Igor Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Le Sacre du Printemps - Vinyl

Sivan Silver and her partner Gil Garburg set new standards in the high art, often too little appreciated, of the duo on one or two pianos: acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, they are the constantly returning guests of top orchestras, festivals and concert organizers. Press reviews acclaim the Israeli artists for their consummate technical mastery, highly versatile and nuanced playing and exceptional sensitivity. Silver and Garburg capture the playful character of the piano writing, the interplay of impulse and intensity. Nor is this superficial showmanship or mechanical interaction; rather it is an organic and natural blending of the voices and a profound understanding of the work that determines the performance of the two exponents.
With their new recording of two highly virtuosic works by Igor Stravinsky, Le sacre du printemps and Petrushka, the two artists have met a formidable challenge. Stravinsky, who arranged this ballet music both for orchestra and for four hands, makes great demands of his pianists. In particular, their interpretation must always stand comparison with the orchestral version. Nor is that all. Stravinskys works make the utmost demands of the instrument and of the artist: rich in contrast and colour, rhythmically vivid and complex, his music demands power and highly nuanced playing concentrated into a small area. This is a task that the pianist pair tackle with remarkable mastery. They unlock from the piano the timbres of an orchestra and the rhythms of a percussion kit and do it in a way that creates the impression only one person is playing. Silver-Garburg were well on the way to promising solo careers when they paired up first privately and then at the piano. They relish the constant contrast between recitals as a duo and orchestral concerts, between intimate pieces that call upon them as a unity, works conceived as dialogue, and those in which they sit at two pianos and summon up the massed power of a full orchestra. Its easy for a piano duo to create effects with sheer virtuosity. But we find that far too little. We want the listeners to be touched by our music to the depths of their heart.

Vinyl 1

Side A:

1. Introduction (The Rite of Spring Part 1: The Adoration of Earth)

2. Augurs of Spring

3. Ritual of Abduction

4. Spring Rounds

5. Ritual of the Rival Tribes

6. Procession of the Sage

7. The Adoration of the Earth

Side B:

1. Introduction (The Rite of Spring Part 2:The SacrificePart 2)

2. Mystic Rounds of the Young Girls

3. Glorification of the Chosen One

4. Evocation of the Ancestors

5. Ritual Ceremony of the Ancestors

6. Sacrificial Dance

Vinyl 2

Side C:

1. Petrouchka Tableau 1: The Shrovetide Fair

2. The Magic Trick

3. Russian Dance

4. Petrouchka Tableau ll: Petruska's Room

Side D:

1. Petrouchka Tableau lll: The Moor's Room

2. Dance of the Ballerina

3. Petrouchka Tableau lV: The Schrovetide Fair (Evening)

4. The Wet-Nurse's Dance

5. The Bear and the Peasant

6. The Jovial Merchant with two Gipsy Girls

7. Dance of the Coachmen and the Grooms

8. The Mummers