Works for two Pianos

The great D major sonata for two pianos, K. 448, is – of course – the absolute showpiece of this Urtext edition. The first movement opens like an operatic overture with timpani and trumpets, the Andante is a single grand melody shared between the two pianos, and the sublime rondo finale comes across like a piano concerto without orchestra. But another important work can be found in this Henle edition too: the earnest C minor fugue for two pianos K. 426, reminiscent of Handel’s or Bach’s great art, here in its original form from 1783.

Mozart published it soon after in a four-part version for string quartet, adding a beautiful, freshly composed Adagio introduction. This, in turn,has been rescored in our edition for two pianos by the brilliant musician Franz Beyer, who also has completed a performable version of Mozart’s two-piano “Larghetto and Allegro” in E-flat major (a work not included in Köchel’s catalogue) from the surviving fragments. Two copies are required for performance of all the works in this volume.