Labeque and Call

So Katia and Marielle will be performing with the SF Symphony the same concerto for two pianos by Bohuslav Martinů they were playing in New-York, only this time with Roberto Minczuk conducting. “It’s the first performance ever for the SF Symphony, it was written in 1941 while he was in the US, and it is a piece which is very difficult for the orchestra and the pianos.”, That is new indeed: never heard in SF! “It’s hard to describe the concerto; the 2nd movement is very influenced by Czech folk tunes, with a lot of rhythm, very challenging rhythmically. The concerto mixes lyricism with folksy aspects. The 3rd movement is upbeat throughout, in a toccata genre, with a lot of syncopation, it’s very difficult with the orchestra.”

It’s very difficult, so do they prepare it more than the standard two rehearsals? “No, two rehearsals only, but I’m not worried at all. There are lots of Gershwin-like quotes in the music, so it’s something the orchestra is familiar with. European orchestras are heavier, they come in later on the syncopations, but American orchestras do that well. It is music that moves forward, and they do that very well. It also depends on the conductor, if he’s close for the pianist.” She must have picked up on our frown of concern, so she calmed our anxiety: “you know, for the summer festivals in the US, it’s one rehearsal and then the concert.” Oh, we felt much better.

Talking about the conductor, Roberto Minczuk, is he close to you guys? “We recently played with him in Paris (the Poulenc with the orchestre national) and it all went very well.” We let out a sigh of relief. But, but, but: “our difficulty is thus: when you play Rachmaninoff, every one knows it, but Martinů, the audience, the orchestra and the conductor, they don’t know the piece.”

So who came up with this program? “It’s our choice” Marielle told us, “we like it a lot. It’s great to bring new pieces into the repertoire.” We’re all for new pieces too! Also, “we cannot be too choosy, the repertoire for two piano and orchestra is pretty limited. There’s Mozart, Poulenc and Mendelssohn.” She was sad that Brahms or Prokofiev did not write for two pianos, and that makes us sad too. But hope is on the horizon: “in January 2009, we will create a new concerto with Louis Andriessen, a great composer, a friend of Luciano Berio, which we’ll premiere with the LA Philharmonic.” Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct, and how exciting is that?

Also, they still play Messiaen, Boulez, Ligeti, Berio, but they expand their repertoire backwards: “we’ve started to play baroque music in 2000, with Giordano Armonico. We’re playing on Walters, on period instruments. Otherwise we play on recreated Silberman pianofortes from the time of Bach, which have a much shorter keyboard, only 5 octaves” (modern pianos have two more octaves). “Bach would have loved the Steinway. But he wrote for the instruments of his time, and on two or three pianos, the Steinway sound becomes too heavy. So we play the period instruments, and it is a whole different way of playing, different articulation, different phrasing, we learn every day.”

Also, they have created their own label to publish their own repertoire, with in particular a re-recording of their Debussy/Stravinsky CD: “Philips has removed that recording from their catalog. These are two very important pieces in the repertoire for two pianos, so we want to advocate that music.”

We had to ask about Miles Davis, but it’s a topic for the other sister, Katia: “Katia met him when she was living with John McLaughlin, and he wrote two songs named after her on You’re under arrest.” We broached the topic of Katia’s collaborations with Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea, but Marielle was like, it's great these guys write for two piano and “I let her do her thing, but I am not so interested. Katia goes further into new musics, but on my ipod, I got baroque music.”

She shrugged off our theory that when they perform, Katia is leading and giving cues to her. “We know each other so well, we are beyond exchanging cues. We mostly follow the conductor, for Poulenc in particular. But we are searching for freedom, we try not to sound mechanical. Some are afraid of nice phrasing, to take risks, but it’s magnificent when you phrase your music like a singer or a string instrument would.”

And when we brought up the topic of silly, silly reviewers who make comments about their outfits and compares them with, hang on to your seat, Cher, she laughed at us. “It’s part of the performance. For Martinů, we won’t play in red and purple, like we did for Poulenc. But people see us, we’re two sisters, they remember what we wear! It’s like the Capucon brothers, they are little brothers to us, it’s an image which is pretty vivid for the audience.” Did she know the Capucon will be playing Herbst this winter? “We are good friends, and they play really well, with so much passion, they burn with intensity.” Man, we’ll have to add this one to our wish list of performances.