Benjamin Hochman | Pianist

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Only a few weeks ago the young Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman made his New York recital debut, an event that augured well for his future prospects. And here he was again, sharing a duo piano program on Wednesday night with Jonathan Biss, a slightly younger New York pianist whose swift ascent in recent years has proved that a gifted artist can still make an impression, even in a supersaturated field.

In works composed for piano four hands or for two pianos, comparing performers is rarely the point. Still, the contrast between these artists, who played at the 92nd Street Y, was notable in Mozart’s Sonata in F (K. 497). At the upper end of the keyboard, Mr. Biss was effusive, shaping the performance with an impetuous push and pull that lent the work a Romantic cast. Mr. Hochman was subdued by comparison, offering warmly voiced counterpoint and primly executed trills.

If the performance sometimes verged on unruliness, the unanimity of expression that these players demonstrated was remarkable. That impression lingered in a tidier account of Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor (D. 940), which revealed the mature composer at his most melodically generous, including a charming “Hungarian” opening and a melodious Largo. Mindful of the format, Schubert concluded the piece with scampering counterpoint and a climactic fugue.

Schumann’s Six Pieces in Canonic Form were composed for the pedal piano, an archaic instrument with an organlike pedal board, but Mr. Biss and Mr. Hochman played Debussy’s arrangement for two pianos. The opening and closing pieces offered a gossamer patter reminiscent of Bach’s keyboard music, while the warm luminescence of the second piece and the amorous dialogue of the fourth were

All of those pieces were intended for domestic performances. But Mr. Biss and Mr. Hochman closed their program with a rollicking account of a boisterous piece composed for public display, Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. They were joined by James Dietz, a timpanist of elegant technique and an accurate ear for negotiating the composer’s tricky tuning changes, and Ayano Kataoka, a lithe blur of motion as she bustled from cymbals to gong, snare drum to xylophone.