For all I know, piano à quatre mains is for many a format closely connected to family music-making; an intimate dialogue between brothers and sisters, like, for instance, the Jussen Brothers from the Netherlands, the Marlowe Brothers from the United States, the French Labèque, and the Turkish Pekinel Sisters. Two siblings playing at the same piano. Not to be mistaken for two players playing on two pianos.

Although siblings seem to be the perfect Duet, several mixed combinations have pushed the format to exemplary heights. Notable examples include Duo Tal & Groethuysen, the American ‘Boys’ Gold and Fizdale, and many more, covering the grounds from classical to popular. From a technical point of view, rhythm and exact timing are essential elements to enable the four hands of two human beings to play harmoniously together. Not self-evident for an ad hoc duo. Only the best survives.

Two of Spain’s top pianists, Javier Laso and Josep Colom, have taken on the challenge of playing some of the most famous Piano Duets in this new Eudora album: Mozart & Schubert. A daring enterprise in a field of many excellent recordings. Nonetheless, there are two reasons for taking a closer look at their performance: a clear sense of complicity, sitting side by side, and, quite unusually, inserting add-ons in the form of ornamentations, while allowing for ‘freedom of expression’ in places.

In doing so, they made things more difficult for themselves. Although ornamentations are not unusual for Mozart - he used them himself in his concertos - and improvisations were common in Schubert’s era, these elements can disrupt the flow of rhythm and accuracy. Comparing Laso and Colom with Marie & Veronica Kuijken in Mozart’s Sonata in C major K.521 (Mozart: Sonatas for four hands - Kuijken / Kuijken) shows that they do not fully replicate the latter’s careful and precisely crafted Mozart style, enhanced by the use of a 1788 fortepiano. No doubt a matter of personal preference. In Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor, the siblings Zala Kravos & Val Kravos (Mozart, Schubert, Bizet, Choveaux - Kravos, Kravos) display an enthusiastic youthful spirit that is difficult to imitate.

Yet, setting aside these technical matters, the musical approach of Laso and Colom is beyond question. In Schubert’s Duet ‘Lebensstürme’, both display ample understanding of the composer’s passionate fury and subsequent sadness at what he had accomplished during his short lifetime and what he did not, and that it was about to end soon. A tragic account weeks before he passed away. Similar feelings surface in perhaps the greatest of all Duets, Schubert’s Fantasy in F major. A well-considered mixture of powerful compassion and tender yearning, as only mature musicians can bring about.

Maybe not all is perfect, but I did enjoy two master musicians’ stunningly unravelling the brilliant sparkle of Mozart and the core of Schubert’s spiritual legacy in a fashion not to be found elsewhere.

As always, set in Gonzalo Noqué’s Hall of Sound Engineering Fame.

Copyright © 2025 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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