Welcome to Music for Life, enhancing the Armstrong concert experience. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. In today's episode, we will explore the internationally acclaimed Lomazov-Rackers piano duo and the program for its December 3rd performance at Armstrong Auditorium. Praised for precision and complete dedication, this husband-wife piano duo will perform a program of dazzling works for four hands, some on two pianos, some on one piano, and conclude with something for eight hands. And all will be performed on the two incomparable Hamburg Steinway Grands housed in Armstrong Auditorium.
So stick around as we discuss all the variations coming on these 176 keys, today on Music for Life. There's a fantastic program here on KPCG called The Sun Also Rises. And in one episode, the host, Jeremiah Jacques, discusses a book called Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, which discusses how to communicate in an effective and memorable way. After listening to that episode, the episode was called The Curse of Knowledge and How to Overcome It, if you want to look it up. After listening to that episode, I read the book Made to Stick. The book is full of example after example of ideas that were really sticky, whether from teachers, storytellers, advertisers, politicians, marketing directors, and it discusses why those ideas were sticky.
One of the examples it uses has to do with marketing a piano duo. See, one of the authors, Chip Heath, went to Florida to conduct a seminar for nonprofit arts leaders. One of the exercises was to help these leaders articulate and refine the core mission of their organization. The book says this. The questions put to the attendees were difficult ones. Why does your organization exist? Can other organizations do what you do? And if so, what is it you do that is unique? One question asked participants to define the purpose of their organization in a way that would motivate other people to care about it.
At the seminar was a duo piano foundation, and the quote from the book continues. When it was their turn, Chip asked the representatives to read their emotion-evoking purpose statement. The duo piano group said this, We exist to protect, preserve, and promote the music of duo piano. Chip replies, Why is it important to protect the music of duo piano? The piano group, Well, not much duo piano music is being performed anymore. We want to keep it from dying out.
One attendee admitted later that when he first heard the phrase duo piano, he immediately thought of the dueling pianos that you find in touristy bars. Some people in the room thought that perhaps the death of duo piano should not be prevented, but hastened. The conversation went around in circles for a few minutes without much progress in making the people in the room care about duo piano as an art form. Finally, one of the other participants chimed in, I don't want to be rude, but why would the world be a less rich place if duo piano music disappeared completely? And here's the duo piano group clearly taking it back. Wow. The piano is this magnificent instrument. It was created to put the entire range and tonal quality of the whole orchestra under the control of one performer. There is no other instrument that has the same breadth and range. And when you put two of these magnificent instruments in the same room and the performers can respond to each other and build upon each other, it's like having the sound of an orchestra, but the intimacy of chamber music.
At that point, the book says, surprise brows went up around the room and there was an audible murmur of approval. This phrase, the sound of the orchestra, but the intimacy of chamber music, was profound and evocative. Suddenly the people in the room understood for the first time why this foundation was and should be committed to the duo piano. I think that's an excellent lead-in to set up the next event coming to Armstrong Auditorium. The Lomazov-Rackers piano duo is coming to Armstrong Tuesday, December 3rd, playing a variety of works with all four of their hands, some on two pianos and some fitting on one piano. The duo is a husband-wife team comprised of...
Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers. Marina immigrated to the United States of America in 1990, where she would obtain degrees from the two prestigious schools of music, the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, the latter being where she is a professor of piano today. Before moving to the United States, she studied at the Kiev Conservatory and became the youngest pianist to win first prize at the All-Kiev Piano Competition. She is also a co-founder and co-artistic director of the Southeastern Piano Festival with her husband, Joseph Rackers. Joseph Rackers also studied at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned the degrees for a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music and is a recipient of the Eastman Performer Certificate. He also did his undergrad at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where this program's host also attended. Joe and I studied from the same piano teacher there, Raymond Herbert, and we performed frequently together. As a soloist, Rackers receives critical acclaim, said to be, quote,
the composer's voice as he hears it come through, unquote, according to the American Record Guide. Rackers is most notably a chamber musician in the Lomasov-Rackers piano duo. The husband-wife piano duo is lauded, as the Audio Society puts it, for their precision and complete dedication. The duo garnered wide attention as the second prize winners of the 6th Biennial Ellis Duo Piano Competition, the only national competition for piano duo in the U.S. at that time.
Their program at Armstrong is titled Variations on 176 Keys, which is the sum total of keys on two pianos, and we will highlight the repertoire they will be performing on the two incredible Hamburg Steinways we have here. First, to give you an overview, they will perform Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn for two pianos, and then end the first half with Lutosławski's Variations on a Theme by Paganini. The second half will feature one of Mozart's sonatas for four hands, one piano, the sonata in C major, Kirchhoff 521. Then will be Stravinsky's Three Movements from Patryszka for four hands, and then the program will end back on two pianos, but this time with eight hands, as the duo teams up with the piano. faculty here at Armstrong, my colleague Mark Jenkins, and me, as we play La Vignac's Gallup Marsh for eight hands.
So the duo will start the program with these exultant variations on a theme by Haydn, composed by Johannes Brahms. Brahms composed this work in the summer of 1873, first for four hands, then for full orchestra. The theme that he based it on, as the title suggests, is by Haydn, supposedly. It's the second movement of a divertimento once thought to be composed by Franz Josef Haydn, though later music historians have concluded the piece could not be Haydn's. The most popular theory attributes the piece to one of Haydn's students, but no definitive proof has yet been found, so we still call it variations on a theme by Haydn. This movement from the allegedly Haydn divertimento had a subtitle.
title of St. Anthony Chorale, so sometimes this is referred to as the St. Anthony Variations. A chorale refers to a hymn-like composition or melody, and here's a little of the original divertimento in a recording by the Berlin Philharmonic soloists, so you know what Brahms is basing his piano piece on, this St. Anthony Chorale from this divertimento, supposedly by Haydn. The double piano treatment of this theme makes the work, in my opinion, even more grand. It certainly captures the hymn-like quality in the work's opening statement of the theme.
This set of variations remains one of Brahms' most popular pieces and is even cited as being a favorite of Brahms himself. Let's finish listening to the main theme. We're hearing a recording of Martha Argrich and Nelson Frady. Now we're about to hear variation one. Brahms wrote nine variations in total. As was customary with themes in major keys, composers often like to put at least one variation in the parallel minor key, which gave it a more somber or declamatory feel. Brahms does this early, with variation number two, as we're hearing here. Now here's the flowing third variation.
The fourth variation is another one in the parallel minor key, or the more somber key, and this one definitely has a more melancholy nature than the previous one. Variation number five picks up the tempo and the mood with a scherzo-like or lighthearted variation. This is the lively sixth variation, which I think you can hear the chordal similarity to the theme, but just in a more exuberant treatment. Here's the graceful lilting variation number seven. Variation number eight is yet another one in the more melancholy minor key.
The final variation is set up like a pascalia, a recurring chord pattern or bassline, and which is treated canonically or like a round between the two pianos. Do you hear the recurring bassline? Last minute or so, and you'll clearly hear the hymn-like theme restated in a more grandiose way.
That is Music for Life, and you are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are exploring the internationally acclaimed Lomazov-Rackers piano duo and its December 3rd program at Armstrong Auditorium, variations on 176 keys. The duo is comprised of Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers, a husband-wife team, and they will begin their program with the magnificent piece we just heard, the variations on a theme by Haydn by Johannes Brahms.
After the Brahms variations will be another set of variations, these based on a famous theme and variations caprice by Paganini. This two-piano rendition was written by the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. Lutosławski composed his variations on a theme by Paganini in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1941. At the time, he made a living by playing piano duets in Warsaw cafes with a friend and fellow composer, Andrzej Panufnik. They made nearly 200 arrangements of well-known classical works, ranging from Bach to Tchaikovsky, including the well-known theme and variations caprice number 24. From the 24 caprices written by the violin virtuoso Nicola...
Paganini. Unfortunately, all of these cafe piano duo arrangements were destroyed in the German suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, all except for one, the variations on a theme by Paganini. Later on, Lutoslawski reworked the piece for piano and orchestra. Now, so that you can appreciate Lutoslawski's work, here's a little of the original Caprice No. 24 four-solo violin by Paganini. I'll play the well-known theme and then a couple of variations.
That's a little of the original Paganini Caprice in a recording by Salvatore Accardo. To give you a sense of the theme and variations we're about to hear on two pianos that were adapted by Vito Lutosławski. Lutosławski parallels Paganini's own variations in his rendition, but colors them with his own new and inventive techniques, chords and descans, which are arguably receptive to the spirit in Nazi-occupied Poland at the time. We'll hear this short piece uninterrupted. Here's a recording of Martha Argrich and Yevgeny Kissen.
That was the energetic work for two pianos by Vito Lutoslawski, his Variations on a Theme by Paganini. That piece will close the first half of the Lomasov-Rackers Piano Duo program on Tuesday, December 3rd. To open the second half, the duo will share one piano in a work by a composer who himself played in a piano duo at a very young age, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, played a lot of four-handed pieces as a young child when he and his sister Nanarell played in concerts together, popularizing the four-hand piano format throughout Europe. His sister would play the primo part, or the higher part, and he would play the lower secondo part. This lasted until she married, at which point she was no longer permitted to play in public concerts. Mozart wrote his first sonata for four hands at a young age and continued writing for this configuration throughout his life. The piano sonata that the Lomasov-Rackers piano duo will perform, the one in C major, K521, is the last four-handed sonata Mozart wrote. Its style is one of imitation and even competition, you could say, between the two parts, unlike his earlier four-handed sonatas, which have more integrated parts. Mozart dated its composition to May 29, 1787, the day of his father's death.
his father, the influential Leopold Mozart. After the declamatory opening statement in unison from both pianists in this first movement, you start to hear the conversation, the back and forth between the two players. So let's continue to listen to this first movement. We're hearing a recording of Ingrid Hebler and Ludwig Hoffmann. Now, as we expect from a sonata, we move to a different key to hear a different theme, a contrasting theme to the first. Here's the B theme. Now we hear it in the lower hands. Now a little more conversation to end the first section or the exposition.
Then a repeat of the entire exposition. Enjoy this without interruption, and I'll chime back in at the development section. So the section following the exposition is called the development. Here's a new theme for this section, and just like a B theme, it is presented in the higher hands and then the lower hands. Then Mozart moves into a somewhat typical stormy minor section to eventually take us back to the original exultant theme, and it should be pretty obvious when we arrive at that recapitulation. So now we're in the recapitulation, a section similar to the exposition, but one that has a bit more finality to help the movement close in a conclusive way. Here's that contrasting B theme again.
And finally, this lovely closing material again. We heard pianists Ingrid Hebler and Ludwig Hoffmann in the first movement of Mozart's Sonata for Four Hands in C Major, K521. That is how the Lomasov-Rackers piano duo will open the second half of their program at Armstrong Auditorium Tuesday, December 3rd. After this three-movement Sonata, the piano duo will play the lively Three Movements from Petrushka for Four Hands by Igor Stravinsky. Petrushka was originally conceived as a concertstück, or concert piece, by the composer.
Stravinsky said of this work, I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios. He named it Petrushka after a popular Russian puppet, what Stravinsky called the immortal and unhappy hero of every fair in all countries. Enter Sergei Diaghilev, impresario of Russian ballet, who saw its stage potential, so Stravinsky began writing it as a theatrical ballet.
That's the short Russian dance movement from Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky. We heard Sir Eugene Gussens conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky originally wrote this for orchestra, but true to our variations on a theme theme today, he arranged the ballet for the piano. That was customary to do in that day for large-scale orchestral works, and Stravinsky chose to make this piano arrangement specifically for forehands. So let's hear it on the piano, and we'll hear this Russian dance movement performed by the Lomazov-Rackers piano duo.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we have explored the internationally acclaimed Lomasov-Rackers piano duo and its December 3rd program at Armstrong Auditorium, variations on 176 keys. We have explored highlights from the various repertoire they will perform, and we just heard the sprightly first movement of three movements from Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky performed by the Lomasov-Rackers duo. More information about this and all Armstrong events can be found at armstrongauditorium.org. You can follow Armstrong Auditorium on social media, and you can follow this program at the handle musicforlifepcg.
Special thanks to Seth Malone for helping with researching and writing for today's program. Let's conclude today's episode with the fun, short final work that will finish the Lomasov-Rackers duo's December 3rd concert at Armstrong. This will follow the Stravinsky, and it is the Gallup Marche for Eight Hands by Albert Lavignoc. Lavignac was a French composer and music scholar, his most famous student being Claude Debussy. Lavignac famously came up with his own descriptions of the different musical keys or tonalities, of which Gallop Marsh has six D minor, which he describes as serious and concentrated, G major, rural and merry, B flat major, noble, elegant and graceful, G flat major, gentle and calm, A major, frank and sonorous, and the main key, D major, described as joyful, brilliant, and alert. An apt description of the character of this fun, humorous piece composed for eight hands, four pianists, and one piano. Now, the Lomasov-Rackers piano duo and the two piano faculty here at Armstrong, Mark Jenkins and I, will spread out and be performing it on two pianos, just as the Lomasov-Rackers duo did in this recording that we're about to hear. This is a live performance with the Lomasov-Rackers duo teaming up with two other University of South Carolina piano professors in Albert Lavignac's Gallup Marsh for eight hands. I hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you soon at Armstrong.
You have been listening to Music for Life, a production of KPCG 101.3 on the FM dial in Edmond, Oklahoma. From the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, I'm Ryan Malone. Thanks for joining me.