One of the most imaginative and compelling two piano teams around,
Pierce and Jonas have been successfully performing and recording the
unusual and neglected two-piano repertoire of the 19th and 20th
centuries since the mid-1980's.
The duo has appeared with many symphony orchestras world-wide including
those of Houston, San Antonio, Mexico City and Luxembourg as well as
the
Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonia, the National Symphony of
Polish Radio and Television, (Katowice), Luxembourg Radio Symphony, the
Slovak Philharmonic, State Philharmonic of Kosice, Czech Radio Symphony
of Prague, the Orchestra da Camera di Roma, the Chicago Sinfonietta,
San
Antonio Symphony and Utah Symphony. Among their many recent
performances
include concert appearances in San Diego, CA, Tijuana, Baja Mexico,
Bratislava, Slovakia and various cities in the Czech Republic, in
performances Mozart's Two Piano Concerto in Eb K365. Their American
performances of this work prompted Ken Smith of the New Jersey Star
Ledger to write: "Pierce and Jonas work marvelously in their framework,
trading the musical material back and forth comfortably without leaving
seams in the textures, yet shaping it with a hint of their own
personalities in the process". Paul Somers of Classical New Jersey
writes: "Pierce and Jonas play the Mozart Double Concerto with a sense
of gallant elegance the piece demands."
The Pierce/Jonas Duo has performed and recorded all the standard
repertoire for two pianos and orchestra as well as introduced and
recorded many important twentieth century works including Walter
Piston's Concerto for Two Pianos, Benjamin Britten's Scottish Ballad,
Morton Gould's Dance Variations for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Paul
Creston's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu's
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, as well as works by Nicolai
Berezowsky, Alexander Tansman, Gian Francisco Malipiero. Their
recordings have ranged from the complete two piano works of Mozart (MSR Classics) to John Cage's Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos (Wergo),
Charles Ives' Three Pieces in Quartertones, (Sony Classics) along with
the Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra (1993) (MMC) by the late
American composer Robert Starer (Pierce/Jonas chosen by the composer to
give the European premier/Mischa and Cipa Dichter gave the American
premier). In a letter to MMC Records, 12/15/98, the late composer,
Robert Starer wrote upon hearing the recording: "I find Joshua Pierce
and Dorothy Jonas brilliant technically and highly sensitive and
expressive musically. Their interpretation of the second movement of
the
concerto is truly poetic and they caught the spirit of the third
perfectly. There is nothing to complain about the playing of the outer
movements either; they have drive and intensity." David Paladino, of
the
Westfield Times-Leader has recently praised this duo-piano team who
have "set the standard for many pieces including many first time
recordings."
On October 19, 1997 Pierce and Jonas gave the world premier performance
of the Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra (1996) which was composed
for Pierce/Jonas by William Thomas McKinley, with the Czech Radio
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Valek in Smetna Hall, Prague.
In 1999, Helicon Recordings released their world premier recording of
the 1958 Pulitzer Prize winning Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra
(1953) [Helicon HE1044] by composer William Quincy Porter. Other
recordings include a the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances for Two
Pianos [MSR Classics 1260] as well as works by
Arnold Bax, Saint-Saens, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Britten and
others. On hearing their recording of Felix Mendelssohn's E Major and
Ab
Major two-piano concerti [MSR Classics 1330], Paul Turok of
Turok's Choice wrote: "This recording shows what stunning results a
true two-piano team can achieve in these concertos, as opposed to two
pianists merely brought together for the occasion. Brilliant
performances...virtuosic and sensitive."
In 1984, world-renowned Academy Award winning composer, Miklos Rosza,
offered to write for the team a work which became the Spellbound
Concerto Fantasie for Two Pianos and Orchestra (a work twice as long as
the original Spellbound score, including material not used on the
original soundtrack).He also wrote for Pierce/Jonas his New England
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra based on music from the films
Lydia and Time Out of Mind. The premier performance took place at Salt
Lake City and at Snowbird with the Utah Symphony Orchestra ("...polished
and sensitive technicians." - Paul Wetzel, Salt Lake City Tribune) and
subsequent performances with the Midland-Odessa Symphony ("Dynamically
performed with precision and technical excellence." - Skye Osborne
Odessa American/Texas. These critically acclaimed performances resulted
in the team being invited to give a Command Performance for the Royal
Family with the London Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall/London.
Their 1991 Chicago debut with Paul Freeman and the Chicago Sinfonietta
in Francis Poulenc's Two-Piano Concerto was called "most delightful...a
performance of stature" - The Chicago Sun-Times.
Starting in 1992/93, Mr. Pierce and Ms. Jonas presented a unique and
exciting series of performances at CAMI Hall, New York University and
at
MicroFest Trenton, NJ as part of the American Festival of MicroTonal
Music® performance seasons. They presented first performances of two
piano works by Stefen Konicek (Preludium, Blues and Toccata) and Roland
Moser's Homage AO as well as two-piano works by Alan Hohvaness,
Mordecai
Sandberg, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Bruce Mather, and Charles Ives of which,
Kyle Gann of the Village Voice said: "very satisfying performances of
some very difficult music... and imbued with spirit." Their 1994 release
of Two Steinways on Broadway continues to receive tremendous airplay
and great critical acclaim: Fanfare: "Pierce and Jonas play with
confidence, flair and style."; Daniel Webster of the Philadelphia
Enquirer said: "a heightened sense of poetry".
In 2001, Pierce and Jonas completed a new album of World Premier
performances for Kleos Classics. Along with the North American Square
Dance Suite for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Arthur Benjamin and the
Concerto Italleinne for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Pierre Max Dubois,
they recorded the Two Piano Concerto (1946) by Roy Harris, the latter
an
obscure yet extremely important work in this genre by one of America's
most important composers of the 20th century.
Both artists are members of the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences and listed in Who's Who.
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