Fantasia No 10 for double keyboard piano

Abstract

"A Bechstein-Moor double-keyboard (Duplex-Coupler) grand piano was brought to Australia by Winifred Burston in the 1930s. The 1921 invention by Emanuel Moor of a piano with a second keyboard sounding an octave higher, is a fascinating story, as is Burston's championing of the instrument. The Fantasia was composed in response to a request from pianist Alistair Noble for a concert-piece to mark Alan Jenkins' retirement from the Canberra School of Music in 1992. Jenkins and Sitsky were both pupils of Burston; Noble was not only a student of Alan Jenkins, but had also rescued the piano - believed to be the only example in Australia - from use in pianotuning practice. Like Sitskys other Fantasias, the work is conceived in a free-flowing, quasi improvisational style which exploits the particular features of the double-keyboard instrument. It is not possible to play the piece on a coventional piano." -- Peter Campbell