ConcertPulse
Geister Duo / Piano Recital
Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)
The turning point from the 19th to the 20th century is one of the most exciting moments in the history of music – especially in France, where late-Romantic offshoots combined with the new sounds of impressionism and expressionism into a scintillating mix. At the end of the »Pianomania« series, where in this season everything revolves around the theme of »Transcriptions«, Geister Duo, consisting of the two pianists David Salmon and Manuel Vieillard, takes us along on a journey into precisely this period and demonstrates that large orchestral works can also display their appeal on 176 keys. The two of them got to know each other while studying in Paris and have formed a steadfast duo ever since. In 2021, they scooped up big at the ARD International Music Competition and, besides winning First Prize, they also won five special prizes. Alongside Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, one of the most important protagonists in turn-of-the-century France was also the Russian Igor Stravinsky, whose ground-breaking ballet music – including the infamous scandalous ballet »The Rite of Spring« – premiered in Paris. Geister Duo now opens its concert in Hamburg with a four-handed version of Stravinsky’s ballet »Petrushka«, in which three puppets of a charlatan come alive at a fair in Saint Petersburg. It proceeds no less figuratively on two pianos after the interval – with Paul Dukas’ setting of Goethe’s »The Sorcerer’s Apprentice« to music. This primarily became world famous thanks to Walt Disney’s film »Fantasia« with Mickey Mouse as the clumsy sorcerer’s pupil. The programme is rounded off with a selection from Debussy’s atmospherically dense »Trois Nocturnes« and the orchestral hit »Boléro«, which Ravel arranged for two pianos.
