Katia & Marielle Labèque

These dynamic sisters from the French Basque country started playing duets as young children when their mother, a well-known teacher, put them together in front of a piano: “It was a real disaster, because we kept hitting each other.” They eventually sorted out that problem and, after graduating in 1968 from the ultra-prestigious Paris Conservatoire, paired up as contemporary music specialists. But by 1980, when their recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue became a worldwide bestseller:

The Labèques were branching out into everything from Baroque to jazz, ragtime and beyond. Soon they had achieved pop-star status. (Literally: one of their closest friends is Madonna.) But by 1980, when their recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue became a worldwide bestseller, the Labèques were branching out into everything from Baroque to jazz, ragtime and beyond. Soon they had achieved pop-star status. The Gershwin Rhapsody naturally figured in their first Schubert Club program in 1985. In their second St. Paul recital, two years later, the Labèque sisters programmed their magical interpretation of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. This is the final movement, “The Fairy Garden”, in a BBC television recording from 2015. The range of colors they reveal in this music lets you forget the composer’s wonderful later orchestration:

More spectacular Ravel from the Labèques: the ending of his Rapsodie espagnole in a live 2013 recording from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. First, the ending of Rapsodie espagnole:

Then, joined by a Basque percussion trio, the conclusion of Boléro:

And from the same Amsterdam recital, music by Philip Glass, who wrote his Double Piano Concerto for the Labèque Sisters:

Finally, here they are in a charming 2015 interview with Berlin Philharmonic horn player Sarah Willis:

Artist note by Richard Evidon