Works For Two Pianos

The great D major sonata for two pianos, K. 448, is of course the absolute showpiece of this Urtext edition. The first movement opens like an operatic overture with timpani and trumpets, the Andante is a single grand melody shared between the two pianos, and the sublime rondo finale comes across like a piano concerto without orchestra. But another important work can be found in this Henle edition too: the earnest C minor fugue for two pianos K. 426, reminiscent of Handel’s or Bach’s great art, here in its original form from 1783. Mozart published it soon after in a four-part version for string quartet, adding a beautiful, freshly composed Adagio introduction. This, in turn,has been rescored in our edition for two pianos by the brilliant musician Franz Beyer, who also has completed a performable version of Mozart’s two-piano “Larghetto and Allegro” in E-flat major (a work not included in Köchel’s catalogue) from the surviving fragments. Two copies are required for performance of all the works in this volume.