Rachmaninoff: Piano Duets Hélène Mercier & Louis Lortie

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943):
• 1 Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": I. Barcarolle 07:39
• 2 Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": II. La nuit, l'amour 05:53
• 3 Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": III. Les larmes 06:03
• 4 Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": IV. Pâques 02:38
• Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17:
• 5 Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: I. Introduction 03:58
• 6 Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: II. Valse 05:42
• 7 Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: III. Romance 06:33
• 8 Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: IV. Tarantelle 06:26
• Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos):
• 9 Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): I. Non allegro 11:17
• 10 Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): II. Andante con moto [Tempo di valse] 09:00
• 11 Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): III. Lento assai 13:02
• Total Runtime 01:18:11

Info for Rachmaninoff: Piano Duets

After more than twenty years since their last recording of piano duets on Chandos, Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier here come together again to perform works by Rachmaninoff.

The Symphonic Dances was the last work to which Rachmaninoff gave an opus number, and he arranged it himself for two pianos. He was separated from his native Russia, where the Soviets had banned his music. In this work he thinks beyond himself as a Russian and, as in the Suite, Op. 17, into the world to come. In both works, amidst a gallery of musical references and quotations, he juxtaposes passages of his own music (from the First and Third Symphonies, The Bells, the Vespers, etc.) with music by composers he particularly admired (such as Richard Strauss, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Schubert).

The combination of material may be seen as his exhibition of the nineteenth-century musical world.

The album also features the Fantaisie (or Suite) for two pianos, Op. 5, in which poetic fragments in the score reveals that each movement for Rachmaninoff carried a world of secreted meaning.

“... the Lortie-Mercier duo is persuasive throughout (no harsh sounds either), and with such skilled touches coming from both pianists, this Chandos release is one of the best on the market. For the Symphonic Dances alone, it’s worth getting.” (Marius Dawn, Pianist magazine)

"This is an excellent Rachmaninoff programme, taking us from the high romance of the relatively early Suite No. 1 to the composer’s last opus numbered work, the Symphonic Dances This is a very appealing programme and Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier deliver very fine performances indeed.." (Dominy Clements, MusicWeb-International)

Hélène Mercier, piano
Louis Lortie, piano

No biography found.

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