Since 1996,
Duo Egri & Pertis have been performing on an unusual instrument: a Pleyel Double Grand Piano. If it were being advertised in today's world, the tagline would probably be "it's two -- two! -- pianos in one." In essence, two keyboards and sets of strings share the same iron frame and soundboard, giving a much more unified sound than two separate pianos could ever achieve. The Pleyel company, one of the oldest piano manufacturing firms, only ever made about 50 of these strange creatures, and all were thought to have been destroyed or disappeared by the end of World War II. (See the
Duo's concert video for a more detailed discussion of this particular instrument and its history.) The design of the instrument would seem to imply new issues in pedaling and in choice of repertoire for performers. For the fourth album featuring this piano, Mónika Egri and Attila Pertis chose rarely heard works by Jules Massenet and César Franck. Three of the works are originally for one piano, four hands, which the
Duo naturally plays on the two keyboards. The result isn't that different from using the one keyboard because of the single piano case, but the sound is richer because of the sympathetic vibrations of the two sets of strings and bridges. The Franck Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18, was originally for piano and organ or two pianos. Again the difference in sound is because of the shared soundboard. To hear something by Massenet other than an opera is a treat, and the Scènes de bal, Op. 17, and Année passée are sets of character pieces that are both charming and picturesque, especially when performed with skill and imagination as the
Duo does. The two bring out characteristics of Massenet's writing that make it easy to see how his music influenced
Debussy. The Franck works are equally well done, with the flamboyance of the fantasia-like Duo on God Save the King providing a bang-up finish to the program. It's a disc that should be heard not only because of novelty of the instrument, but also because of the music.