Hyperion

Milhaud: Music for two pianists

Milhaud: Music for two pianists

Stephen Coombs (piano), Artur Pizarro (piano)

CDA67014

Among the 443 compositions (and more) to which Milhaud appended opus numbers in the course of his long and prolific composing life (from 1910 to 1973) can be found a large number of original works and arrangements for two pianos and piano duet. The majority of the two-piano works appear on this CD (along with his duet arrangement of Le Bœuf sur le Toit), and among them are some of the most popular of all Milhaud's works.

The titles tell us what to expect—colour and flamboyance, high spirits, jazzy rhythms and knockabout good humour, mostly with an American accent: North (Kentucky and New Orleans), Central (La Bal Martiniquais) and South ('La Libertadora' was the nickname of Simón Bolívar, the revolutionary who gave his name to Bolivia).

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