PIANO FOUR HANDS MUSIC
Contemporary Piano Four Hands Music & Repertoire
This collection of contemporary piano four‑hands music presents works written specifically for duet pianists seeking new repertoire for concerts, competitions, and advanced study. These compositions explore the full expressive and textural potential of shared‑keyboard performance, highlighting ensemble precision, coloristic writing, and the unique physical and musical interplay between two performers at one instrument. This page provides an overview of available works, including instrumentation details, program notes, and score information.
THEMES:
Program Notes:
At the Edge of a Spiral for one piano, four hands, is a short journey of built intensity. It is based on a few fragments, motives that are illuminated in different lights each time. The piece starts slowly but increases its intensity and speed as it progresses, utilizing the same motives. While composing the piece, I heard about a young man who threw himself into the river. I tried to imagine what went through his mind and what had brought him to this dead-end. And again, the idea of built intensity, obsessive and uncompromising, came to my mind. At the very end of the piece, there is a sudden drop in intensity followed by a music box passage, as if describing what is going on in the person’s mind right after the jump, right after reaching the edge of his life’s spiral.
At the Edge of a Spiral was written and dedicated to the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo – Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg. The generous support of Miriam and Eliezer Benbassat funded it.
A note from behind the notes…
I wrote "At the Edge of a Spiral" in a Paris apartment I had sublet, which came with a Parisian cat named Capsule. He would curl up by my feet whenever I played French music — but the moment Bach appeared, he stood up and left the room with great dignity.
Score of At the Edge of a Spiral for piano four-hands
About Piano Four Hands Music
Piano four‑hands repertoire offers a distinctive blend of intimacy and orchestral richness, allowing two performers to share a single instrument while creating a unified musical voice. Writing for this ensemble involves careful attention to register, balance, and physical coordination, resulting in textures and sonorities unique to the duet format. These works contribute to the expanding contemporary literature for piano four hands, providing pianists with expressive, technically engaging, and artistically rewarding repertoire.
Piano Four Hands Repertoire List
Claude Debussy – Petite Suite (1889)
Maurice Ravel – Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite) (1910)
One of the most charming pieces in the four-hand repertoire, this early work blends elegance and French impressionist color. Though late-19th century, it laid a foundation for 20th-century duet style.
Originally composed for piano four hands, this suite of fairy tales exemplifies Ravel’s gift for orchestral imagination—even at a single keyboard.
Igor Stravinsky – Trois pièces faciles (1915) and Cinq pièces faciles (1917)
Francis Poulenc – Sonata for Piano Four Hands (1918)
These deceptively titled “easy pieces” offer rhythmic ingenuity and Stravinskian wit. Each set was designed for amateur and professional partnerships.
Playful, stylish, and unmistakably French, this sonata is filled with Poulenc’s signature charm and sly humor.
Béla Bartók – 44 Duos for Two Violins (arranged for piano four hands)
Samuel Barber – Souvenirs, Op. 28 (1951)
This neo-romantic suite evokes early 20th-century ballroom dances. Lush and nostalgic, it showcases Barber’s lyrical style.
John Adams – Hallelujah Junction (1996)
A rhythmic and high-energy tour-de-force, this piece for two pianos has been adapted by performers for piano four hands, capturing Adams’ signature pulse.
Philip Glass – Four Movements for Two Pianos (2008)
While written for two pianos, this piece has been performed as a four-hand arrangement. Its hypnotic minimalism and layering make it ideal for duet interpretation.
Unsuk Chin – Double Bind? (2007)
An intense and layered work pushing the boundaries of coordination and texture between the two players—demanding and sonically rich.
Darius Milhaud – Scaramouche (1937)
Originally composed for saxophone and piano, Milhaud’s own transcription for four hands has become a concert favorite—bright, syncopated, and fun.
While originally for violins, Bartók himself adapted selections for four-hand piano, bringing folk rhythms and modal harmonies to the keyboard.
György Kurtág – Játékok (Games), Volumes for Piano Four Hands (1973 - )
Kurtág’s miniature masterpieces are full of poetic and sometimes startling gestures. Many pieces from Játékok are written specifically for four hands.