MultiPiano Ensemble’s new album features new arrangements of works by Martin and Shostakovich approved by the composers’ families as well as the premiere recording of a work by the Israeli composer Aryeh Levanon.

Concerned that the Petite symphonie concertante’s unusual scoring for harp, piano, harpsichord and double string orchestra might deter performances, Martin made a transcription of the work for standard orchestra, the Symphonie concertante, shortly after the premiere in 1946. MultiPiano Ensemble’s artistic director Tomer Lev has more recently prepared a version for three pianos that retains the scoring for double string orchestra, the intention being to facilitate the presentation of the work’s multiple voices in live performances. Whatever the merits of the additional balance and clarity provided by the new arrangement, however, I found myself missing the imaginative and evocative textures of the original. Indeed, Lev himself acknowledges the need for additional colour at the start of the Adagio by having a pencil added to the piano strings to simulate the sound of the harpsichord. Responses to the new arrangement will ultimately be a matter of personal inclination but there’s no denying the intensity and authority that the soloists and Dmitry Yablonsky bring to the performance.

Lev’s arrangement of Shostakovich’s Concertino for two pianos, composed in 1953 for Maxim Shostakovich, is a less controversial proposition, the work previously having been recorded in versions for wind ensemble and full orchestra. The reallocation of some of the weightier thematic material to strings adds textural variety without undermining the work’s lyricism and humour, and the performance is extremely compelling.

Levanon’s Land of Four Languages comprises four brief pieces based on traditional songs in Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish and Ladino. Scored for strings and four players on two pianos, the results are lyrical and elegant but are not especially memorable. More rewarding is the vibrant and poetic performance of Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos also included on the programme. Recorded in the Church of St Jude on the Hill in London by Mike Clements, all four works enjoy sound of commendable clarity and balance.