| Rachmaninov composed his Six Pieces for piano four hands in 1894, the year after the deaths of Tchaikovsky and of his teacher Zverev. Notwithstanding the intimacy of two pianists sharing the same keyboard, this is a vast work of 25 minutes. Arensky’s Six Children’s Pieces is a sort of Russian “Mother Goose”. As in Ravel’s work, the limited virtuosity of the writing belies myriad refinements that are beyond the reach of beginning pianists. Mussorgsky’s Sonata for Four Hands is considered unfinished because it only has two movements, like his famous symphony. This work combines both the classical Austrian style with Russian folklore, and even contains sonorities from the whole-tone scale. Although Balakirev wrote many pieces for piano solo, this Suite is his only work for piano four hands. The suite seems to pay a final tribute to Chopin (Polonaise), the Russian spirit (Song without Words) and Schumann (Scherzo). |
