Multi-pianist discs are few and far between, the visual impact of many hands making light work of (usually) arrangements of orchestral works being more compelling than hearing them on a recording. In fact, only two of the four works here feature more than 20 fingers but the programme is never less than fascinating, containing as it does four first recordings, the most significant being the first item, Fantasie and Variations on a Theme by Weber.

This was written jointly by Mendelssohn and (his friend and teacher) Moscheles. The chirpy theme is the ‘Marche bohémienne’ from the incidental music to Preciosa by Weber (no, nor me, but it was incredibly popular in London in the 1830s). The score – long story – ended up in the archive of Anton Rubinstein and only resurfaced at the beginning of this century, revealing the only mature work by Mendelssohn for two pianos. The booklet by Tomer Lev (the one pianist here who plays in all four works) tells us that the fantasy is by Felix, the march arranged by Moscheles, succeeded by four variations written two apiece. The finale is unmistakably by the younger man. It’s an entertaining work of sophisticated frivolity and bound to become standard two-piano repertoire.

On his own, Moscheles, for all his virtues (and there are many, viz. many of his études and several of his concertos) did not always manage to rise above the mundane. His Grand Duo Les contrastes is a case in point. While the material is not exactly second-rate, it certainly falls short of first-rate. Originally a piece for eight hands at two pianos (without orchestra), its chief interest lies in its structure: four movements in one – Prelude leading to a (rather dull) Fugue, Choral & Variation and Siciliane & Finale, making it one of the earliest examples of a neo-Baroque suite.

Less needs to be said about Liszt’s piano-and-orchestra version of Schubert’s great Wanderer Fantasy, except that this is heard here in an arrangement for two pianos and orchestra by Alexander Tamir of Eden and Tamir fame. It’s an entirely faithful reproduction of Liszt’s score with the solo piano part merely tossed back and forth between the two pianos, and some tastefully reorganised passagework.

The two Grandes Marches, D819 Nos 3 & 6, which round off the album and are the only pieces here sans orchestra, were originally composed as piano duets. Arranged by the prolific Ernst Pauer (1826-1905), the first of these is a close-but-poor relation of the celebrated Marche militaire No 1 in D (the opening threatens to break into the signature tune for Rawhide). The second one, though attractive enough and with a truly lovely central section, has a weak ending. I’m not sure what the extra 20 fingers add to either except, in the words of Tomer Lev, to ‘skilfully amplify [their] orchestral potential’.

I have not said anything about the four pianists who call themselves, a tad prosaically, MultiPiano Ensemble, nor about Ivor Bolton and his Berlin players. They are terrific, a joy to hear, extremely well recorded – and I hope they return to give us more of the multi-piano/pianist repertoire with and without orchestra.