Rimsky-Korsakov - Piano Duos - The Sunday Times

Piano arrangements of orchestral works fulfilled the function of the gramophone record in the 19th century. Liszt made his transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies not only to display his ability to make the piano sound like an orchestra, but to make these great works more portable and widely accessible. In an age of amateur music-making, too, piano-duo arrangements such as these by Rimsky-Korsakov of his Sheherazade and Capriccio Espagnol, and by his future wife, Nadezhda Nikolayevna Purgold, of his Sadko, were a means of maximising income. Pizarro and Panomariovaite bring the music to life, but without making an entirely convincing case for the reductions.