A favourite pupil and interpreter of Beethoven (who once contemplated going to live in his house) and the teacher of Liszt and Thalberg, Czerny was an incredibly prolific composer (he published well over 800 works, many consisting of 50 or more pieces) whose fate it has been to be branded only as a purveyor of endless piano studies and exercises. Of recent years, however—especially since Stravinsky expressed admiration for him—the musical world has begun to realize that, far from being a dry-as dust pedagogue, he was a composer of imagination and grace, mostly lightweight, it is true (though without a knowledge of his symphonies, concertos, 28 Masses and other large-scale works this may be a misjudgement), but by no means to be overlooked. In particular he added richly to the repertoire for concerted pianists (I have happy memories of conducting television performances of his arrangement for 16 players of the Semiramide Overture).
Except for a pop-art Hammer-horror-type representation (why?) of Czerny on the sleeve cover, the present LP, the first of three breaking ground by being devoted to works of his for four and six hands, is pure pleasure as performed by this excellent team. The two Rondeaux brillants fully live up to their title, the second rather longer and more developed (and sporting a fugato section); the variations on the call to arms from Act 1 of Rossini's Donna del lago take no account of the theme's dramatic context but employ it purely as a vehicle for sparkling decoration and melodic invention, offering almost limitless opportunities for virtuoso finger dexterity. It is in the coruscating Bellini variations, however, that the Daguls excite most admiration for their scintillating nimbleness, freshness, tonal delicacy, expertness of ensemble and finely-judged internal balance. Young Guy demonstrates, with clean-fingered and sensitive performances of two Czerny solo studies, that he is fully worthy to join in his parents' experienced artistry. The limpid clarity (with exemplary pedalling) of the playing throughout the record is fortunately matched by recording of very high standard.'