The compositional quality vastly improved with Pascal’s other solo, Ravel’s Sonatine, performed with the clarity and elegance that this little masterpiece requires. Ravel’s duet version of his orchestral Rapsodie Espagnol certainly raised the musical temperature in the hall. Inevitably this version lacks some of the subtle the colour of the original, but with playing that was mysterious and seductive to begin with and astonishingly virtuosic in the concluding Feria, we missed little.

So far Pascal had played Primo in the duets so it was a welcome change to see the diminutive Ami taking his position for the cheekily brief Poulenc Duet Sonata which gave her the chance to show us both her elegance and her flamboyance.

The finale to the concert, and what a finale, was Stravinski’s own arrangement of the Rite of Spring for piano duet. With its essentially percussive attack, piano sound emphasizes the often dissonant nature of the music in an even more aggressive way than an orchestra can. Pascal and Ami rightly did nothing to assuage the violence of this extraordinary score (written over a century ago!). From the magical opening to the pulverizing onslaught of the finale it was an remarkable performance. As critic I make written notes as I listen. Not on this case, open-jawed I was transfixed by the astonishing performance of this astonishing music which received a tumultuous ovation.

G.K.