University of Chicago Presents DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN Review – Two + Two = An Orchestra

DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN Transport You to the Music Parlor

DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN offer homage to the rise of the middle class in the 18^th century and the treasured parlor piano. Their professional playing, however, far exceeds that of parlor musicians. From the program notes we learn that Bach, Mozart and Handel created orchestral works under royal patronage.  Such orchestral works were rarely heard outside of royal musical circles, or in cities with orchestras.  Creative publishers seized on the opportunity, commissioned piano versions, and sold them to pianists across Europe looking for challenge and parlor performance repertoire.  Most pieces were four-handed, one-piano because of the imitative lushness that this could create.  Also, most families had only one piano.  Generally, these are musical pieces of virtuosity, lacking only the tonal smoothing of strings, horns and woodwinds.  DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN seized the challenge and rendered interpretations, which in this reviewer’s opinion, were on par with the originals.  Wagner’s Overture to Tannhauser, repurposed by the composer, was every bit as awesome as the orchestral version, and perhaps more so when you imagined the crashing chords played in a small chamber.

DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN’s Pianos Rival the Orchestra

There is also a large collection of orchestral pieces transcribed for duo pianos.  After intermission, the pianos were juxtaposed such that the pianists were facing each other.   They then dove into Debussy’s La Mer.  This orchestral piece embraces all the facets of the sea— from tranquil, to playful, to massive destruction. The transcriber, Andre Caplet, as the program notes explained, “writes out gossamer-like piano figurations and tremolos for the pianists to play shaped by subtle dynamic shadings, pedal fluttering, and judicious use of the sustain and una corda pedals. All of these are pianistic techniques that can help the pianists to convey – or perhaps, to conjure – orchestral sounds in the ears of listeners.”

DUO TAL & GROETHUYSEN only appeared one night uplifting all with their talent and the beauty of their program selections.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For more information on upcoming concerts, visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Photos courtesy of University of Chicago

Reviewer Ann Boland is committed to Chicago theater. Involved in the audience since the early 80’s, she’s witnessed firsthand the rise of our theater scene, our exceptional local talent, and the vigor of each new generation.  Ann handles public relations for authors and works on programs to help seniors with neurological movement disorders.  Please visit her website for more information.  

 

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