in the orchestra is gone does not detract from the pieces in any way. On the contrary: the GrauSchumacher piano duo gives these catchy tunes a very clear, almost transparent and therefore completely new character. And in the usual manner: with a lot of charm, sensitivity and a good portion of playfulness.
Ulrike Klobes, culture radio
http://www.kulturradio.de/programm/musik/cd_der_woche/Transcriptions.html
NEOS 20903
Aachen newspaper
09.03.2012
News from the famous GrauSchumacher Piano Duo: another concept album, but one with music that is more likely to be heard on the sidelines of a concert, what an encore or cabinet of rarities.
Ravel's "Bolero" for four hands - you have to swallow first, completely without the orchestral colors on which the quarter-hour piece lives, alongside small drum ostinato and crescendo.
Curiously, this also works on the piano, but not really any better. Ravel wrote the piano part himself as an extract from the score, as did Debussy himself for the two-piano version of his “Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune”. This was primarily for practical reasons or to earn money.
The transcription of Saint-Saens' violin "Rondo capriccioso" also comes from Debussy; Max Reger arranged Wagner's "Tristan" prelude, Busoni Mozart's "Magic Flute" overture for four-hand home use. And so on, a whole CD full. Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise", Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" waltz or Bach's "Jesus, meine Freude" - everything is so familiar and yet completely alien.
It almost goes without saying that GrauSchumacher make the best of these sometimes bizarre templates. But it's still piano music.
Rating: ****
http://www.aachener-zeitung.de/artikel/2186480
08.03.2012
Intelligence, Clarté, pure music: The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo with "Transcriptions"
Rating: 
Not only occasionally do some grumble against the editors, against the editing itself. Where loyalty to the work is called for. Or? And adapting templates to the spirit of the times only serves to cut money. That may be the case at times. And for many a group of instruments this may well be helpful in filling out the repertoire. But that's not what the current Grau Schumacher Piano Duo CD is about at NEOS.
It operates under the title "Transcriptions" and also offers transcriptions from Bach to Ravel. But the intelligently thinking and feeling musicians have put together such a sophisticated program that "questioning" doesn't come up at all.
Of course, the Wagnerian himself wishes for the melt of orchestral opulence in the Tristan prelude. But only for a few moments. Because what the ten fingers get out of Max Reger's Wagner adaptation, what transparency they put into the acting, that allows a new Wagner to emerge. On the other hand, anyone who lets Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale from Cantata 147 "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" meander through the auditory canals in the legendary Myra-Hess transcription for two pianos is already in a different sound and spirit from the very first note -World.
Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun" gains an unexpected transparency in the composer's own arrangement and Mozart's Magic Flute Overture by Ferruccio Busoni is presented in such a crystalline structure that the entire opera could take on new dimensions. Rachmaninoff's “Vocalise” and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Waltz in Victor Babin's variant are congenial for dancing on pointe and boards.
The melodious composition “Introduction et Rondo capriccioso” from the original style of Camille Saint-Saëns, transplanted into the new environment by Claude Debussy, mutates into the highest segment of the best and most cleverly entertaining music. On the other hand, everyone only believes that Maurice Ravel's “Boléro” can work in this formation when they hear what kind of crazy clarté is going on. Also a new work – furnished by the composer himself.
A CD full of authentic musicality, intelligent and fiery joyful, a must on the shelf.
Wolf Loeckle
07.03.2012
Transcripts
With works by Bach, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Ravel
Presented by Jan Ritterstaedt
Counterpoint in Mozart
The piano duo GrauSchumacher plays works by Bach, Mozart and Ravel, among others. In recent years, the Berlin piano duo GrauSchumacher has made a name for itself primarily with the recording of new music and concertos for two pianos. Now the two Berlin pianists surprise with a new CD with transcriptions of real orchestral showpieces of classical music.
The GrauSchumacher piano duo plays Mozart's “Magic Flute” overture in a slightly sparkling and organic way. The two Berlin pianists also attach great importance to transparency: they emphasize the individual vocal progressions very clearly, and the complex structure of the music becomes audible. Mozart's preoccupation with the counterpoint techniques of Johann Sebastian Bach comes to mind, and that was certainly the intention of the arranger of this music, the great pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni.
Big suspense
In Wagner's “Tristan” prelude, GrauSchumacher also uncovers what was hidden in the original by a thick layer of vibrating strings and the compact brass section: the continually evolving melodicism and rich harmonic structure of the music. But this CD is by no means exclusively for listeners with an analytical interest: the two pianists also know how to build up and, above all, maintain great tension, even if the overall sound changes only little as in Rachmaninoff's “Vocalise”.
Bolero for two
What this piece may lack in vocal tone color is more than compensated for by the very subtle and highly differentiated playing of the two pianists Götz Grau and Andreas Schumacher: they play with intense melodic luminosity and thus achieve a chamber music density that is in no way inferior to the original. Even an evergreen that has been recorded and heard dozens of times, such as Ravel's Boléro, wins in the version for two pianos created by the composer himself. Even more: it becomes the dramaturgical and technical highlight of this CD.
In this piece, GrauSchumacher pulls out practically all the stops of four-hand piano playing, without restricting himself to the pure imitation of timbres and leaving behind the feeling of somehow reduced music. An impressive CD on a very high technical level, in which all initial reservations quickly give way to awe.