Ignaz Moscheles’s "Les Contrastes,” Grand Duo Op. 115 for 2 pianos in 8 hands and orchestra will be another American premiere. This composition was originally written for two pianos in eight hands and was modeled after Baroque styles—both of the French Baroque and of the German Baroque—to create one of the first examples in the Nineteenth Century of a Neo-Baroque suite. It contains an elaborate prelude, combining rhythms of a French overture, resembling the music of Rameau and Couperin, blended with more contemporary elements of a romantic fantasy, and the flashy virtuoso writing of the time. The second movement is a monumental fugue, modeled after the epic examples of Handel in his oratorios. The third movement is an intimate religious chorale, with variation. And this leads directly to the concluding movement, which starts as a Baroque dance—the siciliane—moving to a virtuoso tour de force. During that movement, Moscheles recalls the themes of the chorale and the fugue, to create a cyclical perspective of the entire composition.

The original work by Moscheles has very dense and thick textures. It was therefore decided by pianist Tomer Lev and composer Aryeh Levanon, to reimagine the work in an orchestral version that would emphasize the monumental elements of the composition, and at the same time, could spread the dance textures between soloist and orchestra—reshaped as a concertante work for multi-hand piano ensemble and orchestra. So, the new version aims to divide and hence spread the sonorities, making the textures more translucent, and to realize the composition’s large-scale characteristic to full, thrilling potential. MultiPiano has recorded the work, for release later in 2024.