Duo Miho & Masumi Miho – Piano Four Hands
STRAVINSKY: Rite of Spring; HINDEMITH: Sonata for Piano Four Hands; RAVEL: Rhapsodie Espagnole
The second features the radical sounds of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, performed in Stravinsky’s own piano four hands scoring, allowing the listener to come closer to the sonorities that Stravinsky himself will first have experienced as he composed, performed by Japanese duo Miho & Masumi Hio. Also: the Hindemith Sonata for Piano Four Hands and Ravel’s Rhapsodie espagnole.
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Husband and wife duo Miho and Masumi Hio present the radical sounds of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, performed in Stravinsky’s own piano four hands scoring, allowing the listener to come closer to the sonorities that Stravinsky himself will first have experienced as he composed. It is a “fascinating” rendition that is “phenomenally transparent and rhythmically well differentiated” (Pizzicato), “transforming the orchestral score into one for piano… without losing the complexity but gaining in intensity and precision” (Il Piccolo, Trieste). “The percussive piano provides a rhythmic drive [to the Rite] that the full orchestra blunts. We can hear details of the counterpoint which can be smothered under layers of instrumental colour… The two players here do a good job, giving us detail and force by turns…” (Music Web International)
In their hands, the Hindemith Sonata for Piano Four Hands “springs to life through very efficient dynamic nuances.” An undeservedly neglected work, it is an “especially welcome” addition to the recorded catalogue (BBC Music Magazine). The duo conclude with Ravel’s Rhapsodie espagnole, in a “poetic” interpretation with “enchanting lifting and coloring effects”, ending in the “thrilling” Habenara (Pizzicato).
