Arms Crossed J S Bach transcriptions for piano four hands - heard by HOWARD SMITH '... modern yet familiar.'

Bach Crossings, a first release for Duo Stephanie and Saar on New Focus Recordings, is a crossing of paths, minds and inspirations. The music of Bach, the colossus of Western music, is made over with a new perspective by György Kurtág (born 1926, Lugoj, Romania), one of the foremost living composers of our time.

The artists are husband and wife pianists. Saar Ahuvia studied at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University and Switzerland's Schaufhausen Conservatory before moving to Baltimore, Maryland, to pursue a Graduate Performance Diploma with Leon Fleisher at Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University. A native of Israel, Mr Ahuvia was awarded the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship for the uncommon period of ten consecutive years. Solo recital engagements have taken him to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Prague, Moscow, Zürich, Paris, Barcelona and cities of the US Eastern seaboard.

Mrs Ahuvia; Stephanie Kai-Win Ho (Taipei, Taiwan), grew up in Portland, Oregon before completing intensive courses in religion, philosophy and piano performance at Oberlin College, Ohio and a Masters in Music at Northwestern University, Illinois. She received a Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Institute, under the guidance of Julian Martin (Juilliard); artistic director Valencia International Piano Academy 2012.

While in Baltimore she actively premiered and performed new music as a member of Peabody Camerata while her recitals have been heard in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Canada and many parts of the US.

An interest in programming unconventional, thought-provoking repertoire has led Duo Stephanie and Saar to explore a wide variety of works from Guillame de Machaut to Olivier Messiaen's monumental Visions de l'Amen, as well as their own four-hand transcription of A Time for Love by jazz pianist Bill Evans.

In keeping with 21st century fashion the release event for Bach Crossings took place at 'Le Poisson Rouge' (often referred to as LPR), a music venue and multimedia art cabaret founded by Justin Kantor and David Handler (2008) on the former site of The Village Gate, New York City -- where Stephanie and Saar have made their home.

The title 'Crossings' is a reference to the tricky hand crossings Kurtág asks of the pianists during his four hand transcriptions. On Track 1, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit from Cantata BWV 106, the melody is played entirely with the arms crossed.

Listen -- Bach transcr Kurtág: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (BWV 106)
(track 1, 1:30-2:16) © 2012 Duo Stephanie and Saar :

The disc also includes Bach contrasting transcriptions by Franz Xaver Gleichauf (1801-1856) -- the Pastorale in F, BWV 590 -- and Max Reger (1873-1916) -- Gavottes I and II from the Orchestral Suite No 3 in D, BWV 1068 -- as well as Kurtág's transcriptions of two captivating correntes by one of Bach's most notable antecedents, Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643).

Listen -- Frescobaldi: Corrente IV
(track 16, 0:00-0:14) © 2012 Duo Stephanie and Saar :

A quirky arrangement of hand crossings in Gott, durch deine Güte, BWV 600, is pictured on the cover photo of the album.

These performances and arrangements illustrate what 'voicing' is in practice rather than just in theory: the resulting sound is modern yet familiar.

'A variant of chorale style called keyboard style alters both voice-leading and voicing rules to make practical performance by two hands at a keyboard', writes Dan Gutwein (born 1951, Dayton, Ohio, and Associate Professor of Music -- College of William & Mary Williamsburg, Virginia) in Handbook for Composition and Analysis -- The Basics of Four-Part Chorale Style. 'Rules of thumb concerning doubling and chord voicing shape the vertical disposition of the voices.', he continues.

Praised by The New York Times for 'beautifully understated playing', Ho and Ahuvia collaborate in performances noted for their 'versatility, elegance and intellectual curiosity'.

Swiss pianist Katharina Weber (Intakt Records) writes 'Along the path that leads through this "composed programme", one comes upon the Bach transcriptions like the columns of a great cathedral'.

I gladly endorse the verdicts of Weber and the NYT but first -- a word of caution -- New Focus Recordings have included no more than a miserly forty minutes of music on Bach Crossings.

Listen -- Bach transcr Reger: Gavotte I (BWV 1068)
(track 12, 0:00-0:55) © 2012 Duo Stephanie and Saar :

Duo Stephanie and Saar highlights in the current (2012) season include a special collaboration with the New World Symphony Percussion Consort in Miami, a brand new arrangement of Stravinsky's Petrouchka by Michael Linville and Washington DC's Dumbarton Oaks concert series.

Essential performances of these transcriptions involve Kurtág and his wife Márta Kurtág: Játékok ('Games') and Bach Transcriptions (ECM New Series ECM 1619 and 453 511-2, released:1997, recorded July 1996 at the Mozart-Saal, Konzerthaus, Vienna, engineered by Stephan Schellmann and produced by Manfred Eicher).

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

MAX REGER

PIANO MUSIC