Eve Risser | Kaja Draksler - To Pianos

‘To Pianos’ can read as a dedication: an act of celebration of the instrument. But being a pianist, I also read the phrase as something of a supplication. We’ve each hopefully made some kind of peace with our own instruments at home – and if we’re lucky, we may even love them. But whenever we travel to perform, we’re at the mercy of the particular piano we find at the other end. Whatever cosmic force controls this particular lottery, sometimes you just have to pray to it.

All of which makes it remarkable that musicians such as Eve and Kaja sound so utterly distinctive each time they sit at the instrument. But there’s another thing: as pianists, we’re almost always the only one of us on stage; so that on those rare occasions where we do get to play with other pianists, there’s something thrilling about the particular type of selflessness which the situation requires. This, then, is perhaps even more remarkable: that the pianists you hear on these two pianos remain so individual and distinctive, and the same time as they are able to come together to forge something so completely new, shared and selfless. And a true rarity: that they can project such personality in part simply (…but if only it were simple…) by remembering to let the instruments speak for themselves.