Influential Piano Duos and their niche in the Culture?

[m1469]

While I know that there are probably some fantastic piano duos in the world, I am curious as to what they're particular influence is on the piano world, and how they further the piano/music culture?  Why don't any of them take the limelight from solo piano playing?

I am interested in duo playing (especially as a player with a great match ), but I'm just curious what some of the fundamental features are to it within the overall piano and music culture.  Well, of course there's more but I'll stop there for now.

[phillip21]

That's a very interesting question.  My view on this is that:

1) the public find it easier to focus on a single 'star' rather than a duo, especially when they are both playing the same instrument.  I went to the Roundhouse in London in July to see Lang Lang play a Liszt programme in the iTunes festival in a setup primarily directed to pop music/fans.  He entered in a cloud of dry ice, but gave a very communicative and well-received recital.  It would take very astute staging for a duo to have the same impact as this solo player alone on stage.

2) it is much harder for a player to synchronise with another pianist as opposed to a singer, violinist etc because of the precision of attack required.  I do wonder if the degree of concentration needed to achieve good ensemble detracts from the spontaneity and expression of the performance of each individual player.

Of course my second point may be negated if you have in the duo players of phenomenal individual talent who are global stars as individuals, eg the Labèque sisters, or Marta Argerich.  Also there have been (on the lighter side) piano duos who have arranged music to suit their own styles, and then made a great act - eg, Rawicz and Landauer. 

[m1469]

Lang Lang (...) entered in a cloud of dry ice (...)

   haha ... Lang Lang.

Thanks for your very interesting response!  Part of what you mentioned touched upon another thought that I had in that, I do wonder if there's just a level of solidarity generally missing from what duos have achieved, as a duo.  Something that I have been thinking about regarding ensemble (singing, in this case, especially, since I currently have a choir) is the idea of a kind of oneness where, ideally, something is reached that simply can't be achieved -and is greater than- when performing alone - otherwise why not just have a soloist?  Let's say you have a bunch of fantastic individual musicians, put them together to create something greater than what they could achieve alone.  Do people even see ensembles like that, beyond just something like "I want the sound of more than one or ____"?

In that sense, should a duo truly achieve a kind of solidarity that acts and musically behaves as its own identity, and not two separate identities coming together, but ONE sound, one voice, one idea, then I would think it would be possible for audiences to accept a duo as one.  But, I also can see in my mind's eye and imagination that you could choreograph and stage things in particular ways to really aid in communicating that concept.

Also, it seems it's one thing for both to be independently astounding musicians, but it's even still another to have a similar musical makeup and to share in having a musical message.  In that sense, I would think that you can't actually just invent a superior duo, but that there has to be something intrinsic about each individual and those individuals fitting in such a way that creates an outstanding blend, and that blend being the single voice that is "greater" than the one.  I am also curious if ego inevitably gets into the way, or an inability to be fully musically disclosing to another individual?

It seems to me that if duos were moving audiences and fully communicating musical ideas, they would have a different place in the culture ... but, maybe that's wrong!  Not everybody, nor everything that is great, is necessarily recognized as such by popular opinion!

[m1469]

Perhaps I am observing incorrectly, but it just seems that piano duos are not necessarily adding anything in particular to the culture so as to be revolutionizing anything in particular as it relates to music-making at the piano.  And, if that is actually the case, then why do they exist?  Also, is it just a matter of there not being much potential in the idea, or rather is it that the idea is just not reaching its fullest potential?

[Bob]

It's a niche maybe?  You remember them if they're siblings or have some similarity like that. 

Is there much music for two pianos?  Good music?  A duo could do something like a symphony transcription or both parts of a piano concerto, but what's the point if it's not meant for piano originally?  I could see a duo going around successfully with transcriptions though. 

Economically, would a duo get paid the same as a soloist?  ie They can't survive because they have to split everything?

[indianajo]

Piano duos were quite the thing for small town entertainment before the phonograph and radio.  Brahms did some great things, like Variation on a theme by Haydn, and Liszt did a lot of wonderful transcriptions of Beethoven symphones etc. This material is  hardly ever played anymore. Then again, Rhapsody in Blue was originally a 2 piano piece before Ferde Grofe arranged it for Paul Whiteman's band.
I have a wonderful 1982 Sohmer console piano bought new, and  picked up an "in the way, got to move this weekend" 1941 Steinway console in 2010. They sound very similar. I'm looking for a partner to make up a duo, but there is hardly anybody with this kind of skill not working on a teacher's certificate or master's in education.  
My Mother & I played the simplfied version of Ferrante & Teicher's Exodus about 1962.  A very pleasurable experience for us, even if there was no audience.  That was 1 piano four hands.  F&T sold a lot of records in the sixties and played a lot of concerts. I've been picking up their LP's at the charity resale shop. Their early stuff is quite striking, but when they started using house arrangers and a backup orchestra I find the material rather bland.  But then the big money in those days was being made by Montovani, who was as bland as they come. Living Strings was copied after him, snore.  F&T had some fire when they were young.  

[keyboardkat]

F&T were great pianists who entered popular music to earn money, but sometimes when they were alone, to quote Time magazine, they would play Schumann and Brahms and Mozart "as if they were hungry again."

My own teacher, the late David Bradshaw, was part of the duo piano team of Bradshaw & Buono.  He referred to it as a form of chamber music.   They played a number of things by Liszt and Rachmaninoff that are not well known today, like the Liszt "Ad nos" variations and Rachmaninoff's "Slava."   They premiered works by contemporary composers as well.   Sometimes they would invite a guest soloist, such as a flutist, to perform at their concerts.   And they played with the scores in front of them.  There is nothing wrong with that.  If a string quartet plays from the score, why not a piano duo?