专辑简介

When two pianists want to play together they find themselves sitting at the same piano sharing the same seven octaves or playing two pianos. Four-hand playing is something of a rarity in chamber music, with two artists sharing the same instrument and together creating musical magic that sometimes sounds like a full orchestra.

Pieces written specially to be played by a piano duo were, so it would seem, created out of a methodological need or in a family-social context. Over the years, this branch of music has developed into a genre that is a source of inspiration and a challenge for composers and allows performers to play together, breathe together, and feel together. Some of the world's finest pianists perform in tandem the many pieces that have been written for four-hand playing or for two pianos.

The two artists who perform on this CD —Herut Israeli (b. 1939) and Hagai Yodan (b. 1985)—began their concert careers when they were fifteen. But whereas in 2005 Herut Israeli celebrated fifty years of performing, her partner, Hagai Yodan, was marking only five years on the stage. The two came together that year in a productive partnership that became the Israeli-Yodan Duo, often performing an unusual and innovative repertoire: pieces from previous centuries as well as contemporary music.

This CD includes pieces by some of the greatest romantic composers alongside pieces by modern Israeli composers some of which were written and specially dedicated to the Israeli-Yodan Duo. The romantic strain runs through the CD like a thread.