International Piano

This wellfilled disc offers an opportunity to hear Maltese composer Charles Camilleri’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion (2005), a work that aims to treat tonality, atonality and polytonality as equals. Quite a challenge, but Camilleri succeeds.

McLachlan and Page are superb throughout, reveling in the rhythmic play of the finale and brilliantly atmospheric in the central panel. The Stravinsky Sacre du printemps is notable for its dynamic range and timbral variety, before Bartók’s classic Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion is heard in a highly atmospheric reading; the faster central section of the middle movement is particularly impressive. The recording is a little full on reverb in the louder dynamics. An invaluable release for the Camilleri; the Stravinsky and the Bartók are perfect bedfellows. (four stars)