Sontraud Speidel, Pianist

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 (complete recording). Transcription for four-hand piano by Max Reger. With Evelinde Trenkner (first recording)

MDG 330 0653-2 (2 CDs)

"Of greater interest is a set featuring all six concertos in MaxReger´s arrangement for piano duet. Sontraud Speidel and Evelinde Trenkner give illuminating performances on a Steinway grand built in1901." (INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW)
"The verve of the piano duo Speidel/Trenkner gives one listening to these concertos a completely new experience: precision. With its really phenomenal co-playing, the duo honors Reger's arrangement and gives it its merited rank." (Neue Musikzeitung)
"A thrilling listening experience - very convincing" (FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG)
"The Trenkner-Speidel Duo earns the ultimate accolades." (Soundscapes)
"... a complete delight. ... Their phrasing is natural, their tempo choices...are impeccable... Bravo!" (Fanfare)
"Runner-up" (Classic FM)
CD of the month (DECLIC)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Arrangements by Max Reger for piano duo: Orchestral Suites, Passacaglia in c minor, Toccata and Fugue in d minor, Prelude and Fugue in Eb major

With Evelinde Trenkner

Dabringhaus und Grimm MDG 330 1006-2 (Double CD)

"Reference recording ... optimal in their co-playing, the two artists achieve ideal results throughout the entire concept." (FonoForum)
"The duo transforms the b minor Suite´s dance movements into a nimble ear-feast" (International Record Review)
"Exemplary" (pizzicato)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1991): Piano Sonatas, with additional second piano part by Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907): Peer Gynt Suites No. 1+2, arranged for four-hand piano

With Evelinde Trenkner

Dabringhaus und Grimm MDG 930 1382-6 (Double CD)

"... very delicate, most sophisticated, even charming ... This has caliber. This delivers taste." (FONO FORUM)
"Trenkner and Speidel are impressive interpreters of these scores. … an interpretation that blends etheral lightness and sturdiness … profound emotion …marvellous blend of dramatic quality and intesity of feeling in the subtle and constantly changing moods of the closely related Sonata KV 457 and the Fantasia KV475. Trenkner and Speidel perform the Grieg Suites with such a high degree of empathy it is as if the music had been composed especially for them … MDG have picked a winning combination with the supreme talents of Trenkner and Speidel". (MUSICWEB International)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Rosamunde D 797, transcription for four-hand piano by Arnold Schoenberg (first recording).
Lebensstuerme D 947

With Evelinde Trenkner

MDG 330 0763-2

"Perfectly calibrated duo Trenkner/Speidel ... The interpretation, which fulfills all demands for clarity and clear form." (FonoForum)
"My favorite keyboard team" (Billboard)
"Collector´s item" (Klassieke Zaken)
"In Schoenberg´s piano duet arrangement is so delightful that I was able to enjoy the music without suffering any traumatic memories. Evelinde Trenkner and Sontraud Speidel play with all the verve, sensitivity, and sound musical judgement I found ... this is another welcome disc from two outstanding musicians" (Fanfare)
"A first-rank enrichment of the reperoire" (ÖMZ)

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 3 in d minor (arrangement for four-hand piano by Gustav Mahler). With Evelinde Trenkner (first recording)

MDG 330 0591-2

"Thrilling rarity: An orchestra with four hands." (Badische Neueste Nachrichten)
"Gustav Mahler, eminent pupil of Bruckner, created the four-handed piano version from Bruckner's Third Symphony - here the second edition from 1877. ... The very good recording technique conserves a completely full and warm piano sound." (FonoForum)
"Far from being derivative, the Mahler arrangement heard here represents the recording premiere of the original text ... these performers have a keenly focused sense of musical line and architectural evolution, the Adagio and Finale being particularly impressive. The recording is of outstanding quality. ... you’d better get used to it, because Bruckner’s Third will never seem the same again!" (Fanfare)
"... Nominating five outstanding issues ... happy that Gustav Mahler's piano duet arrangement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 has found the committed advocacy it deserves, in the hand of the Trenkner-Speidel duo" (Fanfare)

Max Reger (1873-1916)

Works for Two Pianos (complete recording):

With Evelinde Trenkner. MDG 330 0765-2

"On the two Steinway grand pianos, they develop a sound volume, which has been recorded in fantastic fullness." (Music Manual)
"Power and fragility ... Due to the excellent coordination, sometimes it can be felt by the sound distribution in the room that more than one instrument is playing, [in addition] the delicacy of the Steinway grand piano from 1901 ..." (FonoForum)
"Performs with boundless exuberance and power…evoking a spirit that ranges from delight to bravura." (The Commercial Appeal)
"... The perfectly coordinated duo manages to hold the ... general view even in the most complicated polyphonic phrases of the pieces ... both artists play a reference interpretation." (DIE RHEINPFALZ)
Awarded with the first prize in the category "solo instruments" by "Audiophile Reference".

Escapades

Ouvertures and Variations for four-hand piano. With Evelinde Trenkner.

Works by Mozart, Rossini, Lortzing, Nicolai, Pillney, Scharwenka, and Reger

MDG 330 1134-2

"First-rank pianistic mastership of the duo Trenkner/Speidel" (Music Manual)
"In short: This is a beautiful silver disk, proving the brilliant musicality of this duo, which does not play itself to the foreground, but always to the music." (pizzicato)
"... the two ladies draw so much music and orchestral plenty of sound from the notes, that one can still forget the original ... funny, full of fantasy, and wonderfully refreshing." (PianoNEWS)
"Extra-class piano duo ... with wonderful results ... Technical perfection and an incredible sure coordination characterize that recording, finest ornaments alternate with real claps of thunder, which make the grand piano (and the audience) tremble." (Luebecker Nachrichten)
"... purest virtuosi ... Their most recent recording ... combines very special curiosities, and presents again a delicate and thrilling art of playing." (Badische Neueste Nachrichten)
First price of the "Klassik-Boerse im Kulturradio" (SFB - ORB)

Eugen Werner Velte (1923-1984)

Study I for 2 pianos (first recording). With Olga Rissin-Morenova

Antes Edition BM-CD 149002

"... The music from Eugen Werner Velte has for me its most clarity by my first impressions, namely: tenseness, silence, eruption, absorption. ... The melodic shape always extremely tense, "on the alert", answered by token-like sound actions, which are put into the silence and enlight specifically, how the subjects spoke." (Wolfgang Rihm, Hommage)
"... Very present, transparent, excellent dynamics, colorfulness, and plasticity." (FonoForum)