Poulenc: Elégie for two pianos, FP175

A delightful programme of French music for two pianos and four hands from Onyx artist Pascal Rogé and his wife Ami. The music is a mix of the urbane, witty, tender, passionate and dramatic – from Saint-Saëns’ sparkling ‘Wedding Cake’ Caprice, to the passion and eroticism of Ravel’s ‘La Valse’,the drama of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas and the gentle and sophisticated romanticism of Faure’s Dolly Suite.

Paul Chihara’s ‘Ami Suite’ was written for Pascal and Ami, and here receives its world premiere recording.

Winners of a number of awards, the sisters Mona and Rica Bard now present their first CD, a pas de deux though 80 years of French piano music. At one and at two instruments, they create a panorama of piano sound, ranging from the simulation of orchestral colours, percussive and motoric élan to the suggestion of an intensive song-like quality. With Bizet‘s Jeux d’enfants, Ravel‘s Rapsodie espagnole and Poulenc‘s Sonata for Two Pianos, this SACD contains three 'secret' masterworks by their respective composers. With its combination of elegance, irony and samba rhythms, the Scaramouche Suite quickly became Darius Milhaud‘s most popular work. Four hands, two sisters, one pulse – Mona & Rica Bard have won national and international awards at competitons; among them the German Music Competition, the Concorso Internazionale di Musica da Camera Palma d`Oro (Finale Ligure) and the Concorso Internazionale per Duo Pianistico Twenty Fingers (Rome). The Ensemble was accepted in the National Selection of Young Artists’ Concerts of the German Music Council and in the artists’ list of the association Yehudi Menuhin – Live Music Now. Extensive concert engagements have taken Mona & Rica Bard throughout Europe, to Asia the USA and to numerous festivals such as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the NCPA May Festival Peking and the Chicago Piano Duo Festival.