Sonata Per Due Pianoforti E Percussione / En Blanc Et Noir / Six Epigraphes Antiques

Released by CBS in 1967, this recording features a distinguished collaboration between pianists Robert and Gaby Casadesus and percussionists Jean-Claude Casadesus and Jean-Paul Drouet. The album serves as a definitive survey of mid-century French and Hungarian avant-garde works, pairing Béla Bartók’s complex Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Claude Debussy’s atmospheric En Blanc et Noir and Six Épigraphes Antiques. The selection of these specific works highlights the technical facility of the Casadesus duo, who were renowned for their meticulous interpretations of the standard repertoire alongside modernist compositions.

The production captures the mid-1960s focus on high-fidelity capturing of percussion and piano transients, a hallmark of CBS Masterworks during this era. Robert Casadesus, a prolific composer and pianist himself, brought a unique structural understanding to the Bartók piece, emphasizing rhythm and clarity over sentimentality. Upon its release, the record was well-received by critics for its balance of precision and color, further cementing the status of the Casadesus family as pillars of the 20th-century classical canon.