Worbey & Farrell – Rhapsody

Back in the days when Steven Worbey and Kevin Farrell were poor students in London’s Royal College of Music, they could only afford one piano between them. But being good friends they learned to play nicely together and share.

Gradually they turned that inconvenience into a novelty act, in a two men, four hands, one Steinway performance that’s taken them around the world. Individually they’re brilliant musicians but together they’re an entertaining musical act where their banter full of British humour is as important as the playing. The actual music is presented with humour too, with little flourishes of style and lots of amusing swapping around and reaching across or under each other as their arms and hands intertwine to reach the keys.

A camera over the keyboard lets their hand movements be shown on a big screen above them, and it’s absolutely mesmerising as you follow their different coloured sleeves and work out who’s doing what. Then you look back at the faces, and catch a cheeky grin, a raised eyebrow or a sublime smile as the sheer pleasure of what they’re doing washes over them.

Their version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was magnificent, and watching the screen to see how their hands move gives you a real appreciation for their art. These masters of their craft spend months perfecting and practicing each arrangement, and they’ve played with the world’s leading symphony orchestras and entertained in over 150 countries.

Most of the pieces are introduced with a little story, which adds enormously to a show that could otherwise be just an unusual piano recital. Instead they’re joking around with a great rapport between themselves that quickly endears them to the audience.

Some tunes that you’re familiar with are embellished with lots of extra twiddly bits, since there are four hands to occupy on pieces that normally only require two. Sometimes that works well, but in Bohemian Rhapsody I found my favourite parts were those that just replicated rather than augmented the traditional version by Freddie Mercury. Yes, traditionalism can be so restricting, and Worbey & Farrell prefer to push the boundaries.

They’ve drawn from eclectic sources too, at one stage doing a mash-up of Superman going into Jurassic Park. My escort commented that sometimes the beauty of a piece comes from its simplicity, so you can have a great debate about the music as well as listening to it.

Then Farrell leans inside the piano and does something clever with the strings, so that when Worbey plays the keys it sounds like a guitar. The various sections of the instrument can emulate an entire orchestra, they demonstrate, with the deep bass section, the middle keys representing the woodwind, and the high notes at the top mimicking the triangles and violins.

When they’re about to start the Maple Leaf Rag they tell us that Scott Joplin’s playing notes emphasise that it shouldn’t be played too quickly. That's just because he couldn't play it as fast as they can, they quip, and go on to prove it. Then they end with the Can Can, played at such a speed that any dancer would have a heart attack.

Their whole show is built around making music fun and accessible, because often the classical concerts are so serious, they say. Here we have solid, superb classical music presented with a light-hearted touch that I found highly entertaining.

Worbey & Farrell – Rhapsody runs at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre until 17 November. Tickets from Computicket or the Theatre Box Office (011) 511 1818