Two of today’s outstanding pianists, Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva have a friendship which dates back to their early childhood, becoming friends, collaborators, festival co-directors and duo partners over many decades. This latest recording from the pair marks a project somehow made possible against all odds during the Coronavirus lockdowns, with the pair determined to continue making music despite the restrictions the entire country was under.
For their album the pianists chose a programme of stunning French 20th-century repertoire by Poulenc, Milhaud & Debussy, recording in the beautiful, if temporarily silenced surroundings of the Yehudi Menuhin School, where Katya and Charles first met as teenagers.
Works:
•Debussy: Trois Nocturnes
•Milhaud: Scaramouche, suite for two pianos, Op. 165b
•Poulenc: Capriccio (d'après Le Bal masqué) for two pianos
•Poulenc: Elégie for two pianos, FP175
•Poulenc: L'Embarquement pour Cythère, for 2 pianos
•Poulenc: Sonata for Two Pianos