Concerto for Two Pianos (Stravinsky)
| Concerto for Two Pianos | |
|---|---|
| by Igor Stravinsky | |
Igor Stravinsky, at the time of the composition
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| Native name | Concerto per due pianoforti soli |
| Catalogue |
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| Year | 1935 |
| Period | 20th-century classical music |
| Style | Neoclassicism |
| Composed | 1930–1935 |
| Duration | 20:00 |
| Movements | 4 |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 21 November 1935 |
| Location | Paris |
| Performers | Igor and Soulima Stravinsky |
The Concerto for Two Pianos (sometimes also referred to as Concerto for Two Solo Pianos or rather as its Italian original name, Concerto per due pianoforti soli) is a composition by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was finished on November 9, 1935 and, together with his Sonata for Two Pianos, is considered nowadays as one of his major compositions for piano during his neoclassical period. It was also Stravinsky's first work after becoming a French citizen.
Stravinsky decided that, after composing his Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, he wanted to explore the capabilities of the piano as a solo instrument. Stravinsky had in mind a piece for which no orchestra would be needed (in case he lived in a city where no resident orchestra was actually established) and which could be played by himself and his son, Soulima Stravinsky. He began to work on a piece which would be the first movement of the Concerto in 1931 in Voreppe after finishing his Violin Concerto, although he found himself unable to complete a composition for which two pianos would play simultaneously and fully complement each other.
He then took a break and took up the concerto again after finishing his Duo Concertant and Persephone, even though he was interrupted again due to an appendectomy. Having figured out that he had given a three-year break to his composition, and this could result in a radical difference between its first movement and the rest of the work, he opted for asking Pleyel et Cie to build him a double piano, one appended to the back part of the other. Pleyel could eventually invent it, so Stravinsky finished the Concerto in 1935. In 1963, Stravinsky stated in a conversation with American conductor Robert Craft in their book Dialogues and a Diary (1963) that "the Concerto is perhaps my 'Favorite' among my purely instrumental pieces." Stravinsky claimed to have been inspired by variations by Brahms and Beethoven and, especially, by Beethoven's fugues.
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