Hyperion Records
Click album cover image to view the sleeve notes
Picture courtesy of The French Picture Library.
CDA67014

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: September 1997
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Ken Blair
Release date: April 1998
Total duration: 61 minutes 41 seconds

View sleeve notes/artwork

HI-FI NEWS RECORD OF THE MONTH

'An entertaining and delightful issue' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

'A hugely entertaining new disc from Hyperion and a superb introduction to the work of a currently rather underrated composer' (BBC Record Review)

'Performances are simply marvellous. They're quite simply the finest on disc to date for Milhaud's piano music, and in sensational sonics too. Highly recommended' (In Tune, Japan/USA)

'Sparkling performances of catchy music' (The Guardian)

'If you like two-piano music you'll love this disc. There is simply so much to enjoy. Piano discs as uninhibited and infectious as this are few and far between' (Gramophone)

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Music for two pianists
Stephen Coombs (piano), Artur Pizarro (piano)
Scaramouche, Op 165b
1
Movement 1: Vif  [2'43]
2
Movement 2: Modéré  [4'13]
3
Movement 3: Brazileira. Mouvement de samba  [2'09]
4
Kentuckiana, Op 287  [6'56]
Le Bal Martiniquais, Op 249
5
No 1: Chanson créole. Modéré  [2'52]
6
No 2: Biguine. Vif  [4'48]
Les Songes, Op 237
7
No 1: Scherzo. Très vif  [2'52]
8
No 2: Valse. Modéré sans lenteur  [1'12]
9
No 3: Polka. Animé  [1'52]
Carnaval à la Nouvelle-Orléans, Op 275
10
No 1: Mardi gras! Chic à la paille  [1'19]
11
No 2: Domino noir de Cajan  [3'16]
12
No 3: On danse chez monsieur Degas  [1'52]
13
No 4: Les mille cent coups  [2'30]
La Libertadora, Op 236a
14
No 1: Vif  [1'02]
15
No 2: Animé  [1'04]
16
No 3: Modéré  [1'40]
17
No 4: Vif  [1'16]
18
No 5: Animé  [1'16]
19
Le Bœuf sur le Toit, Op 58a  [16'49]
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).