Sviatoslav Richter, Benjamin Britten - Schubert: Piano Duets (2000)

Schubert’s piano duets were designed for the home and not necessarily the concert hall, yet why not have an audience present to share in the spontaneous, beautifully nuanced camaraderie that Sviatoslav Richter and Benjamin Britten brought to their unforgettable 1964/65 Aldeburgh Festival collaborations? Better still, why not have Decca release these performances in their finest sonic incarnation for the rest of the world to enjoy, or for ArkivMusic.com’s on-demand reprint program to ensure that this disc will remain available?

The pianists face the Grand Duo’s thicker, orchestrally informed textures head on, without compromising the music’s linear, chamber-like give-and-take between primo and secondo parts. Other instances of this occur in the fourth and sixth A-flat Variations. Although the booklet notes do not indicate who is playing what part, I’m tempted to guess Richter on top for the F minor Fantasy, on account of its main theme shaped with artless simplicity and mesmerizing legato. However, I could be wrong! But no Schubert lover possibly could go wrong with these classic, well-preserved archival BBC recordings.