Shriver Hall to Stream Ohlsson-Gerstein Recital

Garrick Ohlsson (above) and Kirill Gerstein (photographs by Kacper Pempel and Robert Torres, courtesy of Morahan Arts & Media)

This weekend the Baltimore-based Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) will present a two-piano recital that will bring San Francisco resident Garrick Ohlsson together with Kirill Gerstein, who will travel here from his home in Berlin. The recital will take place at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, observing all necessary quarantine practices for the occasion. The program they are preparing for this occasion is an impressive one.

Most importantly, it will be one of those rare occasions to listen to Ferruccio Busoni’s “Fantasia contrappuntistica.” The composition is structured in twelve parts requiring highly-demanding keyboard technique, all conceived as an homage to Johann Sebastian Bach. The score includes four fugues and a set of three variations on a Bach-inspired chorale theme. It was originally written for solo piano (which is presumably how Busoni himself performed it); but an arrangement for two pianos was subsequently prepared, which is the version that will be performed at this recital.

The program will also include two two-piano arrangements of orchestral compositions. The first of these will be Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 45 “Symphonic Dances;” and the two-piano arrangement was prepared by Rachmaninoff himself. Similarly, Maurice Ravel prepared a two-piano version of his orchestral “choreographic poem,” “La valse;” and he gave the first public performance of that arrangement with pianist Alfred Casella. Ravel also prepared a solo piano version, which was discussed on this site about a year ago.

This program will be streamed this Sunday afternoon, November 8, at 2:30 p.m. The video will then be archived for subsequent viewing until 8:59 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11. The fee for admission will be $15, and SHCS has set up a Web page for online purchase. Once a ticket has been purchased, a hyperlink for viewing the performances will be made available and will be valid for additional visits until Wednesday. The performance itself will be followed by a chat with the artists moderated by SHCS Executive Director Catherine Cochran.