This is the kind of disc that may well prove a collectors' piece in, say, the year 2050. I can imagine some young enthusiast then marvelling at the eclectic choice of items, at their consummate execution, and at the delightful presentation. For us today, Lott, Murray and Johnson are known as founder members of The Songmakers' Almanac, and in consequence of their long artistic association with each other—all of 14 years now—they combine almost instinctively in their music-making to create a unified approach to the music in hand. I can recall a number of the duets included here turning up in Songmakers' programmes and no doubt others have been heard in programmes that I haven't attended.
The recital is devised by Graham Johnson, not only to provide an ingenious variety of style and mood, but also to show off the singers to best advantage. I have never been able to summon up much enthusiasm for Beethoven's arrangements of Irish folk-songs but as performed here with such spirited attack, they are a delight. In particular ''English Bulls'' benefits from Murray's authentic Irish accent and spirit. Her solo is complemented by Lott's open-hearted account of Schumann's ''Er ist's'' before the voices entwine again in the lilting ''Fruhling Ankunft''. Then Murray brings out all the cool beauty of ''Schneeglockchen''.
The perfect blend of the voices is amply demonstrated in Brahms's Op. 61 of which ''Die Schwestern'' has always been one of the duettists' party pieces. All four are sung and played with an instinctive unity of purpose. So are the two, very different Berlioz pieces, the quirky accents of Le trebuchet nicely pointed by Johnson. The first Gounod duet, a setting of Racine, no less, is a typical salon piece. The second, sung in the original French and then in English, a lesson in Victorian thrift, is an outright winner, delivered with the wit one expects from these ladies.
The other French duets, though mostly familiar, are no less welcome for that, when sung with such an understanding of the idiom. Chausson's ''La nuit'' and Faure's Pleurs d'or, a particularly beautiful piece, benefit from Lott's ability to float her high notes exquisitely. Once or twice in the recital one becomes aware of some metallic edge on the singer's otherwise pristine tone, a small reservation on what is on the whole a lovely display of co-ordinated planning and singing, faultlessly recorded.'