Treasures of the exquisite literature for two pianos, all too seldom performed here, were heard at last night's festival concert at the City Hall Theatre. Pianists Lisitsa and Kuznetsoff thrilled the capacity audience with their performance of works by Classical, Romantic and Impressionistic composers.

What at first glance appeared to be a conservative programme proved to be precisely to the audience's taste, from the opening "Sonata in D major for Two Pianos", to the encore, graciously accorded by the duo, "Arensky's Waltz", the Second Movement of his suite, Opus 15.

Apart from Mozart and Ravel, the evening was given over to the giants of the Romantic and late Romantic periods; there were works by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, and Listz.

Mozart's composition is magically concocted of mere decoration, scales and arpeggios, in much the same way as water is of mere hydrogen and oxygen ? but what a concoction. The duo are no mere musical clones besides; each pianist exhibits plenty of individuality where this is possible, as in the opening of Schumann's "Andante" and "Variations in B-Flat major".

Where synchronicity is necessary, they are flawlessly in step, phrasing as one, alike in touch and dynamic reading.

The sequential arrangement of the items in the first half of the programme, from Classical to late Romantic allowed for a sort of review of pianist evolution, so that the progress from a masterwork of 1781 to an early 20th Century one could be savoured.

Ravels 'Valse' was a revelation. To call it a dance is somewhat akin to calling Lear a story ? true but hardly an adequate description. On the simple three beat rhythm, culling the full poetic resource of the pianos, the composer has constructed a dizzying edifice of rhythms and tonal effects that at times overwhelms the senses in its lushness and power. The pianists obviously revelled in the task of rendering this piece of magnificence.

After the intermission Lisitsa and Kuznetsoff opened with Rachmaninoff's "Fantaisie-Tableaux". These are settings of four poems, three by Russian poets, one by Byron; "Night of Love". The composer evokes the song of the nightingale mentioned in the poet's text, in the second of the settings. They are each powerfully evocative. We were a long way, pianistically, from Mozart by now , the piano being explored for the sonorities to render the composer's notion of the poems' essences. The pianists' technical abilities, dazzling without conspicuous showmanship were completely at the service of the music.

The final item on the printed programme, which offered extremely useful insight into the composers' ideas, was Franz Listz's "Reminiscences de Don Juan". It is a concert fantasy, a transcrition, said to be the best ever from an opera. The well known thematic material is put through a dazzling series of variations, technically extremely demanding, and played with such panache by the duo as to seem effortless and natural, signs of the highest virtuosity, surely.

The audience called the artists back for an encore, and the pianists offered a waltz by Arensky, who besides having been Scriabin's and Rachmaninoff's teacher, also provided the latter with the model for his own suite for two pianos.

It was, like everything else in the evening ? exquisite.