Piano & Co: Beethoven – Symphonies for Two Pianos

Almost all successful symphonies from the Classical and Romantic periods, right up to Mahler, were published in editions for piano—whether solo, for four hands, or for two pianos. In days gone by, every self-respecting household of any size had a grand piano on which music was played. Mastering an instrument was considered good form; for women in particular, it was as much a part of their education as computers are today. Most often, such highly artistic arrangements were not written by the composers themselves, but by students and collaborators such as Beethoven’s protégé Carl Czerny, who was himself a respectable composer and not merely an author of practice literature. In contrast, a transcription such as Franz Liszt’s of the 9th Symphony is not intended for amateurs, but is a highly virtuosic re-creation, indeed at times a reworking. Although Liszt captures Beethoven’s monumental innovations, the harmonic boundary-pushing, the interplay between light and darkness, and the final jubilation, the arrangement nonetheless becomes an artistic achievement in its own right.