Then came two pieces by Schumann, both in a relatively domestic mood. This might in lesser hands have seemed too much of a good thing but these sensitive performances justified the programme choice. In the Andante and Variations the theme is played by the two pianos in turn and this allowed us to hear how well the piano technician, Ian Cunningham, had voiced the two Steinways. As so often in Schumann there is a reflective ending and this coda was beautifully played. It was followed by the Six Studies in Canon Form in Debussy’s two-piano arrangement of the original pedal piano version. Their various moods were well caught with again a gentle epilogue helping them to cohere as a group.

The second half of the concert was devoted a different kind of arrangement altogether, Stravinsky’s own four-hands at one piano version of his ballet The Rite of Spring. The performers played it on two pianos which allowed them to add details in the complex orchestral original that the logistical limitations of one keyboard would not permit. The playing of surely the most viscerally exciting work ever composed fully measured up to its demands. The impact was overwhelming, but beneath the super-charged adrenalin of the playing lay profound musicianship. It was greeted, deservedly, by stamping and cheering of a kind I’ve never before experienced in an Ilkley Concert Club event. To echo Stravinsky’s comment on a Bernstein Mahler symphony performance: ‘Wow!’

G.K.