Music for piano duet
Sonata in F (K.497) played by Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin
This is the first of three recitals in which Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin will play Mozart's four sonatas for piano duct and the Adagio and Fugue in C minor for two pianos. (The next programme will be broadcast on Friday at 6.55 p.m.) The Sonata in F (K.497) is the third of the four duet-sonatas; the manuscript bears the date August 1, 1786. It is generally agreed to be the finest of the four: Tovey describes it as ' a superb piece of chamber-music in no way inferior to the great string quartets and quintets,' and Alfred Einstein ca'ls it ' the crowning work of its kind.' D.C.