The piano duo Quattro Mani, featuring pianists Steven Beck and Susan Grace, was reformed in 2013 after an earlier iteration, due to the strong chemistry between them during a concerto performance.
Composer Biography
Paul Bowles, an American composer and author, lived most of his life in Morocco and was a student of Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson.
Composition History
Paul Bowles's "Night Waltz" was composed in 1949, the same year as his most popular creation, the novel "The Sheltering Sky."
Compositional Technique
In "Hallelujah Junction," composer John Adams uses an interlocking style of two-piano writing with short, rhythmic motives bouncing between pianos, creating echoing sonorities.
Composition History
John Adams's "Hallelujah Junction" is named after a small truck stop near the California-Nevada border, a title he found before composing the piece.
Composition History
Four of Bent Sørensen's "Six Intermezzi" are subtitled after works by Danish visual artists and friends whom the composer admires.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bent Sørensen's "Six Intermezzi" for two pianos aims to create the feeling of one large piano played by four hands, trying to meld into a single big hand.
