This collection, titled on the spine "Unknown Russian Four Hand Piano Music," gathers several works that are not widely known even among piano duet aficionados. The "father of Russian music," Mikhail Glinka, is well represented. The first five pieces are ones he wrote for duet, four lighthearted and lively dances and a Capriccio on Russian Themes. The polka starts with a teasing, slow introduction before the series of polka variations. This and the Gallop Impromptu on themes from L'Elisir d'Amore split the work between the ...
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This collection, titled on the spine "Unknown Russian Four Hand Piano Music," gathers several works that are not widely known even among piano duet aficionados. The "father of Russian music," Mikhail Glinka, is well represented. The first five pieces are ones he wrote for duet, four lighthearted and lively dances and a Capriccio on Russian Themes. The polka starts with a teasing, slow introduction before the series of polka variations. This and the Gallop Impromptu on themes from L'Elisir d'Amore split the work between the two pianists, whereas the two "Cavalry Trots," while cheery, leave most of the work up to the primo pianist. The Capriccio is again well written for duet, and has many of the same type of ornamental trills and spun sugar frills as in the dances, but it leaves the impression that it is all show and little substance even more so than the dances. The other Glinka works are transcriptions. Sergey Lyapunov used both Glinka's piano solo and orchestra versions to create this piano,...
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