Chitose Okashiro transcribed Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy for two pianos, which she performed herself using overdubbing. She also recorded Scriabin’s Prometheus for 14 hands, again by overdubbing. Both well worth hearing.

There are other 14 handers - notably Matthias Spahlinger’s Farben der Frühe.

Richard Buhlig wrote out Bach’s Art of Fugue for two keyboard instruments and recorded it with Wesley Kuhnle on a pair of pianos. There was a CD release on Pearl.

The performance is perfectly Ok, rather nice in fact. Certainly worth hearing at least once if you enjoy piano sound. I would argue that the counterpoint gains a bit of extra independence from being executed by four hands rather than two - but I’m not sure. With the exception of a couple of contrapuncti, this music can be executed with two hands and one keyboard.

There is a shedload of music for two pianos by Ludwig van Beethoven, most of it is WOO. One with opus number is op 134, the transcription of the op 133 string quartet movement. I’m not a great Beethovenian, but there is one performance which makes it sound rather interesting to me - on Naxos with Cullan Bryant and Dmitri Rachmanov. I’d go as far as to say that it is one of the really great Beethoven piano recordings.

On Tue, 5 Sep 2023 10:52:16 -0700 (PDT), Andy Evans
<performanceandmedia@gmail.com> wrote:

>If you want 4 pianos then Les Noces has few equals.

In the version recorded in Hollywood in 1959 by Iggy, the pianos are
played by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss and Roger Sessions.

On Thu, Sep 07 2023, Notsure01 <docduc1013@aol.com> wrote:

> On 9/3/23 6:07 PM, Paul Alsing wrote:
>>> On Sunday, September 3, 2023 at 10:15:15 AM UTC-4, Notsure01 wrote:
>>>> I've just been listening to a great version by Richter and Britten of
>>>> the Schubert Fantasy for four hands:
>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKcR_6eT8Xw
>>> Another good one is this one...
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjYQuDPi9Q
>
> ... with Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu, from 1984..
>
> Thanks Paul, for bringing up this performance of the Schubert Fantasy
> - definitely a fine version! Like everything Perahia does, it is
> exquisitely played. But to my taste I prefer versions with more drama,
> particularly in late Schubert with its undertones of pathos and
> resignation. That said, it is interesting to hear other approaches
> also..
>

BBC's Radio 3 broadcast Argerich and Tiempo playing the Fantasy yesterday
morning, plenty of drama but the speed!! I though it a bit of a bull at
a gate https://www.sergiotiempo.net/discography
ah it's here https://youtu.be/V9_kE9_At6g?si=CyMdIy_VJRxScX04

Robert
--
Robert Marshall he/him twiX:@rajm https://mastodon.world/@rajm

On Sun, Sep 03 2023, Paolo Pesenti <paoloapesenti@gmail.com> wrote:

> Another reference for Schubert's D940 is Gilels and Gilels 1978.
> About interesting four-hands repertoire, three suggestions in no
> particular order: Mozart Sonata K521 (Richter-Britten 1966 despite
> terrible sound); Ravel's Ma Mere l'Oye transcription (Argerich-Pletnev
> 2003); Kurtag's Jatekok played with his wife Marta
>

I think the Marta and Gyorgy Kurtág arrangements of Bach are wonderful,
you have to know your duet partner well though
https://youtu.be/Z8lTh58jhA8?si=I-mlsGUnZYXONPpF

Robert
--
Robert Marshall he/him twiX:@rajm https://mastodon.world/@rajm

On Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 3:52:19 AM UTC+10, Andy Evans wrote:
> If you want 4 pianos then Les Noces has few equals.

Busby Berkeley had a lot more than that ... But then nothing exceeds like excess.

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

On 2023-09-03 14:15:09 +0000, Notsure01 said:

> I've just been listening to a great version by Richter and Britten of
> the Schubert Fantasy for four hands:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKcR_6eT8Xw
>
> We've had numerous threads about piano performances of course, but I
> don't recall seeing a recent discussion specifically about four hands
> or dual pianos.
>
> Was wondering if folks here have favorite versions of the Schubert
> Fantasy -- or could highlight favorite recordings of any four hands
> works?
>
> As always, thanks in advance!

These have been recommended for many years on this newsgroup:

https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Silke_Thora_Matthies/494

I really enjoy the Dvorak discs.

Hank

On Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 8:02:43 PM UTC+1, henrysibley wrote:
> On 2023-09-03 14:15:09 +0000, Notsure01 said:
>
> > I've just been listening to a great version by Richter and Britten of
> > the Schubert Fantasy for four hands:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKcR_6eT8Xw
> >
> > We've had numerous threads about piano performances of course, but I
> > don't recall seeing a recent discussion specifically about four hands
> > or dual pianos.
> >
> > Was wondering if folks here have favorite versions of the Schubert
> > Fantasy -- or could highlight favorite recordings of any four hands
> > works?
> >
> > As always, thanks in advance!
> These have been recommended for many years on this newsgroup:
>
> https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Silke_Thora_Matthies/494
>
> I really enjoy the Dvorak discs.
>
> Hank

The music of the Brahms is not very inspiring to me somehow. I mean, I can't really see the point of the transcriptions these days. I haven't heard the Dvorak.