The Labeque Sisters with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall

Forty years after their debut, the French piano duo The Labeque Sisters still delight audiences across the globe. The siblings remain world class musicians. Composers such as Luciano Berio, Boulez and Ligeti have all written for them and they regularly play with world’s finest orchestras.
Their forthcoming concert at the Royal Festival Hall celebrates the music of the 20th Century French masters - Poulenc, Ravel and Debussy. The London Philharmonic Orchestra  will join the siblings, under the baton of emerging Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena
But first comes the lesser known composer Gabriel Pierné and his  1908 overture and suite from Ramuntcho. The work’s inclusion initially feels a little jarring, but in the knowledge that its luscious music conjures beautifully the landscapes of the sisters’ birth place, the French Basque Country, it makes perfect sense. 
Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is rhythmically explosive.  It’s a richly impassioned work of which the composer gave the first performance in 1932, with his oldest friend as the second soloist; a close relationship between the two pianists is clearly at the heart of the piece’s design - it’s no surprise that it’s become a signature work of the sisters.
The highlight of the event however is sure to be Debussy’s La Mer, a work which was derided after its first performance in 1905, but now enjoys its reputation as a masterpiece.  The eerily beautiful music ingeniously depicts the sea, with its unorthodox instrumentation, and radical impressionist harmonies.