Percy Grainger : Musique pour deux pianos et pour piano à quatre mains

Piano International (Mar, 2013)
Here’s an opportunistic release: Grainger’s two-piano scores are thinly represented on CD, with most of the classic performances by Penelope Thwaites/John Lavender (Pearl) and Leslie Howard/David Stanhope (EMI) currently unobtainable.

Grainger was an inveterate arranger, of course, and most titles here will be familiar from other versions. The Porgy and Bess Fantasy accounts for 20 minutes; the next biggest work is Lincolnshire Posy, a classic of the wind band repertoire. I missed the Children’s March Over the Hills and Far Away, a joyous seven-minute romp – but maybe it didn’t qualify as ‘folk-inspired’.

The German-based Bilder Duo was new to me: I wonder if Grainger was new to them. Interpretations …