Sondheim's Concertino for two pianos (1949)

[It Takes All Kinds]

I just posted this to Soundcloud and I thought I should post the links here. The performance is by Beata Moon and Joel Gosling. They performed it at Symphony Space in New York on March 19, 2005, as part of that day's Wall-to-Wall Sondheim concert. Sorry for the sound problems in the third movement.

This is a far more interesting and substantial work — not just in length — than the two other early instrumental works that have been performed from time to time over the years: the Very Short Violin Sonata (also performed at Wall to Wall) and Variations on a Theme (Katie Malone). Maybe I'm missing something in those two. I've posted each movement separately.

https://soundcloud.com/user-348246213/sondheim-concertino-for-two-pianos-i-leggiero/s-ZW0Qr

https://soundcloud.com/user-348246213/sondheim-concertino-for-two-pianos-ii-adagio-poco-rubato/s-aKUAw

https://soundcloud.com/user-348246213/sondheim-concertino-for-two-pianos-iii-scherzando-brilliante/s-CoKjv

[Chris L]

Thanks, Alan. I'm listening to them now and they're beautiful.

I remember tuning in to as much Wall-to-Wall Sondheim as I could stay conscious for when it ran live. At one time I had the entire thing on MP3 files that someone had uploaded, not quite licitly, to the Internet. Has anyone released the entire thing in any official form (most likely streaming)?

(I'm going to guess that there are far too many rights issues involved for that to be possible, but one can dream.)

[It Takes All Kinds]

I was lucky enough to be at Wall-to-Wall Sondheim for all 12 hours.

I've got two versions of the broadcast. I may try to upload one of them at some point for people to download. One seems to have better sound than the other, but neither version is fully tracked. I think the one with better sound is less fully tracked. I will try to figure this out when I can and perhaps do a more thorough tracking and then upload it.

[It Takes All Kinds]

There was a limited-release one-CD highlights disc issued of Wall-to-Wall but that was all. It was issued by Symphony Space for fund-raising purposes. It featured well-known stuff. At a guess, the reason more wasn't issued may have been less because of rights issues than because Symphony Space just didn't have the staff and the wherewithal to issue more. And a real label might have thought, probably rightly, that it would have been a money-loser. I think at least nine CDs would have been involved (although perhaps after editing, only eight would have been needed to get everything you'd really want). And a lot of editing. Some performers might have felt they weren't at their best and might not want their performances issued and so on. It would have been very complicated and might not have sold enough to make it worthwhile.

[scenicdesign71]

I just now discovered this orchestral version of the Concertino, performed in May 2001 by the Eos Orchestra, orchestrated and conducted by Jonathan Sheffer: