Fun With Two Pianos

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances and Suites for Two Pianos; Emanuel Ax, piano; Yefim Bronfman, piano

It seemed, at one time, like a third of my class in school took piano lessons. Not very many of them talked about it. I suppose that piano lessons aren’t a popular recess time topic. And I suspect that my friends only took lessons for a few years. Then they probably chose either a band instrument or a sport. By the time my class got into our high school years and the dust had settled a little bit, five of us had opted to continue with our piano lessons.

One girl in our class, D. V.B., took lessons from a teacher in Brookings. One January day, before band practice at school, D. asked me, “You’re playing in the Brookings Area Piano Teachers contest thingy in May, aren’t you?” Yup. “My teacher asked me if I wanted to sign up to play something in the ‘two-piano’ division. It sounded like fun to me. What d’ya say? You wanna throw down some ‘two-piano’ wackiness with me?” You betcha.

We chose two pieces to play: “Sheep May Safely Graze”, by my man J.S. Bach, and “Jamaican Rhumba”, by Arthur Benjamin. We rehearsed twice at her teacher’s studio and twice at my teacher’s studio. And on contest day we received a “superior plus” rating. We looked at each other and said, “Well, that was easy. Let’s do it again next year and choose something even wackier.”

Our junior year in high school swallowed us up. We didn’t avail ourselves of the opportunity to have that two-piano experience again. And when we were seniors, we were too cool to care.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was the king of the two-piano empire. He composed two two-piano suites early in his career, both of them quite lengthy. The very last composition that he wrote may rank as his finest. Mr. Rachmaninoff completed the “Symphonic Dances” in 1940. Neither the orchestral version nor the two-piano version can claim the birthright, by the way. He composed both of them at the same time.

It’s interesting to consider what it reveals about Mr. Rachmaninoff that he preferred two-piano concoctions when compared with Johannes Brahms’ penchant for duets. With Brahms, we have the image of him sharing the piano bench with his friend Clara Schumann. Having played some of Herr Brahms’ duets, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve blushed after accidentally – yes, accidentally – knocking pinkies with another pianist on the bench. I think Herr Brahms intended that to happen. With Mr. Rachmaninoff, the romance is gone. Both pianists get their own bed. Keyboard. I meant keyboard.

I don’t think as many young people take piano lessons these days. I find it sad. How often anymore does a young man idle away the afternoon playing duets at the piano with a young woman?

Credits: To D. V.B., for asking me to play the piano with her. It was my honor. Do you suppose God has a two-piano studio in heaven?