AND FINALLY … DISC FOUR: ANGELO PANZINI (1822–86): Divertimento sull'opera "I Lombardi alla prima crociata" di G. Verdi , CARL CZERNY (1791–1857) : Rondeau brillant, Fantaisie sur ‘La sonnambula’ de Vincenzo Bellini, Op. Posth, Quadrille pour les Noces de S.M. la Reine Victoria, EDOUARD-ANTOINE THUILLIER (1841–1913) : Un jour à Seville, Boléro brillant, FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) : Ständchen D957 No.4 (arr. Carl Liba), GIUSTO DACCI (1840–1915) : Fantasia sui temi dell'opera "Traviata" di G. Verdi, JOHAN SEVERIN SVENDSEN (1840–1911) : Grand Polonaise Op.12 [arr. Johannes Nicolaj Hansen (1855–1932)], JOHANN STRAUSS II (1825–99): Tritsch-Tratsch Polka Op.214 [arr. Tomislav Baynov(b.1958)], JOHANN STRAUSS (1804–49) : Radetzky Marsch Op.228 (arr. Tomislav Baynov), LÉO DELIBES (1836–91) : Pizzicato Polka from "Sylvia” [arr. Bernard Leuthereau (b.1955)], WILHELM ALETTER (1867–1934): La bella picadora, Bolero Op.200 No.3. Trio Pianistico di Bologna.

Description: Six-hand piano music occupies an unique niche in the repertoire. Wildly innovative composers of experimental inclination like Percy Grainger or Julius Eastman embraced multiple-pianist scoring as a means of exploring complex textures and rhythms in a highly controllable manner without the necessity of differentiated tone colours. The composers and transcribers on the Trio Pianistico di Bologna's disc were simply revelling in the opulently extravagant textural possibilities of the medium. It has to be said that six hands at one piano are technically superfluous; it is not for nothing that orchestral scores are frequently rendered as duets for study and dissemination. No, here the medium is the message and the whole point of the exercise. The textures are unfamiliar, and most closely resemble those of music written directly to piano rolls for execution on a pianola, and throughout the recital this exuberant "look what I just did!" spirit prevails; the musical equivalent of the thrilling exploits of a troupe of acrobats in the circus. The exception is Czerny, of course, who took the challenge of the medium entirely seriously, so his pieces exhibit the keyboard brilliance and idiomatic approach common to all his investigations of the possibilities of the instrument, while conceding nothing to the excitement of the less technically exhaustive works here.