Phyllis Sellick - Mozart, Bach, Rachmaninoff & Others: Piano Duos (2018)

Cyril Smith (1909-1974) and Phyllis Sellick (1911-2007) both enjoyed successful careers as soloists for many years before they embarked on their career as a duo. Although they had married in 1937, the idea to perform together came not from them, but from Sir Henry Wood- the founder of the famous Promenade Concerts in London- who invited them to play Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” on the opening night of the season of 1941. This event marked not only their duo debut, but also the debut of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, the Queen’s Hall having been destroyed in May of that year by an incendiary bomb. Shortly afterwards the BBC invited them to perform Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for two pianos: it was these two engagements which catalyzed the thought that they should make their duo partnership the priority, although both for some years afterwards continued to accept separate invitations as soloists. This issue features some of the recordings which Phyllis and Cyril made between 1948 and 1956: with the exception of the Rachmaninoff Suite, none has previously been reissued on modern recording means.