Firma Melodiya presents the first part of the anthology 'Piano Duet' featuring Elena Sorokina and Alexander Bakhchiyev.

The ensemble of two remarkable musicians, professors of the Moscow Conservatory - Honoured Art Worker of Russia Elena Sorokina and People’s Artist of Russia Alexander Bakhchiyev - was formed in 1968. For more than thirty years they jointly performed in Russia and around the world. In fact, the duet of Sorokina and Bakhchiyev revived the culture of piano duet which used to be so popular in Russia. They have performed more than a hundred compositions of the genre (many of them were premieres in this country) and been recognized as a 'Golden duet of Russia'.

“Their emergence on stage is always a feast of music, joy and beauty”, wrote Leonid Zhivov, a pianist and professor of the Moscow Conservatory.

This disc is dedicated to four hand piano compositions from the period of German romanticism and, along with unpretentious pieces 'for home playing', includes deeply dramatic ones. So, you will hear Schubert’s virtuosic and romantic Fantasia along with his Waltzes and Polonaises, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, Schumann’s very distinctive Gespenstermarchen and waltzes by Joseph Lanner, a very popular Austrian composer in his time who initiated the era of Viennese waltz - his music very much anticipated the Strauss dynasty.

The recordings were made between 1974 and 1990.