Dual pianists Soyeon Kate Lee and Ran Dank showed what heights can be achieved with two pianos Thursday night at Merrill Auditorium, but the crowning achievement of the evening was the piano-four hands version of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” with which the composer introduced his new work to friends with Claude Debussy beside him on the piano bench.

Thursday night’s performance was the opening round in a 2012-2013 celebration of the 100th anniversaries of the “Rite of Spring,” Merrill Auditorium, and the Kotzschmar Organ, under the auspices of Portland Ovations.

The performances were brilliant, but credit should also be given to Matt Guggenheim, who tuned the two Steinway grands.

The all-Paris program opened with a tremendous crowd pleaser, “Scaramouche,” by Darius Milhaud, a serious musician and member of “The Six,” French composers who rebelled against both Wagnerian and French Impressionist music. I use the word “serious” because “Scaramouche” is anything but — a light-hearted pastiche of nightclub tunes, jazz and Samba.

Next came Ravel’s arrangement for two pianos of Debussy’s “Nocturnes,” which, to my ear at least, do a better job of conveying the moods of the sea than the more popular “La Mer.” That may be a result of their being based on Whistler’s paintings entitled “Nocturnes,” rather than Chopin’s model. The procession in No. 2 is one of the most stirring things Debussy ever wrote, and it was realized perfectly by the two pianos.

Ravel’s “La Valse,” which followed. also seems made for two pianos, although it was written originally as a “choreographic poem for orchestra.” Ravel characteristically denied any philosophical implications, but his musical explosion of a form could apply to any one of the 20th century’s many tragedies. Lee and Dank made the transition from melodic to monstrous seem inevitable.

The “Rite of Spring” was a revelation on the piano, bringing out all manner of subtle effects never heard in the orchestral version. Even the brutality was more brutal, as the sudden sforzandos and dissonances stood out more than they do in the orchestral version.

After the ferocity of the “Rite,” the pianists relaxed with a delightful Brahms waltz as an encore. Normally I would have preferred to let the larger masterpiece sink in, but I was already cursing Walt Disney for making me think of dying dinosaurs instead of a pagan festival.

Christopher Hyde’s Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram. He can be reached at:

classbeat@netscape.net