"... a pluperfect pair...who have very few challengers near their level of technical excellence and musical responsibility."
The New York Times

""The performance of the Wentworth duo was decisive, energetic, exact, and shining with technical polish." Ha Aretz, Jerusalem

"There is a communicative radiance in what they do, especially in the Grand Duo in C by Schubert..."
La Derniere Heure, Brussels

"The pianists give the music its due, finding wit and sparkle in the earlier things and colorful explorations of the later ones. The ensemble and sense of dialogue keep prominence over individual show."
Philadelphia Inquirer 


 

Jean and Kenneth Wentworth are chiefly known for their work as a one-piano, four-hand team. For more than five decades they have devoted themselves to the distinguished traditional literature for the medium, and also to enlarging the contemporary repertoire by commissions and recordings. Both studied with the late Irwin Freundlich at the Juilliard School. Jean Wentworth, herself a Walter W. Naumburg Award winner, appears frequently as a soloist and as a chamber music pianist.

They have performed extensively in the United States and in Canada, have given numerous concerts in England and on the European continent, and have toured in the Middle East and Asia. The Wentworths were most recently heard in New York in three concerto performances with The Jupiter Symphony under the direction of the late Jens Nygaard.

The Wentworths' many recordings of four-hand literature include the complete four-hand works of Mozart, the Czerny Concerto for Piano Four-Hands and Orchestra, and several contemporary music discs. American Record Guide wrote of their recording of works by Vincent Persichetti, Robert Starer, and Meyer Kupferman: "This impressive, demanding record is welcome for providing us with music by three of America's outstanding composers, played with conviction and verve by one of the few ambitious piano duos around. ...The Wentworths play this program with a unity of ensemble and intent that makes one forget how difficult it is for two pianists to hit a set of keys in strict unison."

Recent recordings of Jean and Kenneth Wentworth include Schubert's "Grand Duo" Sonata and B minor Variations on the Chandos label and an as yet to be released compact disc of Four-Hand Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The Wentworths also have recordings on the Desto/CMS, Grenadilla, and Serenus Records labels.

"...rapt concentration and skilled ensemble... glorious music...expressive spontaneity"
The New York Times