The Imaginary Orchestra.
Piano Four Hands.
The works in this program have an idea in common: they are written for an orchestra that does not exist. They have an orchestral structure, but the composers preferred to compose them for piano duo.
When Schubert wrote the Grand Duo, he confesses to his brother Ferdinand: "I donīt dare to orchestrate it. So I have written it for piano four hands. "
Of his twenty-one Hungarian Dances, Brahms orchestrated only three, and unlike what happened with his Variations on a Theme by Haydn, he did not orchestrate the Variations on a Theme by Schumann, whose wealth of textures suggests an orchestral writing.
Photographers often warn that the richness of a scene is unmanageable, then they choose the black and white format. To exclude the color is not a waiver of expression, just the opposite, it increase its dramatic power, because then you can better direct the viewer's attention to the message. The saving of media becomes a more intense concentration.
Maybe both composers probably felt they had to avoid distractions and they decided to call to the listener's imaginary orchestra instead to opt for the lush of the orchestral music, this represents a really challenge for the performers.