Longtime musical collaborators Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr are keen on making connections among composers over time.
“It all started with a fellow named (Hubert) Parry,” said keyboardist Egarr. “He’s an English composer I started investigating a few years ago. He was a hugely important man in many ways, not the least of which was his fascination with 17th-century music.
“He was a huge devotee of Bach and was the first person to write a modern biography of Bach. Parry’s music is also absolutely fantastic in its own right.”
In addition to exerting his influence to illuminate the influence of early music on later eras, the post-Romantic composer was adept at programming concerts that revealed complementary musical forms and ideas.
“For example, Parry understood that Schubert was absolutely into Mozart,” Egarr said. “So it’s a natural step to move from one to the other.
“After Andrew and I recorded the Schubert sonatas last year, we thought it would be fun to go on tour with a program from Parry’s point of view. The idea is to amplify the cross-relationships among composers like Bach, Mozart and Schubert.”
At the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, the duo will perform works by all three pivotal composers, as well as Parry’s Sonata in D Major for violin and pianoforte. In Denver, Egarr and Manze will present a different program consisting of Franz Schubert’s Sonata in G Minor, D. 408 and three Mozart sonatas.
“In Denver, I’ll be playing a fortepiano, but in Fort Collins I’ll be playing on a modern piano,” said Egarr. “In the 20-odd years that Andrew and I have been playing Bach together, I’ve played mostly on harpsichord. But the music doesn’t change just because the instruments change.
“I may be playing a modern piano, and Andrew may be using steel rather than gut strings, but what we try to do musically isn’t vastly different.”
A fortepiano – similar in construction to a harpsichord, yet a precursor to the modern piano in its range of volume possibilities – was the keyboard instrument of Parry’s day.
“The choice of instrument is generally up to the presenter and whether or not they desire a more historically accurate sound representation,” Egarr said. “The main difference here is that a fortepiano has a leaner, more transparent sound. On a modern piano, the sound decay is more sustained.
“In general, that quality doesn’t do early music any favors and – at its worst – a modern piano is nothing but a noisemaker that makes everything sound homogenized and uninteresting.”
As for his collaboration with Manze, Egarr describes it as “musical love at first hearing.”
“It’s one of those incredibly special things,” he said. “We were both at Cambridge where I studied organ, and something about how Andrew played instantly grabbed me. I just knew that we’d end up playing together.
“We breathe and think music the same way. When we rehearse, we don’t have to spend hours talking about it – we’re very lucky that way.”
Both men are also conductors with broad musical interests, from jazz and pop to contemporary music.
“We’ve never narrowed our musical life,” Egarr said. “And that’s reflective in how we both live our lives now, trying to do as many things as possible. For my part, I love conducting and directing, as well as the odd solo recital. And I’ll certainly never stop doing chamber music.
“There’s something about playing as a duo in various venues, each with its own acoustic and instrument challenges to adjust to, that keeps music fresh and alive. Spontaneity is an important part of the way we work.”
Beyond the current tour, Egarr is director of the Academy of the Begijnhof in Amsterdam and music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, while Manze is widely known for his past artistic leadership of the Academy of Ancient Music and English Concert.
Gramophone magazine praises the pair as an “unequaled duo for violin and keyboard.”
Richard Eand andrew Manze. Chamber music. Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. $12-$28. 970-221-6730 or . Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave. Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. $25-$49. 303-357-2787 or .
