Here is another transfer prepared as the result of a request. It features four unusual compositions for two pianos, including the premiere recording of a very good piece from Ralph Vaughan Williams.The transfer comes from a circa 1979 LP issued by the American label Orion. Performing are two pianists who often recorded for that label - Evelinde Trenkner and Vladimir Pleshakov - although they appeared only one other time as a duo.
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| Vladimir Pleshakov and Evelinde Trenkner |
The major work on the first side is Vaughan Williams' Introduction and Fugue for Two Pianos, dating from 1946, between the composer's fifth and sixth symphonies.
In his sleeve note, Pleshakov writes, "The musical language is complex, a reflection of the composer's personality. There is an ever-present conflict between the lyricism implicit in his essentially vocal themes and the drama of his symphonic architecture. This very conflict generates the possibility of great and sublime music."
The other major work on the LP is a joint effort by Felix Mendelssohn and Ignaz Moscheles, the Variations on a Theme from Preciosa by Weber. Preciosa is an 1821 play by Pius Alexander Wolff with incidental music by Carl Maria von Weber. These days, only the overture is heard, and that only occasionally.
The music is never less than interesting, although it was essentially an occasional piece for performance by the two friends. This could well have been its first recording.
Filling out the two sides of the record are transcriptions by Aaron Copland from two of his early works. The Dance of the Adolescent is an arrangement of the first movement of his Dance Symphony. The Danza de Jalisco is based on one of the Two Mexican Pieces (which would become the Three Latin American Sketches).
The performances and sound are very good. Evelinde Trenkner (1933-2021) was a German pianist and piano teacher who often appeared in the duo piano repertory. Vladimir Pleshakov (1934- ) was born in Shanghai to Russian parents but has been resident in the US since 1955, receiving a doctorate from Stanford University.
