Look, let's not beat around the bush, Igor Stravinsky was not a masterful orchestrator like Strauss, Ravel or Mahler. He even composed Le Sacre du Printemps at the piano. But trying to match the well-known bassoon solo on two pianos is not a fair fight. From the very first second, Leif Ove Andsnes and Marc-André Hamelin have to battle against the odds.
You won't hear a bad word from me about the pianistic qualities of both gentlemen. Absolute world-class performers at the keyboard. A catalogue to rival any and a well-stocked trophy cabinet to support it. Let me therefore start with the concerto for two pianos. The only work on this album actually written for their instrument.
Andsnes and Hamelin dart through the Beethovenian first movement of the work. There is nothing to fault in the rigid correctness of the nimble-fingered opening section in sonata form. Without too much exaggerated emotionality either. Exactly as befits the flagship of neoclassicism.
In the subsequent movements, the duo raises the stakes. When their musical lines are increasingly played against each other. Andsnes and Hamelin weave through each other, pass melodic lines back and forth, exchange rhythmic ideas. It is remarkable that two soloists of this calibre manage to defer to each other at the expense of the ad hoc duo.
In Le Sacre du Printemps too, it is constantly clear that these are absolute world-class performers. Stubborn in Les Augures printaniers – Danse des adolescentes, completely unleashed in the Jeu de rapt. This is probably one of the best piano versions of Le Sacre ever to appear on cd. Despite the instrument, which quickly acquires a romantic undertone, both pianists (among other things through the stubbornness mentioned above, in which they truly excel) bring a particularly modernistic piano reduction of the work.
Never change a winning team
Be that as it may, it is an incredible piano version. At no point does the version for two pianos come close to the original orchestral instrumentation. Since Andsnes and Hamelin cannot differentiate in orchestral colours, some parts sound somewhat muddled. A piece like Le Sacre du Printemps needs to be rhythmically meticulous.
The choice for two pianos also has consequences in terms of dynamics. Both pianists do their utmost to get everything out of their instrument. But even here, two keyboard instruments cannot match the thunderous sacred din that blasts at you in an orchestral setting.
Moreover, one could argue about the designation of the piano version. On the booklet it says "arranged by the composer". I would hardly call this an arrangement. A reduction, a compositional aid, yes. But the piano version that Andsnes and Hamelin bring here, the same version that Debussy and Stravinsky actually played in 1913, is at most a distilled orchestral score and no innovative arrangement.
Furthermore, the accompanying booklet deserves credit. None other than Stravinsky specialist Stephen Walsh, who among other things penned the leading biographies of the composer, guides the listener through the selected works.
Craving for more
The remaining bite-sized morsels, Madrid, Tango and Circus Polka are entertaining fare, but they are difficult to compare with the two previous masterpieces. The arrangement of Madrid is still by Stravinsky's son Soulima, but with the other two arrangements, the connection with the Stravinsky family has completely disappeared. Victor Babin was certainly a very talented arranger, but personally I always feel that we are more listening to a piano work by Babin than a composition by Stravinsky.
That is also the great dilemma of this album. The performance is, as expected, extraordinary. In barely an hour of music, Andsnes and Hamelin demonstrate that they can seamlessly switch between the driving modernism of Le Sacre, the distilled neoclassicism of the concerto for two pianos and even the popular Tango or Circus Polka, but they remain piano reductions. Especially when you carry the baggage of an iconic orchestral work like Le Sacre, you do (despite the excellent attempt) end up feeling slightly short-changed.
- WHAT: Stravinsky: The rite of Spring and other music for two pianos
- WHO: Leif Ove Andsnes & Marc-André Hamelin
- RELEASE: Hyperion CDA68189