June 16, 2016

Chicago Tribune

John von Rhein

All this Andrew von Oeyen and Fabio Bidini brought off with winning eclat as they tossed the perky tunes back and forth, galloping up and down their keyboards with pointed articulation and firm rhythm.

Poulenc’s Double Concerto may be the perfect music for outdoor summer listening. It’s a breezy, neoclassical divertissement, at once cheeky and urbane, carefree and nostalgic, unmistakably French, topped off with dollops of good humor. The pianists are called upon to sound like vaudevillians one moment, a Balinese gamelan the next. All this Andrew von Oeyen and Fabio Bidini brought off with winning eclat as they tossed the perky tunes back and forth, galloping up and down their keyboards with pointed articulation and firm rhythm. I have no idea whether they perform as a duo on a regular basis, but they locked step like a veteran two-piano team. The central larghetto, in which Mozart takes a bow, was nicely captured, as was the joie de vivre of the finale, with its brief burst of pianistic fireworks at the end.

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