Hand in Hand
Former fellows of Schloss Solitude, the Bugallo-Williams Duo returned to Stuttgart as part of their tour of Europe, featuring virtuosic music for piano 4-hands in which the musicians not only perform side by side but also in other less common configurations. Intersecting hands are the focus of two of the pieces: the short movement from Book IV of Kurtág’s Jakétok, “Kéz a kézben” (“Hand in Hand”) and Williams’ Crossings, which interweaves original and contemporary harmonies with J.S. Bach’s 250th chorale “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”. The concert also presented selections from Conlon Nancarrow’s works for player piano, which were transcribed by the duo, as well as the world premiere of Joseph Michaels’ Together in Perfect Harmony. The concert ended with one of the most revered masterpieces of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky’s La Sacre du Printemps.
