2CDs
Bartlett & Robertson Selected NGS, Homocord, HMV, & English/American Columbia Recordings
COMPACT DISC 1 (74.02)
1 BARTLETT(arr.) Elizabethan Suite (14.16)
2 BACH-MEDNIKOFF Little Fugue in G minor (3.13)
3 BACH-HORNE Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (3.20)
4 BACH-HOWE Sheep may safely graze (4.30)
5-7 BACH Concerto in C major BWV1061 ORCHESTRA/BARBIROLLI (17.04)
8 SCHUMANN-DEBUSSY Étude Op 56 No 4 (3.38)
9 SCHUMANN Andante and variations Op 46 (12.24)
10 SAINT-SAËNS Variations on a theme of Beethoven (15.09)
COMPACT DISC 2 (78.44)
1 PAGANINI-LISZT-TAYLOR La Campanella (4.22)
2 LISZT-ROBERTSON Liebesträume No 3 (3.59)
3 ARENSKY Valse (from Suite for two pianos No 1) (4.11)
4 STRAUSS-PAVIA Die Fledermaus Fantasy (8.16)
5 GRANADOS-BARTLETT/ROBERTSON La maja y el ruiseñor (4.28)
6 INFANTE Gracia (El vito) (2.50)
7 FALLA-KOVACS Spanish Dance No 1 (2.38)
8 LECUONA-NASH Malagueña (2.47)
9-11 DEBUSSY En blanc et noir (14.43)
12 BAX Moy Mell (8.07)
13-15 BAX Sonata for two pianos (18.43)
16 BAX Hardanger (2.56)
ETHEL BARTLETT (1896-1978) and RAE ROBERTSON (1893-1956) both studied at the RAM with Matthay in the 1910s. They were married in 1921 and a few years later established a two-piano duo which quickly became the first such team to achieve truly international fame. From the 1930s they based themselves in the USA where they gave important American premieres of works by Poulenc and Stravinsky amongst others. They made first recordings of much of the standard two-piano repertoire and also inspired many new works and arrangements. Bax wrote four works specifically for them and their NGS recordings of two of these made shortly after their premieres (The sonata and Hardanger. Moy Mell was dedicated to two other Matthay pupils - Scharrer and Hess) are therefore of great documentary importance.
It is thus hugely surprising that this important legacy has been completely neglected since the 1950s and this issue is the first CD release ever devoted to their recordings.