These sisters have transformed the piano duo

“Oh, look!” said pianist Katia Labèque, pushing aside some neatly ironed clothes hanging on a rack.

Behind the clothes, which were behind the boiler in the utility room of her home and studio in Ahetze in French Basque Country, was a poster advertising concerts last year at the Philharmonie in Paris. It showed Katia Labèque and her sister, Marielle Labèque — both with dark hair flowing, glamorously dressed — and listed three programs: five centuries of Basque music; a Stravinsky and Debussy double bill; an evening with three art- rock auteurs, Thom Yorke, Bryce Dessner and David Chalmin.

“We’re ridiculous,” said Katia Labèque. “This is the only poster we have, and it’s hidden.”

The poster suggests the wildly varied musical interests of the Labèque sisters, who for more than 50 years have been playing — and enlarging — the two- piano repertory. They have interpreted traditional classical and romantic works, to brilliant effect, but have also ventured into jazz, baroque, modernist and experimental genres — commissioning scores, inventing projects and testing their limits. Their latest recording, out this week, is a newly arranged twopiano adaptation of Philip Glass’ opera “Les Enfants Terribles.”

“What always struck me with both of them is that, although they are very different human beings, they both have this endless curiosity about everything, not just music,” said Simon Rattle, the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra and a frequent Labèques collaborator.

Katia Labèque, 70, and Marielle Labèque, 68, have been inventing themselves since they were teenagers. First taught by their mother, an Italian piano teacher and pupil of renowned pianist Marguerite Long, the sisters moved at 11 and 13 from

“We wanted more of the story and the dramatic parts,” Katia Labèque said. “It was so odd that it’s a story of confinement.” After the lockdown restrictions were relaxed in May, they were able to practice together, and recorded the work in the stateofthe- art studio at Katia Labèque’s house.

“I love the way they play Philip Glass,” said Riesman. “They have the right style, the right approach. They don’t overly dramatize or emote.”

Muhly said, “They are actually much more involved in everything than most people of their stature. They email you about material; they are totally involved. The rhythms of the day are organized around an unspeakably rigorous work ethic, but there is something really elegant about the way they live their lives which flows into music and food and their extended family of artists.”

The sisters’ trick, according to Katia Labèque, is their constant desire to change and learn. “We never want to rely on what we’ve done,” she said. “We have always tried to be relentlessly in the present.”