The Italian Bach in Vienna.
The Labèque sisters have formed, since they left the conservatory, a high level piano duet. Their repertoire features ancient music as well as modern compositions of Gershwin, Hindemith and others. Il Giardino Armonico, founded in 1985 by Giovanni Antonini and a few other musicians, has revolutionized the instrumental approach to the Baroque music in Italy.
Katia and Marielle Labèque play two Silbermann fortepianos, built especially for them by Andrea Restelli in Milan and Barbara and Thomas Wolf in Washington. Those are two of the four fortepianos which are now existing and performed in the world. Also, the Silbermanns were the only fortepianos Bach knew. Their sound, which could be placed somewhere between the cembalo and the piano, turns these arrangement of the Bach harpsichord concertos into extremely interesting musical experiences.
This concert, recorded at the Vienna Musikverein in the year 2000, features the Labèque sisters accompanied by a dazzling Giardino Armonico, in concertos for keyboards by Johann Sebastian Bach. The mondiovision re-transmission of this concert in no way impairs their naturalness or their enjoyment at performing. A symphony by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and a violin concerto by Vivaldi complete the programme of this lavish concert.
