The 88SQUARED Piano Duo, which consists of pianists Karen Hsiao Savage and Jeffrey Savage, performed pianist, composer, and arranger Sean Chen's arrangement of Eugène Ysäye's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 27 "Ballade."

"Karen and Jeff approached me in 2024 with a commission to create a virtuosic arrangement for their piano duo, 88Squared," writes Chen. "I had already been mulling over a solo piano arrangement of Ysaÿe, so I took the opportunity to flesh out those ideas and I'm pretty happy with what I came up with! Many thanks to Karen and Jeff for not only learning the work, but going through the entire recording process with me."

Chen also incorporated musical arrangements to piano transcriptions by Busoni, Godowsky, and Liszt, as well as allusions to music by composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven.

Originally composed in 1924, Belgian violinist and composer Eugene Ysäye's third sonata for solo violin has become one of his most recognizable works. Unlike the majority of Ysäye's five other solo violin sonatas, the third sonata consists of one fairly compact movement, which contains a slow recitative-like section that develops into a second section characterized by virtuosic bravura.

Hear 88SQUARED perform Chen's arrangement below:

 

The husband-and-wife duo 88SQUARED won top prizes at the Ellis Piano Duo Competition and the Concours Grieg International Competition, and they received the Abild Prize for American Music. They have performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Chamber Music America Showcase. Frequent performers of music by living composers, the duo has collaborated with composers including Daniel Ott, Heather Schmidt, and Lowell Liebermann. Graduates of The Juilliard School, they currently serve on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 

Multi-faceted musician Sean Chen has performed with ensembles including the Fort Worth, Indianapolis, and San Diego Orchestras and the Chamber Orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and South Bay, and he has served on the juries of competitions such as PianoArts, American Piano Awards, Cliburn Junior,  and the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. His transcriptions, arrangements, and compositions have been met with acclaim, and he has been commissioned by the American Piano Awards. Chen graduated from The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music, and he is on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.