Spina & Benignetti Piano Duo: Transcriptions for Piano 4-Hands: Ravel, Wagner & Liszt
Piano Classics

Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti bring finesse and precision to these transcriptions for piano duo (four hands at one piano). With Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and La Valse joined by Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture and Liszt's Les Préludes, the works are hardly obscure. They are, however, wholly reborn when performed by these terrific pianists, recipients of numerous international chamber music awards. Lucien Garban, a student of Fauré's and friend of Ravel's, created the arrangements of the French composer's works, while the conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow transcribed Wagner's; Liszt's symphonic poem was arranged by the composer himself. The word brilliant shouldn't be used lightly, but the playing of the Italian duo throughout this gripping recording warrants the choice.

While many a listener might prefer the orchestral version of a work, the transcription possesses considerable charm. Not only do we hear the piece recast, we hear it anew when, ideally, the reconfiguration captures the essence of the work and illuminates it in a way not heard before. Further to that, intimacy arises when two musicians must operate in sync to reach the most satisfying realization possible of the work in question. The physical connection, in other words, between the two is deeply felt by them and listeners as they're playing. Spina and Benignetti began partnering as a duo in 2013 and have refined that connection in the years since. Previous albums featuring pieces by Brahms, Franck, Schubert, Poulenc, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov have established a tremendous foundation for this latest release.

Garban's transcriptions are perhaps as close as possible to ones Ravel himself would have created. Not only did he have the composer's piano treatments to work with—Valses nobles et sentimentales was written for solo piano in 1911 and orchestrated a year later, and La Valse, while it was created as an orchestral ballet, was written, like all Ravel's material, at the piano—he also corresponded with Ravel as the transcriptions were prepared and were thus met with his approval. “Modéré” introduces the eight-part work on a grandiose note, the playing by the duo immediately arresting in its synchronicity. The haunting “Assez lent,” by comparison, captures the pianists' sensitivity to not only the material but to each other. As we move to the combined third and fourth movements, the music sparkles and glistens in their hands, and the attunement they share is exemplified in the elegance of their phrasing. Dynamically ebbing and flowing, the material never fails to captivate for its melodic invention and allure, be it the dreamlike flow and intense animation of “Moins vif” or the twilight solemnity of “Epilogue” that serves as a seamless transition into La Valse.

Interestingly, the work was initially titled Vienna, as Ravel conceived of it as a tribute to Viennese culture and the music of Johann Strauss, but the onset of WWI inspired both a different title and dramatic shift in tone. While health factors prevented Ravel from fighting at the front lines, the carnage he witnessed as an ambulance driver in war zones catalyzed the work into becoming less a celebration and more a harrowing evocation. After rumbling into view, the material coalesces into an oceanic mass out of which ascendant phrases extricate themselves. Extreme contrasts in tempo and pacing infuse the work, all such twists and turns handled exceptionally by the duo. Hushed moments and cataclysmic passages emerge in close proximity to one another, and even when the music is at its densest the duo's articulation ensures that clarity is achieved. The climax the duo delivers is as awesome as it should be.

The tension that's so fundamental to Wagner's music permeates Tannhäuser Overture in the struggle it enacts between sensuality and spirituality, between earthbound desire and sacred love. Having conducted the premiere performance of the prelude to Tristan und Isolde, Hans von Bülow was clearly conversant with that dimension of the composer's music and translated that conflict into his nuanced overture transcription. The dignified opening theme sings splendidly in the duo's hands, and the measured tempo they adopt to begin the fifteen-minute journey sets the appropriate stage too. Wagner's yearning melodies and regal themes resonate vividly throughout the pianists' grandiose rendering. Of equivalent length is Liszt's Les Préludes, inspiration for which came from Joseph Autran's Les Quatre élémens. The main motifs of the musical treatment were created to evoke the Stars, the Earth, the Waves, and the Zephyrs, and the piece quickly blossoms with lyrical voicings of the themes as it undertakes its own incremental ascent. Similar to the Wagner overture, tension, turbulence, and struggle are present throughout until the mountain's peak is reached at the work's close.

Writing about the duo in 2015, Italian critic Luca Segalla described the two as having carved out a finale that “makes one feel as if one is listening to an orchestra,” and don't be surprised if you come away from this latest collection with a similar impression. Their playing is so opulent and expressive on the hour-long release, one could be forgiven for forgetting that orchestral versions of the four works exist too.

December 2024