Ligeti: Pieces (3) for two pianos (Monument, Self-portrait & Movement)

The latest release in this series features works by György Ligeti, Kiyoshi Furukawa, Gerhard Stäbler and Francis Bowdery.

In the wake of the success of her Ligeti and Scriabin recordings (Dynamic CDS 358 and CDS 416), both of which won the prestigious ”10” of Repertoire, the young Canadian pianist Lucille Chung now completes, with this second volume, all of Ligeti’s piano output, including the works written for two pianos and piano four hands, for which she has sought the collaboration of Alessio Bax.

The instrumental virtuosity of these pieces is pushed to the limit, and the manual - but also psychological and nervous - control required of the interpreter is quite extraordinary. Exemplary in this respect is the Etude No. 1, by the significant title of Désordre (Disorder), dedicated to Pierre Boulez, in which the uninterrupted rhythmic and metric asymmetry between right and left hand creates a strong sense of instability and anxiety.

Whether it be a question of metaphysics or simply one of ”physics”, piano writing which multiplies hands and fingers on the keyboard of a piano must necessarily experience a fatal syndrome of splitting and of highly fertile ”uncertainty”. An exceptionally rich and fruitful ”philosophical” doubt, for it is around it that many composers created some of the most vital piano pages in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here thus are Lutoslawski’s prodigious Paganini Variations, Kurtag’s sentimental and visionary Játékok (Games), Ligeti’s Three pieces for two pianos (Monument - Selbsportrait - Bewegung) and Berio’s Linea. Tackling these difficult works are pianists Biondi and Brunialti, forming a solid duo.