Talk to pianists Robin McCabe and Craig Sheppard for any length of time and you鈥檒l learn some fascinating historical tidbits.
Like the fact that pianists used to play with their backs to the audience, until a Bohemian named Dussek (circa 1820) decided the audience needed to see his beautiful profile. The piano was turned sideways, thus throwing the sound out to the audience, and pianists have been showing off their profiles ever since.
Or the fact that some composers created four-hand music to get cozy with their students. When two pianists are playing the same piano, you see, it鈥檚 inevitable their fingers will touch.
McCabe, director of the School of Music, and Sheppard, professor of piano, will show off their profiles and nimbly avoid finger entanglement when they perform together next week, presenting works for duo pianos and piano four-hands. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Meany Theater.
The concert 鈥� their first full program together 鈥� has been in the works for about a year. 鈥淚t grew out of our mutual admiration for each other鈥檚 work,鈥� McCabe said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a natural, when you have two strong minds, you think it would be fun to put those musical minds together.鈥�
The two will open with Shostakovich鈥檚 Concertino in A minor, a work written in 1953 for the composer鈥檚 son. Then comes Schubert鈥檚 Fantasy in F minor, a work McCabe calls 鈥渙ne of the great pieces of four-hand music 鈥� a complete odyssey of moods, from the most contemplative to boisterous to reflective.鈥� They close out the first half with a group of dances by Brahms and Dvorak.
In the second half, there will be more dances 鈥� the Andalusian Dances, written in the 1930s by a 鈥渕inor composer鈥� named Infante. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very colorful,鈥� McCabe said. 鈥淚 might call them the poor man鈥檚 Ravel.鈥�
In fact, in the second of the dances, Sheppard has what McCabe calls 鈥渢wo or three pages of filigree, which is very delicate and very rapid.鈥�
鈥淎lso very difficult,鈥� Sheppard added.
鈥淪o when I know that鈥檚 coming I look over to see if I can see the sweat on his brow.鈥�
鈥淪he鈥檚 playing all this lovely melody and I鈥檓 (here he mimed vigorous movement).鈥�
The concert ends with Percy Grainger鈥檚 Fantasy on George Gershwin鈥檚 Porgy and Bess, a piece Sheppard became familiar with when he lived in England.
鈥淚 have a friend who is a BBC television producer and also a terrific amateur pianist,鈥� Sheppard explained. 鈥淓very time I鈥檇 go to his house for a family party, it would be the Grainger that would come out, or parts thereof, so that鈥檚 how I got to know it.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite a delicious arrangement,鈥� McCabe added. 鈥淎ll the themes of the opera, they just sort of roll out and melt into each other. It uses both pianos very well.鈥�
鈥淧ercy Grainger was not one of those people who thought that less is more,鈥� Sheppard said. 鈥淭he more notes for him the better I think. He followed in the Lisztian tradition.鈥�
McCabe and Sheppard both say they鈥檝e enjoyed the experience of preparing for the joint concert. Their conversation about it goes like this:
鈥淗e鈥檚 very fun to play with because the chemistry鈥檚 there,鈥� McCabe said. 鈥淎t the very highest level, when you鈥檙e playing with someone, you hear what this person is doing, and you absorb that and think 鈥榳ow, that鈥檚 beautiful voicing.鈥� And you want to comment on it.鈥�
鈥淚t inspires you. You spark each other off,鈥� Sheppard replied.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the ideal. It鈥檚 not, 鈥極K, he said last week he was going to do that here.鈥� It鈥檚 listening to each other and saying 鈥榦oh, what can I do to enhance that, or be a foil to that.鈥� So it鈥檚 all semiconscious.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful because Robin is so flexible this way. So many times you get people who want to follow the prescription you did in rehearsals and the fact is that we鈥檙e different every day of the week and you have to be flexible in order to respond to the moment.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 very exciting to experience. There鈥檚 an incredible freedom in that.鈥�
All that said, McCabe and Sheppard think the concert will be an uplifting experience for the audience.
As McCabe puts it, 鈥淭here is something about two people making music together which is inevitably more festive than one. It鈥檚 social and implies a great deal of trust in each other.鈥�
And Sheppard adds, 鈥淲ith the Infante pieces and Gershwin, if they don鈥檛 go out dancing, I don鈥檛 think we will have done our job.鈥�
Tickets for the concert are $15 ($10 for students and seniors) and are available at the Arts Ticket Office, 206-543-4880.