Suzanne Yanko,
artsHub Australia

October 29, 2012

The audience was bound to be well disposed toward the young pianists who comprise Duo Amal, thanks to their story, known across the world and most recently told by the Australian Jewish News.

For the past four years, brilliant Israeli pianist Yaron Kohlberg and Arab piano virtuoso Bishara Haroni have performed together as Duo Amal since meeting in Jerusalem and joining forces in 2008 for a well-received concert in Oslo.

International award-winner Kohlberg was born in Jerusalem in 1983 and has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras around the world, including the Israel Philharmonic. So has Haroni, who was born in the northern Israeli town of Nazareth and learned piano at the age of 12 in Haifa, followed by studies in Jerusalem, then Germany.

Both – not surprisingly – have performed with West Eastern Divan Orchestra, which co-founder Daniel Barenboim describes as ‘a project against ignorance’. Its aim is to promote understanding between Israelis, Palestinians and other young musicians from the region simply by having them play music together.

Duo Amal is clearly like-minded, with the two pianists close friends, something that translates into their performance: synchronised, empathetic and at times, with an edge of humour. It’s important to say that, quite apart from the warm, fuzzy feelings generated by their history, they deserved the enthusiastic applause they were given by this Melbourne Festival audience.

First up, with no preamble, was Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor, surely one of the most beautiful works in the piano duet repertoire. Its lyrical sweetness may make it seem easy, but the piano octaves and interweaving parts can be a trap for lesser musicians. Kohlberg and Haroni found the power and showiness necessary for the development of the theme, before the quiet ending, a reprise of the theme.

Duo Amal’s perfect synchronicity was certainly needed for the next work, by contemporary Israeli composer Avner Dorman.Karsilama added the inspiration of a Greek dance to the cultural mix as the pianists (now seated at their own instruments) used eye contact and brilliant technique for the fast-moving piece right through to the tarantella-like finish.

The pianists stayed across the room from each other for the first of two major works: Prokofiev’s Symphony No.1 (‘Classical’). Arranged by Rikuya Terashima, the work presented a huge challenge to the two pianists who, of course, had to do the work intended for a full orchestra!

The first movement contrasted a sparkling pace with a more delicate subject, and in the second settled to a larghetto, with one piano appearing to have the melody (played in octaves) while the other ‘accompanied’. One result was that the delicacy of the harmonisation could be more easily heard and appreciated.

A well-known Gavotte then gave renewed resonance to the two-piano work, with the pianists appearing to enjoy the somewhat cheeky interchange. The Finale was very fast, but Kohlberg and Haroni stayed together and echoed each other, as if engaged in enjoyable battle. Loud applause showed the audience enjoyed it too.

After interval came Amal (‘Hope’) a piece commissioned by the Duo from Palestinian-Israeli composer Samir Odeh-Tamimi. In contrast to the more melodic works in the program Amal employed techniques such as playing the piano strings directly with the hand or arm, to create sounds of conflict, contrasting with introspection.

Technically demanding, the piece showed yet another facet of Duo Amal’s mastery of contemporary works – but it was something of a relief when the pianists turned next to Rachmaninov. His suite no.1 for two pianos, op.5 Fantasie-Tableaux,is in four movements, each of them creating an image, in the way of Romantic program music.

The opening Barcarolle was reminiscent of the piano concertos, being resonant and rich in melody and harmony, with almost ethereal beauty in the upper register. La nuit …L’amour had the melody gently articulated and soon surrounded by harmony in the broken chords. Les larmes was gentle but not without technical challenge.

With its loud opening a shock, Easter developed into a huge mass of sound that was pure Rachmaninov. It was all too short – rather like the concert itself, as far as listeners were concerned. But Duo Amal obliged with two encores that were exceptionally well received.

R. Denbrook & R. Trott,
BerNews

February 14, 2013

They set a fire in the hearts, minds, and bellies of all those in attendance at the Earl Cameron Theatre, City Hall that evening.

Bishara Haroni and Yaron Kohlberg of the piano duo, Duo Amal, certainly lived up to their name, as they demonstrated what music can achieve when people come together to make it, with complete and utter generosity for one another.

Playing not just for themselves, but for the audience, the duo took everyone through a varied, challenging, and quirk-filled program of compositions, who’s composers in one way or another challenged the form, which in turn gave these exceptionally talented pianists the room to flex their inspiring sense of musicality.

Wasting no time and plunging everyone into the proverbial deep-end, the duo began on the same piano with a soulful and dynamic rendition of Schubert’s Fantasy For Piano, Four Hands, in F minor.

Beginning with a haunting tune, the pair played the piece as if they were having a conversation about the bright highs and deep lows of life, one minute soaring on the keys, the next minute returning to the dark melody that began the piece, playing with such skilled conviction to tell any number of stories.

Next was the piece Karsilama, commissioned by the duo from composer Avner Dorman and completed in 2012.

Grossly rhythmic and entirely tiring, the pair played at their own instruments this time, sharing the melody at different points, and somehow finding their way through a meandering and wonderfully chaotic piece, obviously enjoying the challenge and story that the ambitious and unique piece presented.

The first half was brought to a close with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony Op 25, described as a neoclassical piece and composed in 1917, the duo certainly found themselves at home in the harmonically progressive composition, definitely leaving the audience in sweet anticipation for the second half.

Opening the final half of the evening was another piece commissioned by the duo, this time by composer Samir Odde Tamimi called Amal.

An abstract piece begun with Mr. Haroni plucking the strings of the piano, and much of it focusing on the lower registers of the piano though accentuated by harsh beautiful highs, the duo allowed the audience to experience the depth and profundity of their musical range with an oddly dynamic piece that stilled the theatre completely, allowing a beautiful silence to resonate through the space once it was complete.

As Mr. Kohlberg said, there was a reason the piece was played in the second half and not the first, as he explained it was not uncommon for audience members to leave after it was played, if it was played during the first half.

Finally the inspiring pair rounded out the programme with Rachmaninov’s Fantaisie – Tableaux for Two pianos, the most familiarly “Classical” of the all the pieces, though not in anyway less challenging or insightful.

The pair finished the recital by allowing a piece that required space to evolve, to do just that; their sensitive and generous playing allowing the piece to breathe and come to life with all of the beautiful subtleties the composition had to offer.

Of course, they had to come out and bow four times, and of course, there was an encore, returning to the light and energetic yet still profound material used in the first half of the evening, as if leaving the audience with a small nugget of wisdom for them to make sense of for themselves.

With much love for each other developed through their shared love of music, the pair took the audience through an utterly unpretentious and thoroughly passionate evening of piano playing that served as an affirmation, in many ways, of what can be achieved when differences of any sort are set aside and a commitment to the joyful realization of a common good is made the priority.