Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow are Britain’s top piano duo, and have an extensive discography, as well as an incredibly busy concert schedule.  On this CD they play both together and individually, to present for the first time major piano works by British composers.

ALL  TRACKS ARE WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDINGS

Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow are Britain’s top piano duo, and have an extensive discography, as well as an incredibly busy concert schedule. On this CD they play both together and individually, to present for the first time major piano works by British composers.

The key work here is Kenneth Leighton’s Prelude, Hymn and Toccata, an immensely impressive and commanding antiphonal work for two pianos. The Hymn, on which Leighton provides a kind of fantasia, is “Abide with Me”, but it is so heavily disguised that one has to listen out for it as it enters. After its serene close comes the Toccata, erupting into a characteristically powerful and abandoned Presto precipitoso climax, and ending with surprising abruptness. The works by Anthony Hedges are also exploratory and stimulating, the Explorations based on a single concentrated motif, the Aphorisms producing a fine Lento slow movement, and the Sonata (also with a memorable Adagio) concentrated in structure, with the brilliant Rondo finale nostalgically recalling material from the first two movements, before the animated closing section. Lighter, exotic contrast is provided by the enticing oriental pastiches of the Holst and Stevenson, with the latter’s Song of the Crab Fisher something of a lollipop. Altogether a stimulating collection, played with commitment and understanding by these two fine artists, and very well recorded. Penguin Guide to Compact Discs