Art Pianos: New York to Buenos Aires

Release Date: 12th Jan 2015
Catalogue No: CR018
Label: Convivium

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Grainger: Fantasy on George Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ (two pianos)

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Jobim: Meu amigo Radamés (Chôro)

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Márquez: Danzón No. 2

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Benjamin, A: Jamaican Rumba

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Gnattali: Brasiliana No. 8 (1-3)

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Viola, P: Sarau Para Radamés

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 for at least 8 cellos

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 for orchestra

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 3 for piano and orchestra

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Piazzólla: Adiós Nonino

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

Piazzólla: Milonga del ángel

Art Pianos: Irena Powell & Magorzata Jackowska

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This is a vibrant and exotic selection of two-piano repertoire played with dedication and flair by the young Polish duo Art Pianos. This distinctive and eclectic disc takes the listener on a journey through the Americas, kicking off in NYC with a classic of two-piano repertoire: Percy Grainger’s virtuosic, jazz-tinged ramble on Gershwin’s 'Porgy and Bess'. However, not all the choices are so predictable and many demonstrate the wide influence of chôro, a Brazilian popular tradition of instrumental music, with compositions influenced by the genre from the founding fathers of Brazilian concert music – Villa-Lobos and Radamés Gnattali – alongside vernacular examples by Paulinho da Viola and Carlos Jobim, huge stars of Brazilian popular culture. Taking in the evergreen 'Jamaican Rumba' by Arthur Benjamin and the dynamic 'Danzon no.2' of Marquez (popularised by Dudamel in its original orchestral version), the journey winds down in Buenos Aires with two Piazzolla classics in charismatic and definitive arrangements by the bandoneonist’s own pianist. This is a disc for lovers of jazz- and Latin- inspired music, and will appeal in equal measure to the piano enthusiast as it will to fans of Brazilian popular music.

Art Pianos duo was founded in 2010 in Gliwice, (Poland), by Magorzata Jackowska and Irena Jakuboszczak (now Irena Powell). The two pianists were introduced by a mutual friend, a composer from Lviv: Uljana Bilan-Lezanska, in the marvellous Cafe With Passion in their home town, and they decided to play together there and then. Irena Powell studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy in Katowice with Joanna Domanska. Magorzata Jackowska studied at the Academy of Music in Krakow with Danuta Mroczek-Szlezer, including a post-graduate chamber music programme. After their studies both pianists took up teaching posts and were active as chamber musicians. The duo’s choice of repertoire reflects the performers' wide musical interests and, as such, ranges from music originating in the Balkans to South America including the choro tradition of Brazil.

Art Pianos

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