Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo - Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka (2018)

The young Stravinsky became acquainted with large parts of the Western music repertoire through piano arrangements. That might have been one reason for his later compositional practice to arrange major works for piano duet or for two pianos as well. With the new album "Petrushka", the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo has achieved it's intention to present a complete collection of Igor Stravinsky's published piano arrangements. The present recording contains two ballets which show Stravinsky's compositional development within the genre: the almost film-like burlesque "Petrushka" (1910/11) as well as the abstract late work "Agon" (1953/57) which puts the ancient Greek concept of competition into a contradictory musical setting. In addition, it contains two arrangements of concert pieces: "Concertino" for string quartet (1920) lives on the alternation between homogeneous instrumental passages and soloistic crossed accents. The orchestral "Scherzo a la Russe" (1944) as 'jazz commercial' testifies to Stravinsky's adaptation to his life in America as well as to his love of the Russian types of form at the turn of the century. In their recording, Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams present the special charms of Igor Stravinsky's music in 'black and white': The piano arrangements reflect the sheer brilliance of his oeuvre in a concentrated form.