Alumni News Spotlight The Grand Twins of the Twin Grands
The careers of Ferrante and Teicher started like many others. Exhibiting
talent at a young age, they were enrolled in Pre-College at Juilliard, while
their families made sacrifices for their musical education. But Arthur
Ferrante ('42, piano) and Louis Teicher ('43, piano) went on to forge a unique
professional relationship performing together for more than 50 years—and talk
about it today with an enthusiasm that makes it seem like they'd hit the road
again together in a minute, given the chance.
While at Juilliard, both Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher studied piano with
Carl Friedberg, whose curriculum for all of his students included two-piano
repertoire. After graduation, Ferrante contacted his former colleague with the
idea of playing as a duo. Teicher says, "We became professionals out of
necessity. It was the Depression era and you did whatever you could to pick up
some money."
Arthur Ferrante (standing) and Louis Teicher in 1964.(Photo courtesy of
the Scott W. Smith Collection)
They approached many of the agents and managers in New York and were told that
concert presenters had no interest in piano duos. Ferrante and Teicher decided
to take matters into their own hands, and sent out their own publicity
materials to colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. "About
six colleges responded with interest, but there was a problem: none of the
venues had two grand pianos," says Ferrante. Not to be discouraged, the duo
contacted Steinway, who agreed to donate two grand pianos to any venue that
was interested, provided Ferrante and Teicher would supply the truck. They not
only supplied the truck, but for the next dozen years, they drove it as well,
sometimes even sleeping in it. Their first tour had an impressive
itinerary—originating in New York City, followed by concerts in western Canada
and Montana, and ending in New Orleans.
Initially, Ferrante and Teicher performed solely classical duo-piano
repertoire, but soon began to use what they call "gimmicks" to alter the sound
of the pianos. "It began as a fluke," says Teicher. "We wanted to simulate the
percussion in Ravel's Bolero and one
thing led to another. Before we knew it, we'd made several recordings of
pieces using 'gimmicks.'" "First we used our hands," explains Ferrante, "but
because we switched pianos in the middle of some of the pieces as part of our
routine, we didn't have time to insert our hands on the correct strings. This
led us to use chains or other things to change the sound of the piano." Their
"space-age"-sounding recordings of the late 1950s were so startling and
original that the duo had to deny charges that they had employed more than
pianos to produce these sonic surprises.
In the 1960s a colleague, Don Costa, asked them to join him at United Artists
Records. Costa, one of the best pop arrangers in the business who worked with
artists such as Paul Anka and Edie Adams, had the idea for the duo to record
arrangements of movie themes. The first effort was The Apartment, which earned the duo their first gold record as a single. They followed with
lush piano stylings of the themes to Exodus, West Side Story, and
Midnight Cowboy, claiming an additional 21 gold
records. "At any concert, half of the audience had come to hear classical
music and half had come to hear popular music. We began to talk to them from
the stage, telling them that whatever music they had come to hear was just a
half a concert away," says Ferrante.
The duo has only recently retired from performing—having given over 5,000
concerts attended by some 18 million people, including Presidents Kennedy,
Nixon, and Reagan. They have recorded 148 original record albums, and have
sold more than 80 million recordings. One factor contributing to their
success, according to Teicher, is "having a sense of humor." Ferrante says the
key is practicing—which he still does, for an hour and a half each day.
