Works for Two Pianos

Description

The great D Major sonata for two pianos, K. 488, is – of course – the absolute showpiece of this Urtext edition. The first movement opens like an operatic overture with timpani and trumpets, the Andante is a single grand melody shared between the two pianos, and the sublime rondo finale comes across like a piano concerto without orchestra. But another important work can be found in this Henle edition too: the earnest C minor fugue for two pianos K. 426, reminiscent of Handel’s or Bach’s great art, here in its original form from 1783. Mozart published it soon after a four-part version for string quartet, adding a beautiful, freshly composed Adagio introduction. This, in turn, has been rescored in our edition for two pianos by the brilliant musician Franz Beyer, who also has completed a performable version of Mozart’s two-piano Larghetto and Allegro in E flat Major (a work not included in Kochel’s catalog) from the surviving fragments. Two copies are required for performance of all the works in this volume.