Catalogue Connection: 21701

This came out a while back. It’s a lovely thing to have, as an object: a nice box, with seven CDs and a thick booklet. That’s before you hear a note. Short of an essay, how can you review it fairly? Worse, Anthony Goldstone died last January, while Divine Art was finalising the design work, and did not live to see the reissue of this collection, repackaged and remastered as a box set.

So, we sat on it until now: if the aim is to get the music out, one last collection from a fantastic pianist, then Christmas is the time. Never mind the quality, feel the width as Manny Cohen used to say. Seven CDs, in a nice box, got a bit weight to it, ideal Christmas present, only £30.

The seven discs were originally released as individual albums between 1999 and 2000 (discs 1-3 recorded in 1998; 4-7 in 1999).

Husband and wife Goldstone and Clemmow set out to record all of the known pieces written by Schubert for piano four-hands.

The sleeve notes say Schubert was the composer par excellence of piano duets. From the age of 13 up to his early death at the age of 31, he composed prolifically for the medium.

The CDs have been carefully planned as separate programmes so that, for example, a published set of six marches is not played one after the other, just because that was how they were published. Each CD presents a varied selection of major and minor works from different periods.

The playing is superb throughout, reflecting whatever mood the music intends to make; there’s nothing really to say about that side.

If you’re looking for a present for someone who likes the piano, or more reflective classical music, you can’t go wrong with this. If not, treat yourself: if you’ve ever thought you’d like some cultured music but don’t know where to start, this is it. It’s the kind of music the makers of Inspector Morse would play if they wanted to portray a character as refined; Morse walks into a room and this is playing, it would set the scene well.

It was recorded in St John the Baptist Church, Alkborough, North Lincolnshire, using a Grotrian- Steinweg piano. The Ida Carroll Trust and Manchester Musical Heritage Trust supported the project.

This landmark recording project—Schubert’s music for piano four-hands, complete on seven discs—provides a rich source of musical pleasure, and more than a few revelations. Divine Art’s reissue of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow’s joyous performances gives listeners the opportunity to experience an overlooked and very significant side of Schubert’s output. Putting aside his identity as history’s (arguably) greatest composer of songs, or the creator of sublime, visionary string quartets and piano music, here is another Schubert: the tireless producer of a cornucopia of marches and polonaises, fantasias, and overtures, and other miscellaneous four-hand diversions. Yes, he composed most of this music to earn an income, but almost every piece is touched by some element of his genius.

Like most people, my awareness of Schubert’s huge catalog of piano duets has been limited to a few of its better-known entries. I was familiar with the “Grand Duo” Sonata, with its serious, symphonically conceived opening movement, but hadn’t made the acquaintance of his other four-hand sonata, the genial, sparkling Grand Sonata in B♭, until now. The lengthy, intermittently inspired Divertissement à la Hongroise is occasionally performed and recorded—Artur and Karl Ulrich Schnabel’s recording is a classic—but I suspect I’m not alone in having been unaware of its companion, the Divertissement on French Motifs, an elaborate, three-movement work of very consistent quality, with which Goldstone and Clemmow conclude the final disc. Schubert’s best-known work for piano duet is the Fantasy in F Minor, D 940. Here, it can be appreciated as the mature successor to two early, formally experimental Fantasies that Schubert composed for piano duet, the 21-minute long Fantasy, D 1, and the Fantasy, D 48.
All this music was composed for the entertainment of amateurs, and is ideally experienced by two players at one keyboard. But any misgiving that I had about listening to it on recordings was put to rest by the playing of Goldstone and Clemmow. (Divine Art doesn’t reveal which of them plays the Primo or Secondo parts). Goldstone and Clemmow’s playing compares favorably to that of the very fine, nuanced duo Tal and Groethuysen, who have also recorded the complete Schubert four-hand works. Their polished accounts never sound like perfunctory “read-throughs” done for the sake of completeness. These are real interpretations, notable for their verve, charm, elegant rubato, and crisp articulation. The duo has an uncannily precise sense of ensemble gained by long years of collaboration and performing the music in concert. Divine Art’s sound is clear and neither overly dry nor overly reverberant.

Furthermore, Goldstone and Clemmow have ordered their presentation of this sprawling material in a thoughtful, listener-friendly way. Rather than grouping pieces chronologically, or by genre, each of the seven discs reproduces a concert program, as performed by the duo in a seven-concert cycle. By alternating lighter works with more substantial ones, and contrasting genres with one another, any one of the seven discs becomes a satisfying listening experience in itself. Then there’s the added bonus of each disc concluding with an encore or two, in the form of Eight Polonaises, delightful, seldom heard, early works by Schumann that reveal his connection to Schubert. This important release has my highest recommendation, and it will be on my 2017 Want List.

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) is one of my favorite composers. It always astounds me at the sheer number of works which he produced over the course of such a shortened lifespan. What truly astounds one, though, is not only the sheer number of works which he wrote, but the quality of even the shortest of them: each waltz or march, Ländler or German dance, has the same Schubertian stamp of uniqueness as do his sonatas, symphonies, or songs. In other words, he offers not just quantity or quality—he offers both. And his music shows the best of his age: it is lyrically beautiful, playful, spirited, profound in thought and emotion, filled with a sense of Classical poise, yet equally filled with Romantic ardor. The four-hand works on the current recital display well the composer’s maturation from a young burgeoning musician to a complete master of composition in a short span of time. Even the earliest works found on these discs are staggering in their level of achievement.

There are too many works here to go into detail regarding many of them. Suffice it to say that whichever styles of music interest one—improvisatory fantasies, swinging dances, lively marches, elegant and virtuosic variations, grand sonatas, or otherwise—they are to be found here. Among my favorites are the famous F-Minor Fantasy, with its mysterious opening, its gradual movement towards the lyrical, its ebullient and light-hearted scherzo, and the finale’s return to the ominous opening mood. But equally interesting and well played is the earlier Fantasy, marked D 1, written when the composer was just 13 years old! It is clearly the work of a composer in training rather than the later master, yet it still displays daring harmonic innovations (track 3), a profound, quasi-Beethovenian idea which begins the whole, yet also a lightheartedness which the composer thankfully never lost. Though it may not be the greatest Schubert ever produced, it already shows the path which he was to take. Equally charming and magical are the numerous shorter works: the contrasting Ländler in C Minor and C Major, D 814/3 and 4, make for a perfect pair. Lasting only a minute and a half, they show the best of both sides of the coin: The brash and energetic C-Minor opening is countered beautifully by the dreamy, softer arpeggiations of the C-Major dance, before the whole is rounded off by a repeat of the first section. Here the rustic character of the first dance plays off with the touching simplicity of the second: each one enhances the other. Also included are the three popular Marches Militaires, D 733: though the first is the most famous, with its opening unison introduction, each of the others is equally vibrant, equally brilliant in instrumental interplay. But ever since I first heard Ormandy’s recording of the work with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the First has always held a special place in my heart.

And as a bonus, Schubert is not the only composer featured on this recital; so too is Robert Schumann. The pianists here include his collected Polonaises—yes, you read that correctly, Polonaises—eight in total. Though not every dance is a masterpiece, each shows a profound connection to the music of his time, and notably his own admiration for, even love of, the music of Chopin. And if one wants to fool someone, how tempting would it be to play for them the lovely Polonaise in G Minor and ask them who wrote it? My guess: Not one would say Schumann.

What pianists Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow bring to this music is priceless: a beautiful light touch, a real sense of playfulness when required, profound thought in the larger works, and a perfect temperament for this music—never too Classical, never too Romantic, but a lovely balance of both. What I miss in their playing, perhaps especially in the dance movements, is the fine sense of lilt which inhabits so much Viennese music, not just from a century later, but even from this earlier date. But what they miss in one way they amply make up in others. And passion for this music they have in spades. Along with informative booklet notes and resonant sound, these discs are ones to treasure. I know that since I’ve had them, I’ve listened to more Schubert than anything else. And I’ve discovered a whole host of works of which I’d never known. For me: the more Schubert, the better!

For a composer of such fame as Schubert’s, it is a surprisingly little-known aspect of his career that he was a life-long (short as it was) and prolific writer of music for piano four hands. In a way, the situation reflects the way most of the music loving public views the rest of Schubert’s output; the bulk of the music of his that is recorded and heard live comes from the last few years of his life, when his musical language became burnished and deepened by an accretion of personal sorrow. There is some late Schubert in the piano four hand repertoire, notably, the great Fantasie in F Minor, but the majority of this material derives from a happier place in the composer’s life, beginning with his earliest surviving music, also a Fantasie, as ironic poetry would have it, penned by a 13-year-old genius. Such gemütlich material might not whet the appetite of those Schubert lovers who favor the wretched beauty of something such as Winterriese, but there is much angst-free loveliness to luxuriate in here.

What is remarkable about this piano music is the variety of style and form that is employed. There are a number of selections that are cast in Classical forms, including several sonatas, rondos, marches, and overtures. Within that context, Schubert’s characteristic harmonic imagination points forward, even in the early work. Schubert also seemed to have an ear for musical inspiration to his geographic east, as heard in a number of polonaises and a Hungarian “Divertissement.” He also composed a piano four hand Grand Funeral March on the occasion of the death of Tsar Alexander the First and, subsequently, a Grand Heroic March to celebrate the coronation of Tsar Nicholas the First. German dances and variations on French songs further amplify Schubert’s cosmopolitan outlook.

The profound influence of Schubert’s music on the work of Robert Schumann is well known, but there is a particular relationship involving four hand piano music. In 1828, a teenaged Schumann discovered the Schubert Polonaises that are featured on this set, and was inspired to create his own set of Eight Polonaises for this format, and they are heard here as encores on each of the discs. The music is, not surprisingly, beautifully written, even though the mature voice of the composer is just hinted at. The value of this music is more historical than anything else, a touching tribute to the artistic connection between two giants of music.

Pianists Caroline Clemmow and Anthony Goldstone play this music with elegance and intelligence, and are recorded cleanly and realistically. The program notes are very informative, and the overall production value for the release is top-notch. This is an important addition to the Schubert discography.

In my review (39:2) of Goldstone and Clemmow’s previous Schubert recording, a volume of “unauthorized” four-hand transcriptions of the “Unfinished” Symphony and the “Death and the Maiden” Quartet, I praised the duo’s playing but took them to task for their choice of repertoire. “Schubert wrote a significant body of music for piano duo, including such masterworks as the Fantasy in F Minor and repertoire favorites such as the Marches Militaires,” I wrote, expressing my skepticism for the value of recording unauthorized duos in the presence of so many very fine “authorized” duos.

Schubert did indeed write a significant body of music for piano duo: over eight hours’ worth, to be precise. And Goldstone and Clemmow had already recorded all of it by the time they began examining four-hand arrangements of Schubert works. This box set was previously released by Olympia in seven individual volumes in 1999—an outgrowth of a seven-concert recital series of these works the duo presented earlier in the 1990s. The duo’s playing of the original works is every bit as impressive as that of the unauthorized work—their ensemble is flawless, even in tricky unison passages; their rubato is entirely synchronized; scale passages and filigree receive brilliant, pearly articulation; lyrical moments are played with extraordinary warmth. Best of all, they are sensitive to the color shifts inherent in Schubert’s many modulations; in their hands, sequences are never repetitive but instead develop thematic material from numerous angles, as if seen through a prism. My only criticism of the playing (and it may be more a criticism of the piano on which Goldstone and Clemmow recorded) is that the treble can occasionally be a bit thin, leaving some of the quieter melodies overshadowed by the more resonant bass.

The seven CDs in this collection follow the same programs Goldstone and Clemmow used in their live recitals. As such, each disc “presents a varied selection of major and minor works from different periods,” as the program notes indicate. This is a generally welcome approach: I’d imagine that the 58 minutes of the Six Grand Marches (D 819) would make for rather monotonous listening if played in sequence—not to mention the 41 minutes of Schumann polonaises offered as encores to each recital. To voice one of my few quibbles with the cycle, though, I find some specific instances of separation puzzling. The program notes speak of the Sixth Grand March as “a lively, optimistic climax to the set,” coming as it does after a notably somber predecessor. Even granting the likelihood that the six marches were not intended to be played as a cycle, a pairing of Nos. 5 and 6 would have been far more dramatic than the pairing of Nos. 5 and 1 presented on the second disc. Similarly, the programming divides the tiny D 618 set of four Ländler into two groups of two. Surely the three minutes or so of the complete set would not have been wearing on listeners. Most peculiarly, the first two Ländler are interspersed with the eighth of the D 783 German Dances, as if they constituted an extended minuet and trio. Elsewhere in the set, D 783 is presented in its entirety, resulting in minimal but nonetheless perplexing redundancy.

These quibbles are in no way a detraction from the achievement this cycle represents. And Schubert’s greatest four-hand works receive heartfelt, utterly masterful performances. The famous Marche Militaire in D receives a notably brisk performance, full of punchy accents and the occasional suave rubato over the transition between sections. Goldstone and Clemmow perform the F-Minor Fantasy with the profundity and confidence that only mature artists with a longstanding collaborative partnership can provide. There is a great deal of freedom to their playing of this work, yet it remains subtle and supple—a superb balance between elegance and passion. The Divertissement à la hongroise requires a more uninhibited approach, which Goldstone and Clemmow offer without ever lapsing into melodrama or straying from their characteristic precision.

Schubert is perhaps less renowned for his contribution to variation form than for his contribution to other genres, but I find his mastery of this tradition to be virtually unparalleled. I may be partial; I first fell in love with Schubert’s music as a teenager accompanying a flutist on the Tröckne Blumen Variations. Even so, I find Schubert’s four sets of four-hand variations to be among the most compelling items in this collection. Moreover, these sets offer the pianists the opportunity to exercise the full range of their interpretive and technical gifts, from the delicate filigree of the Marie Variations’ Second Variation to the tender operatic duet of D 813’s Third Variation to the Rossinian (almost Gottschalkian!) perpetual-motion finales. None of these sets of variations are programmed particularly often; they should be.

Schumann’s polonaises are very early works, inspired by Schubert but not entirely derivative. The last two or three show glimmers of Schumann’s mature harmonies. They’re trifles, but they make welcome encores.

The sound engineering is superb, providing a resonant but warm concert-hall effect. Pianissimo passages are perhaps a bit over-resonant, but the recording strikes me as a generally faithful representation of a live performance.

This is an important collection, and its rerelease as a single box set is most welcome. Highest recommendation.

The Goldstone & Clemmow piano duo have been performing together for more than 30 years. Their latest, and sadly final, release is Franz Schubert – the Complete Original Piano Duets (Divine Art dda 21701  divineartrecords.com).  Anthony Goldstone passed away just as the packaging details of the current recording were being finalized.

These two pianists created a remarkable four-hands keyboard presence. Unity was the hallmark of their playing. They shared every nuance of the music without hesitation, as, though a single mind controlled all four hands. Their playing has been utter perfection, with a pianistically Zen oneness to all articulation, dynamics and phrasing. It always takes a few minutes of wonder at the technical beauty of their performance before you can relax into what the composer has actually intended to say. All the more reason to laud this substantial seven-CD set as the pinnacle of their lifetime’s work.

Rather than organize the recording by genre or chronology, the duo has taken the complete Schubert piano duo repertoire and created seven recital programs, balancing key relationships, moods and artistic weight. The result is a wonderfully listenable collection that also includes a Schumann Polonaise for piano four hands, at the end of each recital disc. These date from 1828 and are believed to have been inspired by Schubert’s piano duets – a fitting match.

It’s a beautiful set, brilliantly assembled and as inspired as anything they have ever done. Goldstone & Clemmow’s final recording project is definitely an item to collect.

Anthony Goldstone  waited over 19 years for the issue of this Schubert box, which in the end he did not live to see, having died in January 2017 during completion work on the project.

Together with his partner Caroline Clemmow, he leaves behind a truly herculean work in which much ‘heart-blood’ is heard.  It is difficult to understand how much wonderful music Franz Schubert wrote in his short life – but these works for piano four hands could fill a whole biography.

No less admirable is the perseverance of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow – their concentrated playing, the youthful freshness and even carefree spirit that they elicit from this music; a spontaneity that never subsides. Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow invested a lot of dedication and talent in this exceptional project. A nice tribute to Schubert as well as to the pianist Anthony Goldstone.

The title is “The Complete Original Piano Duets” and each of the seven discs is one com­plete recital, 75 to 80 minutes long. Each ends with an encore piece or two from the early set of Polonaises for piano duet by Robert Schumann. All were individually released back in 1999 but are now remastered and repackaged in a deluxe box, available for less than $40. The superlative 31-page booklet essay by the pianists was writ­ten for the original releases. After 33 years as a duo—the last 28 of them as husband and wife— and about 40 CDs, Goldstone’s death in January 2017 means that there will be no more.

The material is very well arranged, with a balance between shorter and longer works, var­ied musical styles, and complementary key relationships. The three ‘Heroic’ Marches and six ‘Grand’ Marches are distributed over several programs; the best-known ‘March Militaire’ is presented with its two companion marches—a beautifully balanced set. Schubert’s two sets of Polonaises, which were a strong influence on Schumann are likewise broken up over many programs. There is at least one of the best-known large scale works in each recital. Some of these take on symphonic dimensions, with lengths from 15 to 36 minutes. The Grand Duo, Fantasy in F minor, French and Hungarian Divertissements, the Lebenssturme Duo, and the Variations on an Original Theme in A-flat are all recognized masterpieces.

Of course in as complete a set as this one, there are unfamiliar works, many of signifi­cance. There are three other fantasies besides the famous late composition in F minor. At 6, 17, and 22 minutes, these earlier ones point the way to the later masterpiece. Early Schu­bert means he was 14-16 years old. Late Schu­bert was only 15 years later. I suppose we have to be thankful for the 31 years Schubert lived and not bemoan what might have been.

The performances may justly be consid­ered among the best by one of the best piano duos. Eight hours of Schubert duets may seem like a lot, but I have been through these three times, and every hearing reveals other beauti­ful musical moments. Goldstone and Clemmow take perfection of ensemble to its sum­mit. The little things, like placing emphasis on an important chord with a barely perceptible break and minuscule tempo relaxations at the end of phrases, are all done as one. Although they do face some strong competition in the best-known works, taken as a whole there is no competition.

Here we have no less than seven CDs with pieces for piano-four-hands by Franz Schubert (he wrote – probably for practical reasons – not for two pianos). As far as I can see, the set is complete. This is confirmed by its title: “The Complete Original Piano Duets” (not to be confused with another edition: ‘The Unauthorized Piano Duets’). The layout is chosen so that it forms a concert program of the piano music. In other words these pieces on CD  are also performed in concert practice. That means, for example, that a contiguous set of six marches (as originally published) is spread over these seven CDs. There is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it is clear that optimum contrast is sought, and that is also brought out in full. The fact that Robert Schumann’s eight Polonises are included in this set is also interesting: Schumann wrote them in August and September 1828, with Schubert (D. 599) as an inspirational example. That Schubert died shortly thereafter, on November 18th, does not relate to this. It is interesting to hear how much 18-year-old Schumann already runs his own creative course.

The duo Goldstone & Clemmow is of course not the only one that has been busy with Schubert’s four-handed piano works. I would like to remind you of some illustrious names: Christoph Eschenbach and Justus Franz, Patrick and Taeko Crommelynck, Jenö Jandó and Zsuzsa Kollár, and of course, recently, Belgian couple Jan Vermeulen and Veerle Peters. While of the famous Fantasy in f, D 940, the number of recordings is hardly ever counted.

It’s quite a bit of music – 8 hours and 20 minutes of music, some masterpieces and some inspired household works. The critics have described Goldstone and Clemmow as a ‘dazzling husband and wife team’,’ a British institution in the best sense of the word’, and they were the UK’s pre-eminent two-piano team. The duo (Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow), who formed their duo In 1984 and married in 1989, now has about 40 CDs in their name and their standard is consistently out of this world. I do not think there is an integral recording of these pieces that is better than this (Vermeulen and Peeters play this repertoire, unlike Goldstone and Clemmow,  exclusively on fortepiano). Or else we might say: no better, but different. Of course! Here we hear perfectly produced sparkle and energy, but also poetry and intimacy.

These recordings originally sat on the [defunct] Olympia label over the years to great acclaim until now the Divine Art Recordings Group has taken over. It all runs like a clock, partly thanks to the wonderfully tuned and maintained Grotrian-Steinweg concert piano. In the attached detailed documentation, both pianists also show that they are excellent stylists in this area, and very well-informed in the field of history.

The seven discs in this reissue box were originally released as individual albums between 1999 and 2000. They document a monumental project by the marvelous husband-and-wife four-hand piano team of Caroline Clemmow and Anthony Goldstone, and the box makes a worthy companion to their three-volume collection of “unauthorized” four-hand transcriptions of Schubert works arranged by his friends and colleagues. These discs present all of the known pieces that were actually written by Schubert for piano four hands — as far as we know, he wrote nothing for two pianos — and they tend to be lighthearted marches and dances, plus sets of themes with variations. Clemmow and Goldstone play with seemingly effortless virtuosity and intelligence and are very well recorded.

I have long enjoyed the piano duets of Schubert, a form he excelled in throughout his life, with his earliest surviving work being the Fantasie D.1, from 1810 when he was just thirteen years old, until the masterpieces in the genre of his final years. Here, at last, we have a reissue of the only fully complete version of Schubert’s works for piano duet, I remember with fondness the original release on the long lamented Olympia label, and here Divine Art must be thanked for resurrecting these fine recordings. I did have two or three of the original releases, which have disappeared over the years, borrowed and not returned, so it is good to have the chance to reacquaint myself with this wonderful set. The original recordings followed a mammoth concert series in which the complete works were performed over seven concerts, with the discs following the program of the concerts and concluding with a Polonaise that Schumann had been inspired to compose as an eighteen year old by Schubert’s example, as an encore. These are intelligently conceived and performed recitals, ones that bring the music [of] Schubert to life.

The first disc opens with the Polonaise in F D599 No. 4, but there is no doubting the star work on the disc, the ever popular Grand Duo (Sonate) in C, D.812. Here some might find the performance of Goldstone and Clemmow too brisk, 36:18 compared with the 47:21 of Eschenbach and Frantz (CZS 569770 2), or the 43:24 of Barenboim and Lupu (download), but there is no doubting the sense of excitement in this performance, with the quicker tempo not overtly detracting from the music.

Disc two opens with the Overture in F minor / Major, D.675, but again the major work steals the show, the Fantasie in F minor Op. 103, D.940, has long been a favourite of mine and here it is given an insightful performance, one that ranks along with the best. That being said, I recently came across the performance by Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov on a copy of a Graff fortepiano (HMM 902227), the sound of which is a real eye-opener.

Starting with one of Schubert’s most popular works for piano duet, the Marches Militaires, D.733, disc three also includes Anthony Goldstone’s realisation of the Polonaise in B flat Major, D.618a. Here Goldstone has taken the sketches Schubert composed in 1818, when he worked as a teacher for Count Esterhazy in Hungary, and woven them into a believable and accomplished work whilst completing the trio section. The Schubert section of this disc ends with a rousing and wonderful performance of the Divertissement à la hongroise, D.818.

The fourth disc begins with the remarkably mature work that is the Fantasie D.1, the longest work on this disc, it shows a mastery of the medium that shows a skill that belies Schubert’s teenage years. I particularly enjoyed the performance of the Grande Marche et Trio in D, D.819 No. 4, and the Grande Marche Funèbre in C minor, D. 859, but it is the Variations on an Original theme in A flat Major, D.813 that shines here. Goldstone and Clemmow’s performance is wonderful here.

Disc five begins strongly with a spirited performance of the Grand Marche héroique, D.885, before ending with one of the composer’s most popular works for piano duet, the Duo in A minor ‘Lebensstürme’, D. 947. Here Goldstone and Clemmow are particularly persuasive as in a performance of great style and élan.

Disc six has at its heart a persuasive performance of the Grand Sonate in B flat Major, D.617. This piece dates from 1818, although it was not published, as his opus 30, until five years later; it is central to this concert with the other works seeming to radiate from it. Although the disc ends with sparkling performance of the Grande Marche et Trio in B minor, D.819 No.3 and a thoughtful and well measured performance of the Variations on a Theme from Hérold’s opera Marie, D.908.

The final disc opens with the early Fantasie in C minor (Grand Sonate) D.48, composed between April and June of 1813, the last Fantasie of his school days. This is also an incredibly mature work, a work that shows more than just promise, this is the work of a consummate composer, one who uses the piano to great effect. The final work by Schubert is the Divertissement sur des motifs originaux français, D.823, this is a relatively large scale work which lasts nearly half an hour. Here Schubert takes the French themes and makes them his own; this work is reminiscent of the Divertissement à la hongroise, especially in the way that the composer weaves his own music around the original themes. This is an entertaining work of great colour and imagination and a fitting one to conclude the set with.

Each disc contains an ‘encore’ in the form of a Polonaise by Schumann, and in the case of the final disc, two. Schumann idolised Schubert and is said to have wept inconsolably when he heard of his death. These polonaises occupied the eighteen year old Schumann during August and September of 1828 and were composed in a style that was inspired by Schubert, the resulting eight polonaises only being published in 1933. They are strong works which, whilst showing the influence of Schubert, could only be by Schumann; that being said they do make a fitting set of encores for the discs and the set as a whole. My only other recording of these works is by Peter Frankl and Andras Schiff (CD3X 3001), which whilst it is a sparkling performance, the nearly forty year old Vox sound is beginning to show its age in comparison to this set.

This is a most enjoyable set, one in which Goldstone and Clemmow seem to be totally in tune with each other, which results in excellence throughout the set. The set comes with very good sound and a detailed 40 page booklet (in English only), in which each work is gone in to in detail, this is based on their original notes for the Olympia releases. Whilst editing these a few months ago for this release Anthony Goldstone sadly died, with this set marking his untimely passing as a fitting tribute and memorial to his name and his prowess as an editor and performer.

In 1998 and 1999 the husband-and-wife piano duo of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow recorded the full canon of Franz Schubert’s original compositions for four hands on one keyboard for the Maxim label. All recordings were made in the St. John the Baptist Church of Alkborough in North Lincolnshire in England. The instrument was a Grotrian-Steinweg piano maintained by technician Philip Kennedy.

Last year Stephen Sutton, Chief Executive Officer of Divine Art, approached Goldstone and Clemmow about reissuing their recordings on his label, both individually and collected in a single box. Unfortunately, Goldstone died of a prolonged illness on January 2 of this year, while he was assisting Sutton on the finishing touches of the notes and artwork for the accompanying booklet. The box set of all seven CDs was released about a month and a half ago.

It is worth reproducing the full title of the accompanying booklet:

FRANZ SCHUBERT: THE COMPLETE PIANO DUETS
IN SEVEN VARIED RECITALS WITH SCHUMANN POLONAISE ENCORES

This is a far cry from a systematic traversal through Otto Erich Deutsch’s thematic catalog of everything that Schubert wrote for four hands at one keyboard. (Nevertheless, it is worth noting that D. 1 is a four-hand fantasia in G major.) Instead, each CD has been conceived as a recital, usually with one “major” composition joined by an assortment of shorter pieces. The “encores” at the end of each disc come from a collection of eight polonaises that Robert Schumann wrote at the age of eighteen, supposedly inspired by Schubert. They were not published until 1933. One polonaise concludes each of the first six CDs, and two conclude the last one.

All of this makes for an impressive project; and, when I first learned of Divine Art’s plan to issue a “complete works” box, there was no way I was not going to add that box to my personal collection. Nevertheless, I think it is important to observe that all of the Schubert compositions in this set would probably be better described as “social” music, as distinct from “concert” music. Indeed, almost all of the pieces in this collection (if not all of them in its entirety) represent the repertoire of the Schubertiad, described by Denis Arnold and Alan Jefferson in The Oxford Companion to Music as “an informal meeting of friends to sing, play, and listen.” I was thus drawn into this music, first shown to me by a graduate student in the Music Department at the University of Pennsylvania, by its social value and the recognition that making music did not have to be confined to virtuoso performers accessible through the price of tickets or recordings.

Listening to this collection in its entirety, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of it had had traversed through my own experiences with any number of friends and colleagues, whose skills were as modest as my own. Indeed, I cannot enumerate the number of conversations I have held in which the slightest mention of the four-hand repertoire would immediately trigger the question, “Do you know the F minor fantasia?” I suppose that knowledge of D. 940 has achieved the status as a “sign of recognition” among amateur pianists, rather like the handshake among Freemasons. In my case I recognized its value in providing me with my one opportunity to play for (but not with) a Nobel laureate!

Nevertheless, this raises the question of how those who do not “know the handshake” will respond to this music. To be fair, I have also heard a fair share of the repertoire performed in concert; and there have been some impressive concert recordings by distinguished recitalists. So, whatever the social factors may be, this is music that can hold its own with a pair of pianists playing for an audience. However, I believe that the pairing itself needs to reflect the underlying social context. Two leading pianists who happen to be in the same place at the same time do not necessarily make for a good duo playing Schubert. (Readers may recall my jaundiced reaction to the joint recital given by Leif Ove Andsnes and Marc-André Hamelin this past April. That involved two pianos, and they did not play any Schubert. Nevertheless, my discontent still involved the apparent lack of any “social connection beyond the music” between the two players.)

From that point of view, a key virtue of the Divine Art collection is that it is the product of the efforts of a presumably happily married couple. Goldstone and Clemmow consistently found the sweet spot between the social world and the concert world in those recordings they originally made for Maxim. Presumably, those recordings reflected their having found that sweet spot in the recitals they had played leading up to the recording sessions in 1998 and 1999. Will listeners unfamiliar with this social dimension of the music-making experience appreciate just how subtle that sweet spot is? Quite honestly, I have no way of knowing, since I cannot unlearn my own past experiences.

All I can say is that, in the context of those experiences, I find all of the recordings in this collection to be infectiously engaging. Those who have had Schubertiad experiences of their own will probably understand the connotations of that last sentence. However, I hope that those who have not experienced a Schubertiad-like event may still get a feel for what it is like by listening to these recordings.