Program Note
In the 1920s, Stravinsky, while still composing, became increasingly active as a concert pianist, frequently retaining exclusive performing rights to his own works for solo piano and for larger ensembles. When his son, Soulima, reached his 20s and began his own career as a concert pianist, Stravinsky had the idea to compose a work that the two of them could perform together. Stravinsky had Pleyel, the French piano manufacturer, fabricate one of their rare “duo-clave” double pianos for the occasion--a two-keyboard instrument in which opposing keyboards, each connected to their own rank of strings, share a common frame and soundboard.
Stravinsky noted that the use of the term “concerto” to title a work without orchestral support was unusual. In the explanation he gave at the work’s premiere, he stressed the etymology of the word “concerto”: while the word means agreement and harmony in Italian, the word’s Latin origins also denoted contest and dispute.