The renowned piano duo, Anderson and Roe, gave a recital, which consisted of a wide variety of pieces, ranging from Mozart to John Williams.
The duo started the recital with Mozart / Busoni Duettino Concertante, which was based on the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 in F Major. The duo played this piece with clean articulation and well-judged pedalling and there was an attempt to create the orchestral colours in the accompaniment, but a wider array of colours was needed. There was a good balance between the two parts in general, although their playing lost the focus sporadically. One may think that the exploration of the subtle changes in moods could have been deeper and the drama in the music could be better maintained.
There was an introduction of the works by the duo between each piece. Although this way of introducing the pieces reflected the duo’s understanding of the compositions and enhanced the audience’s understanding as well, it slightly affected the artistic flow of the whole performance, and programme notes could have served the same purpose without interrupting the musical flow.
The performance was followed by Rachmaninoff Suite No.1 for Two Pianos, which illustrated four poems written by Russian poets. The wave-like motion and lilting rhythm in Barcarolle was well-handled. Despite the occasionally stiff and less refined tone production, there were quite some luscious and moving moments with lyricalness, bringing strong emotional power to the audience. There was much imagination in the duo’s playing, which depicted the rippling water and the movement of the gondola. With delicacy and filigree, the rich harmonics were played with nice voicing. The build-up of climax in The Night… The Love… was effective, having such lucidity and fluidity in the music. The duo also succeeded to convey the emotional tone. The whispering in midnight, the passionate love, the ecstatic joy, the yearning for love, the fantasies… The duo’s playing was immaculately layered, highly imaginative and unfailingly impressive; and the technical demands were, of course, tackled with ease. The poignant movement, The Tears, began with a deeply reflective and introspective cascade of descending notes, representing the dropping tears. The melodies were often executed with a singing tone and scintillating phrasing. The deep emotions were well projected too. As for Easter, it was performed with grandeur and splendour. The duo maintained sufficient volume without compromising the tonal range, although at times it would be better if there were more dynamic gradations. The sound of bells was also clearly depicted and imitated.
The duo started Ravel La Valse, which was originally a choreographic poem for orchestra and arranged by Ravel himself for two pianos, with a misty atmosphere and an imitation of double basses at the beginning. The distorted waltz rhythm and the varying musical shape was treated with care, always keeping the propulsive power of the music, but the underlying rhythm in the middle section still required a little bit more attention. There was a palette of colours in the duo’s playing, and both of them had shown their virtuosity in this electrifying and sensational performance with good coordination, while displaying a variety of tonal colours and taking the sounds of orchestral instrumentation into consideration. Moreover, there were effective dynamic shadings and the choreographic element in the music was brought out. The duo also talked about the socio-political influence in the music in their introduction, and the scary and chaotic nature of this piece was contributed by the chaos created after World War I. The duo somehow was able to link the distorted rhythm and dissonance in the music with the war in their performance, but this was not very distinct throughout the performance.
After the intermission, the duo played their own arrangement of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean from Thriller. There was an interesting treatment of the thematic materials with strong rhythmic drive and innovative incorporation of body elements into the composition. Bringing out the dark, sinister side of Michael Jackson’s music, the duo also had some great chemistry and displayed the innate dance quality. The performance of this work was quite energetic and thrilling.
Here came Weiss and Thiele’s What a Wonderful World arranged by Anderson and Roe, which was perhaps the least impressive piece of the whole concert. Their playing unfortunately lacked the emotional power which could be found in Louis Armstrong’s performance of this piece, but still it was a refreshing arrangement with reference to Rachmaninoff Lilacs and introduction of complex harmonies. Also, it seemed that their playing at times lost the forward momentum and there were a few moments where the piece actually came to life as this work missed interpretive insight.
Then the duo proceeded to their arrangement of Piazzolla Primavera Porteña. This performance had sufficient creative engagement, in which the duo applied cross-hand playing, intense eye contact in order to depict the “danger” in the tango. Their playing had flair and really brought out the spirit, soul of tango. With rhythmic purpose, this rendition was fiery, exuberant and stimulating, and again displayed their virtuosity and chemistry between the two of them.
In their Virtuoso Hungarian Dance No.5 in F-Sharp minor, the duo had added some sudden modulations, virtuosic passages and gypsy idiom, as mentioned in the duo’s introduction, to enhance listeners’ experience and bring surprises to them. The rhythm and Hungarian folk music element in this piece was emphasized with a well-projected sense of character and technical and impassioned rigour.
The duo then played the final piece of the concert, their Three Star Wars Fantasies. The Fantasies were indeed a reconstruction, based on the themes of the music in Star Wars. Again here, the composition is highly original and creative; and the themes adapted from the original music were incorporated into the Fantasies with very different musical styles. The Ragtime was again very energizing and rhythmic with the use of syncopation and was based on Cantina theme, and Darth Vader, Yoda, Force themes, some of which were embedded in the music rather obscurely. The Ragtime contained the rhythmic vitality to influence the audience and make them move with the music. Based on the Force theme, Quietly Luminous was written in a rather minimalistic way. The duo’s tone production here was a bit unsatisfactory and too hard, lacking a sensitive touch. In general, their rendition could not achieve their desired effect, which is to make the audience feel that they are floating, by the texture of the music. The duo gave a more persuasive account of Toccata, comprising of different themes from Star Wars. Here they played the piece with spontaneity and virtuosity; and had full control over the keyboard. This piece, with its climactic build up and rhythmic momentum, provided a sense of conclusion to the work and there was more of a convincing sense of engagement in this movement as well.
The audience was very enthusiastic and the duo played their arrangement of Mambo from Bernstein’s West Side Story as the first encore, which was quite an adrenaline-charged and astounding performance. They further enhanced their interaction with the audience by asking the audience to shout “Mambo” for two times at certain moments, which again reflected their utmost creativity. Mambo originated in Cuba and the duo captured the spirit and the essential rhythmic element of this piece. There was an attempt to imitate the original orchestral sounds. Undoubtedly, the audience was even more active and high-spirited afterwards.
As the second encore, the duo performed their own arrangement of Mozart’s very famous Rondo Alla Turca, from his Piano Sonata in A Major in the style of ragtime. It was a creative extension of the original piece. The duo’s refined technique was indeed impressive and striking. It is then followed by the duo’s breath-taking arrangement of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, marked by the technical difficulty, such as the rapid, light octaves, glissandi and frequent cross-hand playing between them. The following encore was Saint-Saëns’ The Swan, with a refinement of tone and beautiful legato, bringing listeners a soothing experience. The concert was concluded by the duo’s arrangement of The Beatles’ Let It Be. The lyrical nature and warmth in this piece was well expressed and it provided a suitable and fitting end to the recital.
From this recital, it revealed the duo’s interpretive gift of both classical music and pop music. While exploring the world of pop music, the duo should also expand their repertoire of classical music as they clearly have the ability to interpret classical music in a refreshing way and with much musicality, especially in Rachmaninoff’s Suite in this recital.
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