“Evening at the Opera” was the title of the concert by pianists Lefka Karpodini and Michael Brownlee Walker at the Parnas Literary Club on 28 May. An evening at the opera without lyric singers, led by a famous very good piano duet.

Don’t just think about famous piano arrangements from the 19th century, as it’s interesting that two pianists’ selections include well-known melodies in rather unexpected arrangements. In particular, they heard Percy Grainger’s Fantasia for two pianos on themes from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Ferruccio Buzzoni’s transcription of the Introduction to Mozart’s opera The Magic Court, performance of Alexander Borodin’s Polovian Dances Prince Igor by Anna Pope and The Stage triumph” from Verdi’s opera “Aida” by Gabriel Piernet. In addition, two more well-known excerpts in modern processing were performed at the evening, the famous aria “The Valley” from the opera of the same name by Alfredo Catalani, arranged by Michael Brownlee Walker and the no less famous aria “My Sweet Father” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicki”, translated by Dimitris Andrikopoulos.

In general, the compositions listened to were divided into two categories: those in which the scribe’s personality created works that had an autonomous value and qualities different from the original, and those that remained narrowly focused on the original composition and emphasized its own characteristics.

Lefki Carpodini and Michael Brownlee Walker performed transcriptions of famous melodies.

The first included Liszt’s Grand Fantasy for Two Pianos, based on themes from Bellini’s Norma. Romantic fantasy at its apotheosis, this page vividly brought out some of the most interesting themes of Bellini’s opera and was as virtuosic as one would expect from a Liszt work. Carpodini and Brownlee Walker responded to both feet with technical ease and confidence. The latter included a much more faithful transcription of Anna Pope’s Polovtsian Dances, aimed primarily at demonstrating this rather than any of the composer’s abilities.

Obviously, the most important element of such a program is the musicianship of the performers and their aesthetic sense. Their ability, i.e. to “sing” melodies from the piano, provides the character and qualities of the original composition as well as the composer who transcribed it. So that the melodic simplicity of Bellini does not drown in the whirlpool of Liszt’s violent creative imagination.

Carpodini and Brownlee Walker once again worked very well together, especially in Fantasia for Two Pianos on themes from the opera Porgy and Bess. Not allowing the jazz element to take precedence over the classical one, but, on the contrary, finding the “golden ratio” between them, the pianists conveyed to the public the energy of Gershwin’s famous melodies and rhythms.