“This was something I’d had in mind for a long time …” says pianist Alexandre Tharaud, “to put together an album for the sheer pleasure of it, in collaboration with dear friends and paying tribute to the wonders of the piano duet repertoire.”
The aptly named 4 Hands offers 22 tracks, each just a few minutes in length, each featuring Tharaud sharing a piano keyboard with a different partner. The repertoire ranges wide – from Bach to Glass by way of such composers as Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Fauré, Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Piazzolla. As Tharaud explains, each piece of music was chosen to match the character and skills of the guest joining him at the keyboard.