Late Night – GrauSchumacher Piano Duo
Friday, 14 December 2018 | Herkulessaal der Residenz | 10.00 pm
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo (c) Astrid Ackermann
Programme
Claude Debussy [1862–1918]
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune [1890–94]
Version for two pianos
Bernd Alois Zimmermann [1918–1970]
Monologe (Hommage à Debussy) [1964]
for two pianos
Claude Debussy
Trois Nocturnes [1897–99]
Arranged for two pianos by Maurice Ravel
Performers
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo:
Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher, piano
About the programme
Famed for their well-conceived programmes, the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo will present a recital in search of the artistic ties between Claude Debussy and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, two visionary composers connected by the year 1918, marking the death of one and the birth of the other. More than that, Zimmermann admired Debussy’s powers of musical renewal and drew on them in a great many ways. With his symphonic poem Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Debussy threw open the floodgates to musical modernism. No less innovative are his Trois nocturnes, whose sensual illumination of the realm of night pointed far into the future. Maurice Ravel prepared piano versions of both works, devoting special attention to their bold harmonies and melodic writing. Zimmermann’s Monologues also emerged from an instrumental work, namely, Dialogues. Here the composer goes much farther in juxtaposing musical quotations from different eras. He also gives the two pianists ample opportunity to display their sense of colour and touch.
