Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. So itвЂ™s been fun to record these works and it has brought us a lot of sisterly joy too!вЂќ But we always find we are aiming for the same thing, usually from a different angle. вЂњWe are quite different pianists and have our own ideas and approaches,вЂќ they write, вЂњso we have spirited discussions. Mari has established an international reputation for profound musicality and articulate virtuosity she has recorded extensively for PENTATONE, including an acclaimed cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas. Momo specialises in French and Japanese composers and 20th century and contemporary composers she has been widely praised for her вЂattractive, lyrical toneвЂ™ and вЂtechnical brillianceвЂ™. The sisters Mari and Momo Kodama both pursue busy international careers. So we tried to reflect that in our playing.вЂќ And the composers who made the transcriptions brought their own personality to bear on the works. вЂњOur challenge was to use just two pianos вЂ¦ to bring the same sense of scale,вЂќ they write, вЂњwith just two pianos the atmosphere is more intimate, it brings a different quality to the music. He has the great skill to make such vivid colours and textures on a large canvasвЂ¦ This makes his orchestral works very special.вЂќ вЂњTchaikovsky was really the first composer to combine a broad sweep of ballet music with a great story,вЂќ the Kodama sisters write in their introduction to the release, вЂњbefore that, it more resembled a compilation of piecesвЂ¦in all three works there is folkloric and popular music. Composers such as Arensky, Debussy and Rachmaninov made arrangements of these works for piano, not mere reductions but wholesale realisations of the works, combining subtlety and insight with their own technical polish. The music has proved enduringly popular with audiences and rates among his most familiar and best-loved works. In another first, the release contains the first ever recording of ArenskyвЂ™s transcription of the timeless Nutcracker together with notable arrangements by Debussy and Rachmaninov.Д¬onceived on a grand scale, TchaikovskyвЂ™s colourful, often passionate scores for the ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker abound with graceful melodies, arresting harmonies and exuberant orchestration. But even those dancers who did succeed independently were looked down on as suspected prostitutes.Together for the first time in the recording studio, the sisters Mari and Momo Kodama are on scintillating form in these lively arrangements of music from TchaikovskyвЂ™s ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. Some dancers managed to advance without a rich patron, becoming celebrities on the merits of their own abilities, notes historian Lorraine Coons.

For many Paris Opera ballerinas from poor backgrounds, a relationship with a rich man was their only chance at stability. Often, girlsвЂ™ own mothers-who acted not unlike entertainment agents today-helped set up and maintain these relationships. They could lift a girl out of poverty by becoming her вЂњpatron,вЂќ or client, setting her up in comfortable quarters and paying for private lessons that could increase her cachet in the ballet. Since subscribers were so powerful, they could influence who made it into coveted roles and who was fired from the ballet.

Dancers were expected to submit to the attentions and affections of subscribers, most of whom were nobleman and important financiers and whose money underwrote the majority of the operaвЂ™s operations.

(Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)ДЇor dancers, though, it was a place where they were subject to scrutiny and harassment. A painting by Jean Beraud of ballet dancers in the wings of the opera house, 1889.

French cafe music often usd for ballet