Schubert: Music for Four Hands

Callaghan, Simon;
Farmer, Adrian

NI 8108

The late eighteenth century witnessed an explosion in the number of works written for multiple pianists, most of them for two players using one instrument. The majority were predestined for the domestic market, social gatherings or for pedagogical purposes, but some, including the two works featured on this disc, were intended for performance beyond the salon and ventured into the realms of virtuosity.

The genre was to blossom further as a pedagogical tool by which generations of pianists became acquainted with the larger-scale, mainstream repertoire via transcriptions and arrangements of symphonies and other orchestral works, operas and chamber music.

Schubert’s extensive and diverse oeuvre for piano four hands represents a significant quantitative and qualitative accomplishment. It places him in his own unique category as the principal composer who transformed the artistic merits of the medium in the early nineteenth century; his achievement has never been surpassed.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Nimbus

11-01-2022

0710357810824