Arrangements such as Taneyev’s of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony enabled amateur musicians to experience a work in the home, something we now take for granted. Such active music-making is of course re-creative in a way listening to one’s hi-fi is not, but there is nevertheless a gulf between the concert-hall world of the symphony itself and the homely setting of the piano duet format. Taneyev’s arrangement is technically demanding – it has to be, especially in the dazzling finale – but because of the medium’s limitations it still doesn’t sound like a concert adaptation. It does sound enormous fun to play, and Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow convey their enjoyment with verve and enthusiasm; but compared to, say, Feinberg’s solo transcription of the third movement of the Pathétique – an incarnation that absolutely demands an audience – this duet arrangement is less involving for the listener. That said, Goldstone and Clemmow do it proud, with sensibly chosen tempi and admirable clarity of rhythm and texture; my only quibble, and it partly goes with the territory, is that their dynamic range is so heavily constricted, capturing neither the whispering pizzicatos of the Scherzo nor the tumultuous sonorities of the finale.

The arrangement of the Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet by Nadezhda Purgold (Rimsky-Korsakov’s wife, whose portrait adorns the booklet cover) is resourceful, if at times a tad too literal. Goldstone and Clemmow play it with warmth and sensitivity, and also embrace a range of quasi-orchestral colour. The Russian folksongs make enjoyable fillers. The recorded sound is decent, if lacking bloom in the upper register. Lovers of the piano duet medium need not hesitate.