Apekisheva

Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva perform a stunning selection of French 20th-century music for piano four hands. Both Milhaud and Poulenc were members of Les Six, a band of composers who specialised in producing colourful, quirky and highly original scores. Milhaud’s Scaramouche epitomises the wit and joie de vivre of this approach and has become one of his most popular works – although at the time the composer nearly forbade its publication. Poulenc combined grace and sparkling humour with a nobility that reflected his desire for a ‘return to simplicity’. His Élégie was written ‘as if improvising with a cigar in your mouth and a glass of cognac on the table’, while the Sonata for Four Hands is full of finger-crossing intricacies, and at the heart of the Sonata for Two Pianos is an Andantino described by the composer as ‘a lyrical, profound outburst… It is piano without pretence, real piano where each instrument converses with the other in perfect understanding and without interrupting.’ Debussy’s evocative Nocturnes arranged by Ravel conclude the release.

Moving music from 19th century France with Sandra Lied Haga and Katya Apekisheva.

Roman Mints won a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Roman has recorded for ECM, Harmonia Mundi, Quartz, and other labels, and has performed with such prominent groups as the London Mozart Players, London Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Musica Viva Orchestra, Russian Philharmonia, Kremerata Baltica, Prague Soloists and Prague Sinfonia, among others. His recording of the Mozetich Violin Concerto ‘Affairs of the Heart’ was used in productions by Hong Kong Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Q-dance company.

The Russian composer Elena Langer, now resident in Britain, draws on influences from her native country (Shostakovich, especially in the chamber orchestration of these songs), from Britain (from Britten to Thomas Adès), and from continental Europe. As a song composer she is able to convey lightness even when dealing with serious material such as the title song cycle setting poems by Lee Harwood (most of the songs on the album are in English). These songs subtly depict love triangles, some of them with both straight and gay elements. Even better are the genuinely playful pieces.