Fireworks on Black and White Keys - Zabeltitz Palace Concert

Works for piano four hands
by Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and others

Konstanze Hollitzer & Christian Hornef, Piano Duo

What sounds like an advertisement for a modern home entertainment system is in our case a wonderful achievement of the 19th century - the arrangement. Composers of that era sought to make orchestral works known also in places that either had no orchestra at all or only small ensembles. Another reason was to satisfy the desire of music lovers to play at home well-known large-scale works, mostly symphonies or overtures. For example, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy created a version of his 1st Symphony for piano four hands, violin and cello. Since even this version was still relatively demanding, arrangements for solo piano and piano four hands quickly became established. Four-hand piano playing enjoyed great popularity because the possibilities for musical expression are enormous, infinitely colorful, structures become audible in many layers, and much of it resembles fireworks on black and white keys.

Original compositions for this instrumentation also have their own extraordinary charm - the compositional possibilities are considerably greater than in two-hand piano literature, and the collaboration of pianists in the closest quarters is particularly worth hearing and watching.

Works by Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Franz Schubert will be performed by the piano duo Konstanze Hollitzer and Prof. Christian Hornef.
The pianists have been working together for many years and perform throughout Germany and Europe.

Subject to change!
Supported by: Kulturraum Meißen - Sächsische Schweiz - Osterzgebirge