Review: Anne Applin and Geoffrey Pratley ‘Four Hands, One Piano’

In times before radio, music recordings, ipods and streaming many people would have had few opportunities to hear music except in a domestic setting, and many composers wrote extensively for piano duet and frequently arranged their orchestral works for ‘four hands on one piano’.

Recently, the art form has fallen out of favour, but what a treat we have missed. These two musicians, wonderfully together throughout, displayed a very high level of musicianship in their wide-ranging programme which was introduced with insight and humour.

It is not possible to mention every piece performed but highlights included a lovely performance of Schubert’s Variations in A flat which was composed as a piano duet and encompassed a wide range of emotions.

This was followed by John Carmichael’s four movement Latin American Suite which explores Latin American dance rhythms from an entrancing, relaxed Rumba to a highly syncopated, dramatic Jongo. Anne and Geoffrey gave the UK premiere of this work in 2003 and have since performed many of his pieces.

Their rapport with each other and with the piece was very evident and the foot-tapping audience shared their enjoyment of it.

The second half included Ravel’s ‘Mother Goose Suite’ with a dramatic duet between Beauty and the Beast, bird calls and oriental bell and gong effects and finished with a dramatic performance of three pieces from Rachmaninov’s ‘Six Morceaux’. It was hard to imagine that anything could follow the dramatic conclusion of the third piece ‘Slava’ but having asked the audience whether we would like a short encore or a long one, the pair launched into an arrangement of Khachaturian’s ‘Adagio from Spartacus’. What a way to end a wonderful evening.

The Club’s 48th Season begins on Saturday 11th October with a piano recital by Paul Roberts, a renowned exponent of French piano music.

Full details will be available on the Club’s website www.amershamconcerts.org.uk