Rachmaninoff: Piano Duets Hélène Mercier & Louis Lortie

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943):
• 1Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": I. Barcarolle07:39
• 2Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": II. La nuit, l'amour05:53
• 3Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": III. Les larmes06:03
• 4Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos in G Minor, Op. 5 "Fantaisie tableaux": IV. Pâques02:38
• Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17:
• 5Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: I. Introduction03:58
• 6Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: II. Valse05:42
• 7Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: III. Romance06:33
• 8Suite No. 2 for 2 Pianos in C Major, Op. 17: IV. Tarantelle06:26
• Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos):
• 9Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): I. Non allegro11:17
• 10Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): II. Andante con moto [Tempo di valse]09:00
• 11Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (Version for 2 Pianos): III. Lento assai13:02
• Total Runtime01:18:11

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.

Booklet for Rachmaninoff: Piano Duets