Beethoven Symphonies, Vol. 3: Nos 2 & 7 (arr. Scharwenka) Tessa Uys, Ben Schoeman (piano) SOMM Recordings SOMMCD 0666 79:11 mins
When I was studying music at university, a friend and I would often play piano duets, elbowing each other for room at the keyboard. Many of our scores were transcriptions of orchestral works for piano: it’s a great way of getting to know the repertoire. Of course, until the advent of recording, it was the best and pretty much only option for most fans to hear the music they loved at home, so there are plenty of worthwhile arrangements out there to explore.
Beethoven’s symphonies have fared particularly well, with Liszt’s solo piano transcriptions a high point (though you’ll need to be a virtuoso to play them). But, as pianist Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman demonstrate in this hugely enjoyable recording, Scharwenka’s versions for piano duo scrub up well too. Scharwenka (1850-1924) was a Polish-German pianist, composer and teacher, whose music has come back into circulation in recent years thanks to the likes of Marc-André Hamelin and Stephen Hough. Uys and Schoeman have already recorded his transcriptions of the mighty ‘Eroica’ and the famous Fifth.
I was immediately struck by the orchestral quality of their sound, its depth, volume and colour. That’s a benefit of having four hands at one piano, rather than two, and surely testament to Scharwenka’s skill. It pays off particularly in Symphony No. 2’s outer movements, though adds a slightly clodhopping feel to the Scherzo. And it’s true that their approach is less like a fleet-footed period instrument ensemble and more like a large Romantic orchestra in the ‘apotheosis of the dance’. But Symphony No. 7 works well either way, and this is an exhilarating account.
Rebecca Franks
