Stravinsky’s two-piano transcription of his 1928 chamber concerto Dumbarton Oaks is seldom performed, for one simple reason: it’s dull. On the piano, Stravinsky’s colorful instrumental interplay and timbral diversity goes for almost nothing. Just compare the brash contrasts between string and woodwind sonorities in the second movement of the original score to its more neutral keyboard counterpart, and you’ll hear what’s missing.
By contrast, the Concerto for Two Solo Pianos is piano music through and through, and also happens to be one of Stravinsky’s greatest works in any genre. The slightly nasal timbres of the early 20th century instruments used by Alexei Lubimov and Slava Poprugin add an edgy patina to their inspired, carefully balanced pianism. I like the conversational effect that the pianists achieve in the third-movement variations’ slithery runs, while the detached lightness they bring to the fourth-movement introductory prelude’s long, sustained chords is a welcome change from the heavy, monochrome touch I’ve heard from one too many piano duos.
Without vocalists, the ambling qualities of Satie’s Socrate increase tenfold in John Cage’s rather two-dimensional arrangement for two pianos. Ironically, the purposeful repetitions and slapstick aura that prevail throughout Satie’s Cinéma sound even more humorous, brash, and “Satie-like” with certain notes “prepared” à la John Cage, meaning that screws, bolts, washers, rubber erasers, and other such implements are wedged in between certain piano strings. The sonics are slightly overresonant, but the performers’ authority always comes across, especially in the Concerto and Cinéma, the two stand-out selections in this alternately joyful and uneventful program.