Claude Debussy - "En blanc et noir" - 1. Avec emportement
After Debussy was diagnosed in 1909 with the cancer that would eventually prove fatal, he went into a compositional hiatus for several years. In 1915, the composer wrote that the urge to create had returned; one of the first gems from this spirit of renewal was "En Blanc et noir" (In white and black). According to Debussy, the three "caprices" comprising En Blanc et Noir "derive their color and feeling merely from the sonority of the piano, like the 'grays' of Velásquez." The opening movement, "Avec emportement" (with quick anger) is driven, even frenetic, and may serve as a kind of venting of feeling deriving from both the ravages of his illness and the raging horrors of World War I. 

This video is a live performance from Sfmf's (San Francisco International Music Festival) 10th Anniversary Concert presented at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on January 26, 2013.

SF Music Festival Founders
Influenced by the artistic and cultural experiences of performing at international piano duo festivals in Europe and Russia, the Angelo Duo founded the San Francisco International Music Festival organization (Sfmf) in 2003. Sfmf sponsors the Milton & Peggy Salkind International Piano Duo Festival, which is the only festival of its kind in the United States that is solely dedicated to the art of piano duo. For more information on Sfmf and the 5th Salkind Festival in 2014, visit http://www.sfmf.org/

The Angelo Piano Duo 
An Australian and American ensemble based in San Francisco, the Angelo Duo is known for concerts that feature an eclectic mix of musical styles. Alumni of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), Catherine and Anthony met at the Music and Arts Institute in San Francisco. The duo was developed and refined at SFCM under the direction of Milton and Peggy Salkind. The Angelo Duo's international career includes performances in Australia, England, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United States. The Angelos have toured five times in Russia and other Eastern European countries and, on several occasions, were the first American artists to perform for these audiences. In 2004, Catherine and Anthony were the recipients of the Mill Valley Art Commission's Milley Award for Achievement in the Musical Arts.