Quattro Mani is a duo-piano team originating in 1989; since 2013,
Steven Beck and Susan Grace have promoted rare and contemporary
duo-keyboard literature. Quiet Music (1994), originally for orchestra, is a series of variations played pp (pianissimo). It maintains a feeling of intimacy through changes in density and texture. Running 16th notes characterize each variation of John Musto’s Passacaglia (2000), which exploits a Baroque variation form based on 3 pitches. The mood is joyful and dance-like. Charles Ives’ Three Quarter-tone Pieces (from 1925) is quite experimental: studies in melodic and rhythmic quarter-tone possibilities. The musical styles embraces Ragtime, tone rows, layered effects and harmony derived from non-Western sources. Arlene Sierra’s 1997 of Risk and Memory employs an element of aleatory (unpredictable) music - each pianist must finish the other pianist’s phrases. The work requires a degree of competition between the musicians, who present musical sequences and then interrupt, review and alter them. The more variety the players introduce, the richer the piece’s fabric. The four mvmts of Michael Daugherty’s (1994) Lounge Lizards for 2 Pianos and Percussion recall various gigs and venues he played as a jazz entertainer to support his composition studies. Daugherty calls these trying years “paying my dues.”