Jonathan Biss performs with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Marin Alsop

Jonathan Biss and Richard Goode
in recital

Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
31 May 2008

As part of the International Chamber Music Season
and the International Piano Series.

Reviews:

"Piano duets rarely make it out of the living room and into the concert hall, but the appeal of this programme went far deeper than novelty. Richard Goode had invited Jonathan Biss to join him for the final appearance of his South Bank mini-residency, and so on the platform were perhaps the finest two US pianists of their respective generations. It seemed a meeting of equals. For Biss, at 27, less than half Goode's age, that is praise indeed. They are uncannily well matched. Visually, Biss is the more flamboyant player, but he shares Goode's intellectual rigour, and the pair had precisely calibrated the weight of their attack. In Schubert's A minor Lebensstürme, Biss traced arabesques above Goode's insistent, pulsing bass.

Only in Beethoven's own arrangement of his Grosse Fuge did Goode, now taking the upper part, stand out - inevitably, given how far up the keyboard his embattled lines travelled. Beethoven's arrangement was intended for two players at one instrument, but Goode and Biss sat at separate pianos - possibly for their own safety, given their constantly flying hands. Hearing this fantastically wrought piece on piano rather than string quartet does not make it any more comprehensible, but it was impossible to deny its drama as the theme thundered out.

Everything else, bar the encore (Schumann's reflective Abendlied), involved two pianos. The Bach-like melodies in Schumann's Six Etudes en Forme de Canon, in Debussy's arrangement, interwove in beatific equilibrium. Stravinsky's own version of his ballet Agon teemed with dancing energy. Even better was Debussy's En Blanc et Noir, the only work written specifically for two pianos, which was played with generous exuberance yielding to gossamer delicacy. This partnership is too rewarding to be a one-off."

Classicalsource.com

"… Schubert got the evening off to an enthralling start with his A minor Allegro (1828) – the most impulsive and demonstrative of all his works for piano duet. …Goode and Biss spared nothing in emotional intensity, while ensuring the music's intricate textures and probing harmonies were never obscured. After this, Schumann's canonic Etudes (1845) might easily have been underwhelming, but heard in Debussy's restrained and lucid transcription (1891), they yielded undoubted poise…

In the case of Stravinsky's last ballet Agon (1957), the loss arises in some of his most astringent and characterful orchestration; yet, as so often, rhythm is the raison d'être of his music – and being able to savour the increasingly stark yet elaborate interplay of these twelve dances is hardly to be passed over. In so teasing out the work's myriad subtleties, Goode and Biss ensured that this was anything but a functional arrangement – and with the retention of castanets in 'Bransle Gay' making their mark almost as a 'click-track' maintaining order in the face of an inscrutable rhythmic punning.

The first half had concluded with Beethoven's own transcription of his Grosse Fuge (1826) …and, as given here, one of his most impressive. Much of its impact here stemmed from these players' almost intuitive grasp of the 'give and take' necessary to bring off such a confrontational rendering of this most challenging of masterpieces (originally for string quartet) …Few hearing the piece for the first time in this version would suspect it was not the original instrumentation: a true fête of inspired musicianship and execution."

Ending the recital with Debussy's En blanc et noir (1915) … the central evocation of national and also cultural conflict was properly unnerving, while the closing scherzo scintillated in its unblinking clarity and lightly-inflected energy.

A fitting conclusion to a recital which is certain to prove a highlight of the year's music-making in London. Should Goode and Biss continue their partnership, then a programme featuring the Beethoven and Debussy – together with Mozart's Adagio and Fugue, Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Pianos and, above all, Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica – would make for an evening no less unmissable."

Notes from the concert programme

Richard Goode’s current Southbank Centre residency has been planned to present him in different contexts: but why, after a concerto performance, a solo recital, a lecture-recital and a master-class, did he choose to end by playing with another pianist, rather than, say, a string quartet? His immediate answer is that “I wanted to play with Jonathan Biss. I first heard him play at sixteen or seventeen, at his Marlboro audition, and he’s become a Marlboro regular. His playing is so authoritative, so warm.” Jonathan says that when he received Richard’s invitation “I dropped everything; and miraculously the date was available. There’s no musician I admire more – for the way he lives his life, and for the seriousness with which he approaches the score. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Richard’s other reason for planning a programme of duets and duos (four hands at one and two pianos) was his interest in certain pieces – and one in particular: “Stravinsky’s Agon I’m somewhat obsessed with: it’s invigorating and wonderful. It’s one of the most New York things Stravinsky ever wrote: you can hear the traffic!” In defence of playing the work in the composer’s two-piano reduction, he says: “Of course the orchestral colour is marvellous, but the counterpoint is marvellous too, and the intricacy of what goes on. And how often does one get to hear it?” Jonathan was initially “intrigued” by the idea of the Stravinsky, and having got to know it (both players have studied both parts) he agrees that the arrangement “reveals different aspects of the score”. He finds the extended “Pas-de-deux” towards the end “quite beautiful in an untraditional way”.

Richard also proposed another composer’s transcription of his own music, Beethoven’s duet version of his Grosse Fuge: “It’s always interesting to hear a well-known piece in a different form. Just as the quartet version strains the possibility of the medium, so does the piano duet version. That kind of furious energy is what the piece is about.” Jonathan was particularly happy with this suggestion, as “I’ve been fixated on the piece since I was a teenager. It’s un-beautiful, but one of the most moving and most powerful pieces I’ve ever heard.” He agrees that “the expressivity is connected to the physical difficulty”, not least in the problem of keeping the players’ hands from colliding: “the score has lots of arrows: down, up, away, left, right.”

It was Jonathan who contributed the idea of Schumann’s canonic Studies for pedal-piano, in Debussy’s two-piano transcription: “It’s a neglected masterpiece – neglected for practical reasons, because it was written for an instrument which almost immediately became defunct. The canons are strict, yet the music has a generous, expansive feeling. Debussy added very little to the piece: there are very few places where he fleshed it out, and not a note is approached in a spirit which isn’t Schumann’s.” Richard, noting Debussy’s special feeling for Schumann, praises the arrangement for its “sheer beauty of sound”.

Debussy’s Schumann transcription is complemented by his own En blanc et noir, which Richard describes as “a rare example of Debussy stepping out of his fantasy world into reality”. Jonathan admires the work as “quite beautifully written. I find it quite satisfying: there’s something appealing about its coolness. The middle movement stands out as a different kind of piece: but as a set it’s very successful.” However, he adds that the work contains “so many things that are exposed and difficult” – including some notorious attacks for the two players in unison, which he says are best approached “with a certain amount of trust!”

Any recital including piano duets should find room for a piece by Schubert, and this one begins with his late Allegro called Lebensstürme. Jonathan calls it “a masterpiece on a par with the F minor Fantasy: it has everything that makes Schubert’s great music great, and it’s enormously gratifying to play.” Richard agrees with the assessment, though he says that “it has a very high energy level, and you have to be careful it doesn’t become overpowering. But there’s always that heartbeat going through it.”

Piano duets in general, Richard suggests, “are usually more fun for players than for listeners. You need to create the effect of a single piano.” This is done largely through pedalling, usually undertaken by the second player, though “the Primo can sound naked, so there are times when he should take over the pedal.” And is there a danger in such domestic music of playing to each other and excluding the audience? Jonathan suggests that part of the pleasure of being an audience member “is hearing a performance which is a conversation between friends – as in a string quartet or a song recital”. And in any case, “even when you’re playing alone or with an orchestra, the primary aim is to do justice to the music”.

Programme notes and interviews by Anthony Burton © 2008