Interview, Duo Pleyel on Schubert

Duo Pleyel - comprising pianists Richard Egarr and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya - have been exploring the rich piano duo repertoire for some years, performing works ranging from early examples by JC Bach and Mozart up to the twentieth century.

The Duo's début album, released in April of this year, sees them dive into the extensive output of Schubert for this unique chamber pairing with works from various points in Schubert's life. I spoke to them about what makes the piano duo so unique and where their musical tandem journey might take them next...

Piano duos seem to be rather underrepresented on stage and recordings – compared to solo piano works or instrument-and-piano sonatas, for instance. Why do you think this is – and was it always this way?

It’s all about ‘Fashion’. From the end of the eighteenth century all the way through the nineteenth and into the beginning of the twentieth centuries four-hand piano was the popular form… the latest pieces and arrangements were like the most awaited new downloads these days! Composers wrote amazing repertoire for it, and thousands of arrangements of orchestral, chamber and even solo piano pieces were made by hundreds of musicians. Brahms carefully made fabulous arrangements of his symphonies for four-hands. Don’t forget also that Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring appeared first as a four-hand piano score in 1913 – the orchestral score wasn’t available until 1921!

While solo piano works can often be a vehicle for intimate self-expression, the duo format seems less suited to this, simply by virtue of the presence of a second person. Do you think the autobiographical aspect of these works is less significant than in Schubert’s solo compositions?

If you think about it, a piano duet is way more intimate in some ways that a solo performance. Two people at the same instrument, physically and emotionally close, interlocking and working in the same space and music… actually there’s something a little voyeuristic involved. As to autobiographical content in Schubert – again we see nothing less connected to the man and his inner world in his four-hand works (especially the late ones) compared to his solo piano music.

You’ve chosen to perform this music on a piano manufactured shortly after Schubert’s death; do you find there are any trade-offs when swapping a modern piano for a historical instrument?

We believe that early instruments automatically give a more immediate access to colours and balances of the music associated with them, elements that can be much harder to achieve on a twenty-first-century machine. But we also happily perform this music on later instruments.

From a practical perspective, how much of a challenge is it to keep a 170-year old original instrument (rather than a replica) in working order, fit to be played and recorded?

It’s really not so much bother. We have great colleagues who attend to any mechanical trouble, just as you would if a modern piano misbehaves – obviously, just as with maintaining cars from the 1960s, you need a mechanic who knows what they are doing!

You mention that there is a huge wealth of music by Schubert for piano duo – multiple albums’ worth. Do you have any plans to explore this aspect of his output any further in future recordings?

We really hope so!!! We would particularly like to record the ‘Grand Duo’ (basically a 50-minute Symphony for piano duet) and the amazing Original Variations in A-flat.