Nimbus NI 5866***

What is unusual here is to find a pair of pianists playing these four-handed arrangements of Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy on one piano, as the composers, who made the arrangements themselves, originally intended. Stravinsky actually completed his duet version of The Rite of Springbefore finishing the orchestration of the complete ballet. That hardly makes it the "original", as John York, one half of the duo York2, argues, but it does give it something of a special position. York rather undermines his plea for a kind of authenticity by introducing amendments to the other pieces, which he acknowledges as being "quite substantial" in the Ravel. But the quality of the duo's playing inclines one to forgive him. The effect is of a black and white photograph which can sometimes capture balances and compositions that full colour can miss. See url.ie/6c45