ConcertPulse
Duplex Piano – The Piano with Two Manuals
Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)
Around 1920, the composer Emanuel Moór had the vision of building the piano of the future. His duplex piano with two manuals was born out of the spirit of the late Romantic period and offers even more tonal colours and a greater richness of sound. On an ordinary piano, one touch of the keys causes a hammer to strike the string. With the duplex piano, two hammers can be coupled: one keystroke then produces two tones simultaneously. This doubling of the tones leads to an unimagined fullness of sound in the forte, and to a magical brilliance of sound in the piano. The two manuals allow for differentiated layers of sound. The work »Pictures at an Exhibition« was created by Modest Mussorgsky for solo piano – but it became world-famous in the orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel. In this concert, the work is performed in a new chamber music version with the duplex piano. Rachmaninov and Shostakovich also arranged Mussorgsky’s works and Borodin was a member of the »Group of Five« with Mussorgsky. Shostakovich wrote his Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor in 1944, reflecting the horrors of the Second World War and the loss of a friend. This concert commemorates the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death with this work. A work by Emanuel Moór also appears as a common thread in this duplex concert. Violinist Mirijam Contzen is internationally recognised as a soloist and Sony artist and teaches as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Violist Hartmut Rohde is a member of the outstanding Mozart Piano Quartet. He is Professor of Viola at the Berlin University of the Arts. David Stromberg, who rediscovered the duplex piano, will play the cello. He endeavours to provide audiences with new, fascinating listening experiences, including as curator of concerts with the duplex piano. The pianist Florian Uhlig plays the duplex piano. He has been honoured with the »Opus Klassik« and »Deutscher Schallplattenpreis« media awards for his complete recording of Robert Schumann’s piano works. He performs worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician and teaches as a professor at the Lübeck University of Music.