Programs/Rep

SOME CURRENT PROGRAMS
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INHERITANCESAfter his father’s unexpected death, pianist Adam Tendler used his inheritance, a wad of cash received in a parking lot, to begin a commissioning project inviting a broad spectrum of sound artists and composers to create new piano works exploring the idea of 'inheritance' itself. Woven into one intimate program, these pieces tell a universal story of lineage, loss, and place, and become a meditation on confronting our past while moving forward into the future. New commissions by Devonté Hynes, Nico Muhly, Laurie Anderson, inti figgis-vizueta, Pamela Z, Ted Hearne, Angélica Negrón, Christopher Cerrone, Marcos Balter, Missy Mazzoli, Darian Donovan Thomas, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Scott Wollschleger, Mary Prescott, Timo Andres and John Glover. Produced by Liquid Music.
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FANTAIL + CARNAVAL
A mash-up of a new major work solo piano by iconic American composer Christian Wolff, commissioned by Adam Tendler, interspersed with its inspiration, Robert Schumann's complete Carnaval. Like Schumann’s legendary set, Christian Wollf's Fantail is a tour of the composer's musical laboratory and universe. In this musical mash-up that puts both complete works, and their composers, in a fresh dialogue – reframing, blurring, even challenging our notions of what is classical and what is contemporary. Program premiered by Kaufman Music Center at Merkin Hall in New York City.

Sonatas and Interludes +  Henry Cowell
A completely memorized program of John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes followed buy a sweeping but brief (appx 30m) survey of Henry Cowell's pioneering works for piano and string piano, including iconic works like The Fairy Answer, Antimony and Dynamic Motion, as well as rare treasures like The Fairy Bells, Piece for Piano with Strings and The Sword of Oblivion. Program premiered at the Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock NY.
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Serial Copland
All Copland recital including a memorized performance of Copland’s Petit Portrait, Piano Variations, Piano Fantasy, and the Piano Quartet. (May also include Passacaglia or Piano Sonata in absence of string players.) Program premiered at (le) Poisson Rouge, New York, NY, with JACK Quartet.

Liszt's Complete Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, with Jenny Lin
Jenny Lin and Adam Tendler alternate movements in Franz Liszt's towering, introspective, experimental Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, a ten-movement, 90-minute epic for solo piano. The program premiered in Andrew Ousley's Death of Classical/Angel's Share catacombs series at Green-Wood Cemetery, and was covered by the New York Times, The New Yorker (with illustration), and PBS, among others. Performed four consecutive evenings, the performance sold out every night, with seats added, before it then sold out again. Broadcast of full performance available here.
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Ten Minute Monsters
‍An ambitious review of works that combine virtuosity with intense emotional content, borrowing the term "ten minute monster" from Copland's own description of his Piano Variations. Joining that work is Berio's Sequenza VII, Tom Johnson's Triple Threat (or Septapede), David Lang's While Nailing at Random, Mauricio Kagel's M.M. 51, Drew Baker's Stress Position, and others.

Unisons
A program featuring works that focus on the power of a single musical line, including Philip Glass's Two Pages, Arthur Berger's Three One-Part Inventions, Ann Southam's Simple Lines of Enquiry, and John Cage's Cheap Imitation (performed from memory). With the Cage can be video of Merce Cunningham's Second Hand and/or live dancer for first movement (as presented at the Broad Museum, Los Angeles, CA). Program to be premiered this year at (le) Poisson Rouge, NYC.
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Mikrokosmos Complete
‍A complete 1-through-153 survey of Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, with projections of the titles and surprises that include two-piano realizations, stomping and singing. As much a narrative of a pianist’s development, the Mikrokosmos, performed as a complete suite, provides an immersive, powerful and unparalleled musical narrative of a composer finding their voice, from five-finger scale to fully-formed piece. Half-program premiered at Third Street Music School Settlement, New York, NY.

Ludus Tonalis Complete
Either solo or with multiple pianists, Hindemith's towering and divisive Ludus Tonalis (1942) is presented in its entirety.

Ten-Thousand Things
‍Performing John Cage's 34'46.776" for a pianist live against a video of 31'57.9864" for a pianist, ideally recorded in the performance space, combined simultaneously with unreleased audio of Cage himself performing 45' for a speaker. Also in the program One, for solo piano, or any other solo piano work. Program premiered at The Rubin Museum, New York, NY.
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Downtown
‍A program of works, several with tape (including actual cassette) that evoke New York's new music scene in the 70s and 80s, with music by Elodie Lauten ("Imaginary Husband"), Frances White ("still life with piano"), David Lang ("while nailing at random), and Tom Johnson ("Triple Threat.") Program premiered at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn NY.
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Who is Robert Palmer?
A survey of music by neglected midcentury American composer Robert Palmer, whose works Tendler has recorded on the forthcoming New World label album, Robert Palmer: Piano Music, produced by Judith Sherman. Palmer was a rising star in modern music throughout the 1940s and 50s, whose work and career later became more obscure, though his advocates included a group as diverse as Julius Eastman, Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, Kyle Gann, John Kirkpatrick, William Kapell and Claudio Arrau. Tendler's performance includes Palmer's beautiful and heart-stopping Preludes, Epigrams, Sonatas, Toccata Ostinato, and other works.
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All-Cage
A wide-ranging review of works by John Cage for prepared piano, “ordinary piano,” toy piano and electrified piano, including The Perilous Night, Suite for Toy Piano, Music for Piano, The Seasons, Dream (or In a Landscape), Electronic Music for Piano, and Cheap Imitation. (May also include One or Concert for Piano + Indeterminacy). All works memorized except Music for Piano and other indeterminate scores. Program performed at The Broad Museum, LA, CA, San Francisco Conservatory, San Francisco, CA, and PianoForte, Chicago IL.
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Queer Rage
An evolving program celebrating and exploring queerness in contemporary piano music, including Frederic Rzewski's De Profundis, Gerald Busby's Runes, John Cage's The Perilous Night, Luciano Chessa's Tomboy, possibly Nathan Hall's Tame Your Man (for bondage artist, piano, and playback), and works by Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Julius Eastman and others.
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Where Are We Going? and What Are We Doing? (Concert for Piano + Quartet for the End of Time) (with Tenth Intervention)
Two works that explore two sides of timelessness—the ephemeral and the divine—featuring John Cage's Concert for piano and orchestra, with tape of the composer reading Where Are We Going? and What Are We Doing? with Olivier Messiaen's iconic Quartet for the End of Time. Program premiered at The Rubin Museum, New York, NY with Tenth Intervention.

88x50
The program that started it all, Tendler's original fifty-state tour program featured in his book, 88x50, including works by Aphex Twin, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Charles Tomlinson Ginastera, Charles Griffes and John Adams. Current performances feature readings from the book. Program performed in all fifty states between 2005-2006.

In College
An immersive program that explores the emotional and physical extremes/demands of conservatory, featuring a rotating combination of works Tendler studied in conservatory but never performed publicly, including music by Beethoven, Bartok, Bach and Mozart. Also featured are Drew Baker's stress position and Tendler's own lecture for live speaker and pre-recorded voices, In College. Program premiered at Dixon Place, New York, NY. Adult audiences.

Night Thoughts
A meditative program including "for the only jim in the world," a suite developed between Tendler, Ned Rorem and Boosey & Hawkes comprising the complete works  Rorem composed for his partner, James Holmes, during their thirty year relationship, as well as works by David Lang, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Anthony Porter and others. Program premiered at Rothko Chapel, Houston TX.
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Eastman + Palmer + Wolff (with Joseph Kubera)
Joining forces with legendary pianist Joseph Kubera, the duo presents Christian Wolff's Duo for Pianists I and II, Robert Palmer's Sonata for Two Pianos, and Julius Eastman's Crazy Nigger. Eastman had approached Joseph Kubera to learn and perform Palmer's Two-Piano Sonata with him. Kubera now appears on the New World recording of the work with Tendler. Before Kubera and Tendler performed Crazy Nigger with two pianos in a 2019 dance production (reviewed by the New York Times), the previous time Kubera performed the work with two pianos was in 1980 at The Kitchen (NY), with Eastman himself.
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Liszt: Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses (complete, with Jenny Lin)
Jenny Lin and Adam Tendler tackle Liszt's towering, hyper-religious and plainchant-filled Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. Program to be premiered as part of the The Crypt Sessions and The Angel's Share series in Harlem, NY.

Meditation
A soul-searching program that builds to a thrilling crescendo, featuring music by Earle Brown (Home Burial, Forgotten Piece with audience cell phones), Nico Muhly, Morton Feldman (Palais de Mari, memorized), Marina Poleukhina, Erik Satie and Philip Glass. Premiered at Rothko Chapel, Houston TX.

Muhly / Feldman
‍An unlikely yet satisfying combination of works by Nico Muhly, including Drones for piano and electronics, Perpetual Motion, MOVE and Hudson Cycle, and Morton Feldman's Two Pianos (tape version), IXION (tape version), Three Pieces for Piano (1954) and Palais de Mari (memorized). Other works by Muhly or Feldman may supplement, including You Can't Get There From Here (Muhly) and Piano (Feldman). Program premiered at Spectrum, Brooklyn NY.  
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Early Minimalism
‍A program featuring sweeping, severe early minimalist works by Philip Glass (his rarely performed, unpublished How Now, 1968), Tom Johnson (Spaces, Septapede and Triple Threat) and John Adams (Phrygian Gates) and others.  
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Americana
Perfect for museums and series that skew conservative, this program features charming solo works from the turn of the 20th century by Edward MacDowell, Amy Beach, Charles Ives, and Henry Cowell, and others.


SOLO REP
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Aphex Twin•Kesson Daslef
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John Adams•China Gates • Phrygian Gates

Beth Anderson Harold • Womanrite
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C.P.E. Bach•Work 117 (selections)

J.S. Bach•Well-Tempered Clavier Book I (studied in entirety, performed selections)•Well-Tempered Clavier Book II (studied in entirety, performed selections)•Suite in a minor, BWV 818•Four Duets, BWV 802-805•Partita No. 3 in a minor•Partita No. 2 in c minor•Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue

Drew Baker•Stress Position

Ludwig van Beethoven•Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 7•Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 14 no. 1•Piano Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 22•Piano Sonata in c# minor, Op. 27 no. 2•Piano Sonata in d minor, Op. 32 no. 2•Piano Sonata in G, Op. 49•Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 53

Arthur Berger • Three One-Part Inventions

Samuel Barber•Nocturne, Op. 33•Excursions, Op. 20•Souvenirs (selections)

Luciano Berio•Erdenklavier•Rounds•Sequenza IV

Bela Bartok•Etudes, Op. 18•Suite, Op. 14• Mikrokosmos

Amy Beach•Two Pieces, Op. 54

Joahnna Beyer • Prelude and Fugue

Johannes Brahms•Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9•Balladen, Op. 10

Earle Brown•Home Burial•25 Pages•Indices•Nine Rarebits•Forgotten Piece

Gerald Busby•Tendler Suite•this is how i do it, for speaking pianist

John Cage•Sonatas and Interludes (complete, memorized)•31’57.9864” for a pianist•34’46’776” for a pianist•Mysterious Adventure•One•In a Landscape•Ophelia•Two Pieces (1935)•Two Pieces (1946)•Waiting•Music for Piano 1, 2, 3 and selections•Dream•Cartridge Music•A Room•Opening Dance for Sue Laub•Suite for Toy Piano•Three Easy Pieces•The Seasons•Electronic Music for Piano•Music for Amplified Toy Pianos•The Perilous Night•Cheap Imitation•In the Name of the Holocaust•Haiku•Electronic Music for Piano•4’33”•0’00”•Music for...•The Unavailable Memory of •Solo from Concert for Piano •A Valentine Out of Season •Totem Ancestor • And the Earth Shall Bear Again • Our Spring Will Come

Christopher Cerrone•Hoyt Schererhorn

Luciano Chessa•TOMBOY, for video and piano

Frederic Chopin•Fantaisie in f minor•Four Ballades•Nocturnes Op. 62•selected Nocturnes, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Etudes, and Preludes

Edward T. Cone•21 Little Preludes

David Conte • Fantasy

Aaron Copland•Petit Portrait (ABE)•Four Piano Blues•Midday Thoughts / Proclamation•Night Thoughts•Three Scenes from Our Town•Down a Country Lane•Passacaglia•Piano Sonata•Piano Variations•Piano Fantasy

Henry Cowell•Dynamic Motion•5 Encores to Dynamic Motion: What’s This, Amiable Conversation, Advertisement, Antimony, Time Table•Piece for piano and strings•The Fairy Answer•The Fairy Bells•Anger Dance•The Sword of Oblivion•Exultation

George Crumb•Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979•Five Pieces • Makrokosmos Vol. 1

Claude Debussy•selected Preludes•Suite Bergamasque

David Del Tredici•Opposites Attract

Julius Eastman • Piano 2

Ross Feller•Still Adrift for piano and tape • Etude Beviloquent

Morton Feldman•For Bunita Marcus •Palais de Mari•Three Pieces for Piano (1954)

John Field•selected Nocturnes

Steven Gerber•Improvisations•Three Duets•Cocktail Music•Variations on Madam I’m Adam (for Adam Tendler)

Alberto Ginastera•First Sonata •Doce Preludios Americanos•Suite de Danzas Criollas•Danzas Argentinas

Philip Glass•Two Pages•Opening•Etudes (selections)•Metamorphosis•Mad Rush • How Now

John Glover•Postcard •the scent of their roses does not remain

Henryk Gorecki•Three Preludes

Charles Tomlinson Griffes•Three Tone Pictures•Sonata•Three Preludes

Nathan Hall•Tame Your Man, for bondage artist and piano

Lou Harrison•Waltz for Evelyn

Joseph Haydn•Piano Sonata in E-flat major•Piano Sonata in C major

Alan Hovhaness•The Mystic Flute

Toshi Ichiyanagi•Music for Piano 3 and 4

Charles Ives•Three-Page Sonata•Song Without (Good) Words•The Seen an Unseen? (Sweet and Tough)•Bad Resolutions and Good WAN•The Anti-Abolitionist Riots

Tom Johnson•Triple Threat, for speaking pianist and tape • Septapede • Spaces • Old Wine New Bottle

Mauricio Kagel • M.M. 51
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Aram Khachaturian•Toccata•Sonatina

Joan La Barbara •Responsive Resonances with Feathers

David Lang•cage•while nailing at random

Will Larche•For Adam Staples

Elodie Lauten•Imaginary Husband

Franz Liszt•Consolations•Liebestraum •Prelude on Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen •Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses

Edward MacDowell•Woodland Sketches, Op. 51 (complete)

Olivier Messiaen•Le Loriot, from Catalogue de Oiseaux

Darius Milhaud • Album of Madame Bovary

Meredith Monk • Window in 7's •Travel Song (Railroad) • Quarry Waltz • Ellis Island (solo) 

W.A. Mozart•Fantasy and Fugue in C Major, K.394•Fantasy in c minor, K. 475 •Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 570•Sonata in D Major, K. 311•Sonata in D Major, K. 284•Sonata in F Major, K. 332•Sonata in A Major, K. 331 • Fantasy in d minor, K. 397 • Adagio in b minor

Nico Muhly•Drones & Piano•A Hudson Cycle•Perpetual Motion•MOVE • Off the Grid (premiere performance)• Berceuse

Bo Nillson•Quantitäten•Bewegungen•Schlagfiguren

Christina Viola Oorebeek•Edges, for toy piano, amplified plexiglass, video, tape, and amplified toy piano tines

Susan Parenti•With fall in heart, I colored (1979)

Robert Palmer•Three Preludes • Epigrams•Toccata Ostinato•Evening Music•Sonata No. 1 • Sonata No. 2•Transitions•Morning Music•Interrupted Tango • Anadolia

Marina Poleukhina•for thing

Anthony Porter•Memory Pedals, for prepared piano•The Slow Melt

Sergei Prokofiev•Four Piano Pieces, Op. 4•Etude No.1, from Four Etudes, Op. 1•Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, Op. 153 (revised)•Sarcasms, Op. 17•Toccata, Op. 11•Visions Fugitives (selections)

Sergei Rachmaninonff•Preludes, Op. 23, 32 (selections) •Etudes Tableaux, Op. 33, Op. 39 (selections)•Moment Musiceaux (selections)

Ned Rorem•“Sixty Notes for Judy”•...for the Only Jim in the World (the complete published piano pieces written for James Holmes)•1+1 = 3 • Etudes (1976) • Second Sonata

Seth Rozanoff•New Pages

Frederic Rzewski•De Profundis • Coming Together (solo) • A MACHINE (solo) 
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Erik Satie•Le Piege de Meduse  •Trois Sarabandes•Trois Gymnopédies•Le Fils Des Etoiles •Pieces Froides

Domenico Scarlatti•selected Sonatas

Arnold Schoenberg•Op. 19

Franz Schubert•selected Impromptus • Allegretto in c minor

Robert Schumann•Papillons, Op. 2•Kinderscenen, Op.  15•Arabesque, Op. 18•Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26•Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 • Carnaval

Alexander Scriabin•Preludes Op. 27•Fantasy Op. 28

Charlie Sdraulig•collector

Jean Sibelius•Impromptus

Ann Southam • Simple Lines of Enquiry • Remembering Schubert

Igor Stravinsky • Three Movements from Petrushka

Tōru Takemitsu•Piano Distance (1961)•Corona (1962)

Adam Tendler•ALL UP TO ME for speaking pianist•Autumn Lines for speaking pianist•only every other memory for singing pianist•HATE SPEECH, for piano and audiences cell phones•Lint, for piano and tape

Darian Donovan Thomas • In Place

Virgil Thomson•Prelude (1921)•Piano Sonata No. 1•Piano Sonata No. 2•Sentimental Tango•Persistently Pastoral: Portrait of Aaron Copland•Souvenir, Portrait of Paul Bowles•Portrait of Gerald Busby

George Walker • Sonata No. 3

Frances White•Still Life with Piano

Christian Wolff•For Piano I • FANTAIL: 22 works for piano (commissioned/premiered)
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CONCERTO

J.S. Bach•Piano Concerto No. 4 in A Major and No. 5 in f minor
Aaron Copland•Piano Concerto
George Gershwin •Second Rhapsody
Henryk Gorecki•Piano Concerto
Paul Hindemith•The Four Temperaments
Devonté Hynes • Happenings
Nico Muhly•SOUNDING
Malcolm Williamson•Piano Concerto No. 2

ENSEMBLE/CHAMBER

John Adams•El Nino

Samuel Barber•Cello Sonata (1932)

John J. Becker • Soundpiece 7 for two pianos

Arthur Berger•Three Pieces for Two Pianos

Luciano Berio•Touch, piano 4 hands•Canzonetta, piano 4 hands•Memory, electric piano and electric harpsichord

Ludwig Van Beethoven•Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 4 in a minor

Earle Brown•Twenty-Five Pages•Nine Rarebits•Corroboree

Christopher Cerrone•The Arching Path (two piano version)

Gerald Busby•TWINS, for two pianos•Seven Interludes for flute and piano•Evening Approaches, cycle for tenor and piano•To Embrace Sea Monsters, for flute, soprano and piano•Ein Zeugnis, cycle for soprano and piano

John Cage•Radio Music•Two6•Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard•Apartment House 1776•Winter Music•The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Spring•Noweth Upon Nacht • Music for... • Cartridge Music • Variations 3• Branches

Aaron Copland•Piano Quartet•Duo for Flute and Piano•Sonata and for Violin and Piano•Danzon Cubano for 2 pianos•El Salon Mexico for 2 pianos (arr. Bernstein)•selected songs

George Crumb•Vox Balaenae • Three Early Songs

David Dzubay•Ra!

Julius Eastman•Gay Guerrilla•Crazy Nigger•Evil Nigger •Hail Mary • Touch Him When •Stay On It •Femenine

Morton Feldman•Music for 4 Pianos•Five Pianos (Pianos & Voices)•IXION•Two Pianos

Daniel Felsenfeld•Insomnia Redux

Kyle Gann •Long Night
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Philip Glass•Four Movements for Two Pianos •Music in Fifths

Anthony Green • I get awfully lonely when i'm ignored (2019)

Nathan Hall • skip and slumber for violin and piano • Reading the Landscape graphic scores

Robert Honstein • Sketchbook, flute and piano

Lou Harrison • Varied Trio

Paul Hindemith•Trauermusik
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Charles Ives•selected songs

Lisa Kaplan•whirligig, piano 4 hands

John King•Tractatus, violin & piano

David Lang•Cheating, Lying, Stealing•Before Gravity•Gravity•After Gravity

Komitas•selected works for violin and piano

Oliver Messiaen•Le Merle Noir • Quartet for the End of Time

James MacMillan•Kiss on Wood, for violin and piano
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Steve Martland • DRLL for two pianos
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W.A. Mozart • Sonata for two pianos in D Major

Nico Muhly•Drones & Violin • Drones and Viola • Honest Music

Sarn Oliver•Dodici Tono Barolo

Arvo Pärt • Fratres

Robert Palmer•Sonata for Two Pianos

Cole Porter•Within the Quota

Arvo Pärt•Spiegel im Spiegel

Karl Aage Rasmussen•Gengklang

Steve Reich•Piano Phase•Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ•Clapping Music

Frederic Rzewski•A Machine•Bring Them Home! • Coming Together

Franz Schubert•Sonata in a minor for arpeggione and piano, D. 821•Fantasy in f minor, four hands•selected songs

Robert Schumann•selected songs•Dichterliebe, Op. 48

Sandra Sprecher•BREAK OUT

Dmitri Shostakovich•Sonata for Viola and Piano•Sonata for Violin and Piano

Igor Stravinsky•Concerto for 2 Pianos

Toru Takemitsu•a bird came down the walk, for viola and piano

Adam Tendler•Schlusslieder, for two voices and piano

George Walker•Music for Two Pianos

Anton Webern•Two Pieces for Cello and Piano
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