LDV87

Why did you fix your choice on this repertory for two pianos? Vanessa Wagner — It’s a formation I know well and have already practised for a long time. I very much prefer it to piano four hands. There’s a euphoric, really electrifying dimension to playing on two pianos, which derives from the sonic projection, the impression of hearing eighteen voices! The two players have to be in complete symbiosis, especially for the entries. It’s essential to feel things almost intuitively, because you don’t have the physical for the attacks and visual proximity of playing as a four-hand duo. The two musicians connect in a different way, by listening to each other’s breathing and rhythm. That’s especially true of this hypnotic, rhythmic repertory, which sometimes calls for diabolical precision, especially in John Adams’s Hallelujah Junction , which I think is one of the hardest pieces in the two-piano repertory. 24 THIS IS AMERICA!