CLASSICAL

Russian Works for Four Hands: Stravinsky, Rachmaninov & Stravinsky Delphian

Russian folk music has a uniquely potent quality, frowningly lugubrious on the one hand, deliciously capricious on the other. Small wonder it found an inspirational presence in the music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky. This wonderfully listenable piano duo release by pianists Peter Hill and Benjamin Frith offers music by all three. The disc opens with Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux Op 11, early works that find the composer honing his voice, reinterpreting the original melodies to create prototypes for his later music. They are elegantly played, before our ears are refreshed by 23 of Tchaikovsky’s ultra-succinct Fifty Russian Folk

Songs. They finish with Stravinsky’s Petrushka in its 1947 four-hand version for piano. Needle-sharp rhythmic articulation coupled with tonal variation and expressiveness create a joyous, rustic performance.