IN TANDEM  Judith Cohen (pn); Jill Timmons (pn)  CAPSTONE (70:06) Live: Longview, WA

MOZART Sonata for Two Pianos in D. SAINT-SAËNS Variations on a Theme by Beethoven. COPLAND (arr. Gold and Fizdale) Rodeo. GERSHWIN (arr. Grainger) Porgy and Bess, A Fantasy for Two Pianos. BACH (arr. Howe) Sheep May Safely Graze

There are few acts of musical synchronization more treacherous than the piano duet, with a crystalline texture that leaves every detail in the clearest light. This team, the Cohen/Timmons Duo, can therefore be credited with special bravery to present their art in a recording of a live concert in Longview, Washington. They fair very well, starting with a vivid, living recreation of Mozart's two-piano masterpiece. There is no room for cover in this music, and these artists manage to convey the joy and beauty of the music with accuracy and vigor, if not the last degree of spit-and-polish precision. The Saint-Saëns set of eight variations, fugue, and presto on a theme from a Beethoven Minuet, is also conveyed with great brio and color. What a brilliant work this is, a real masterpiece of the duo-piano repertoire that deserves more exposure.

The balance of the program includes very familiar music that must compete with original versions that are ingrained in our collective consciousness. The most successful is also the most substantial, Percy Grainger's loving and exuberant arrangement of the big tunes from Porgy and Bess. Grainger creates the sense that the music was devised on a piano by emphasizing the glistening percussiveness of the score. Again, Cohen/Timmons gets it just right. I suspect the warmly recorded pair of Bluthner pianos on which the duo is performing adds something to the sheen of this music-making. The Copland and Bach offer no revelations, but who can ever tire of these melodies in any form? In all, a delightful recital from a highly expressive and virtuosic pair of pianists.

Peter Burwasser
This article originally appeared in Issue 28:1 (Sept/Oct 2004) of Fanfare Magazine.