Aura Go & Ian Munro, piano duet

Born in Moscow in 1959, Ekaterina Komalkova was one of the rising stars of Russian music when her solo piano Fantasy was chosen as the set work at the Tchaikowsky International Piano Competition in 1986. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, her career took her away from concert music to a life of educational endeavours, in which she distinguished herself as music director for 'Ulitsa Sezam', Russia's version of 'Sesame Street.'

Among her concert music, a body of work largely unknown in the West, her set of 82 piano duets based on Russian songs is a masterpiece of its kind, following on from collections by Tchaikowsky, Liadov and Balakirev. Aura and Ian select some of the highlights from 'Russian National Songs' and place them in musical context alongside works by Tailleferre and Ian himself.

Ekaterina KOMALKOVA Russian National Songs for piano duet:
(b. 1959) selection of preliminary level pieces

Germaine TAILLEFERRE Fleurs de France (Flowers of France)
(1892—1983) arranged for piano duet by Ian Munro

Ekaterina KOMALKOVA Russian National Songs for piano duet:
selection of intermediate level pieces

Ian MUNRO Two Lullabies:
(b. 1963) Lullaby in Edo (Japanese folk song)
Nina Bobo (Indonesian folk song)

Ekaterina KOMALKOVA Russian National Songs for piano duet:
selection of advanced level pieces

Presented at the 2024 Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference.