On one side, GRAMMY-nominated Simone Dinnerstein. On the other side, GRAMMY-winning Awadagin Pratt. Together, these brilliant musicians present a concert of piano masterworks. The longtime friends and collaborators have performed together many times over their respective careers, cultivating a deep respect and admiration for one another’s artistry. Their poised synchronicity and mutual understanding unveils a blend of their musical voices. Tonight, we prepare for a musical dialogue spanning centuries.
Musicians have collaborated at every point throughout history. This program begins with a practical example: J.S. Bach’s Concerto for two pianos, No. 3, BWV 1062 in C minor. J. S. Bach is credited with inventing the keyboard genre with the Brandenburg Concertos, written around 1721. Surprisingly, keyboards were not on Bach’s mind when he wrote this concerto for two pianos. This work began its life as a concerto for two violins, written around 1730, and is most well known in that form. The concerto we will hear today was re-arranged by Bach for two keyboards six years later. This work is highly significant for the development of the keyboard genre. When J.S. Bach died, this work fell into the lap of his son, Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach. It would become the earliest inspirations for C.P.E.’s music: the younger Bach’s manifold keyboard compositions influencing composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert with its Sturm und Drang aesthetic. But let’s not getting ahead of ourselves. First, we move through the eclectic sounds of John Adams.
John Adam’s Shaker Loops (1978) evokes the church practices of the Shakers, whose services were characterised by wild and frenetic dancing. Adams writes that he was intrigued by the image of “otherwise pious and industrious souls caught up in the ecstatic frenzy of a dance that culminated in an epiphany of physical and spiritual transcendence.” This work bares little similarity to Adams’ first version of the work. Called “Wavemaker,” Adams felt the piece needed “a larger, thicker ensemble and for a more flexible, less theory-bound means of composing.” He attained this flexible composing not in the isolation of his office at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, but in the student body. By working with his students, Adams submitted his work into the hectic and chaotic experimentation of the new generation of student musicians. As much as his work reflects Shaker practices, Adams work also bears the mark of a dialogue with his endlessly creative students.
Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 365/316a was written by the composer in his early 20s to be performed alongside his sister. Reflecting the interplay between brother and sister, this work is among the finest in the concerto genre. Unlike the previous works, Mozart’s concerto takes measures to highlight the dialogue taking place between both pianos. Mozart even quiets the orchestra down, quite a feat to accomplish! Notice especially in the second movement (Andante) how complex the interplay is between the pianos: what first sounds like one piano improvising over the bass of the other suddenly is flipped on its head. As the program’s climax, at times mischievous, daring, and ambitious, this concerto demands from its soloists the purest form of artistic expression, the ability to converse and through this, to play.
