Today we mostly associate Carl Maria von Weber with his fantastical opera, Der Freischütz. This collection of his keyboard duets gives us a different window onto this early Romantic personality.

Music for piano four hands, involving two players at a single keyboard, was a 19th-century way to bring the grandeur of the symphony or the opera into one’s own living room. Performed here on period instruments by Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate, these pieces perfectly capture the genre’s cheerful intimacy and operatic flair.

Carl Maria von Weber: Complete Keyboard Duets (DXL 1184) Digital Booklet

Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)

SIX PETITES PIÈCES FACILES, OP. 3
1) Sonatine Moderato e con amore (1.55)
2) Romanze Andantino, quasi Adagio (2.22)
3) Menuetto & Trio Presto (1.26)
4) Andante con 3 Variazioni Andante amoroso – Allegretto (3.00)
5) Marcia & Trio Maestoso (2.41)
6) Rondo Allegramente (2.36)

SIX PIÈCES, OP. 10A*
7) Moderato (4.03)
8) Andantino con moto (2.12)
9) Andante con 3 Variazioni (4.35)
10) Mazurka Vivace assai e marcato (2.30)
11) Adagio (2.10)
12) Rondo Allegro (3.09)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

13) ANDANTE AND 5 VARIATIONS IN G MAJOR, K501 (7.38)

Carl Maria von Weber

HUIT PIÈCES, OP. 60
14) Moderato (3.07)
15) Allegro (4.54)
16) Adagio (3.39)
17) Allegro, tutto ben marcato (3.27)
18) Alla Siciliana Allegro (3.44)
19) Tema Variato Andante 6 variations on Ich hab’ mir Eines erwählet (2.52)
20) Marcia Maestoso (5.58)
21) Rondo Scherzando vivace (4.13)

Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate have given duet recitals at many prestigious venues including the Royal Opera House, St George’s Bristol, St John’s Smith Square, Hatchlands Park, the Russell Collection in Edinburgh and for the Mozart Society of America in Boston. They have recorded Mozart’s complete sonatas for keyboard duet on period instruments on two discs for Resonus Classics, and have each been awarded Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of their ‘significant contribution’ thus far to the music profession. Praised as ‘exemplary’ by Early Music Reviews, their playing has been described by MozartCircle Reviews as being ‘… within that glorious tradition of a few great Mozart interpreters such as Edwin Fischer and Alicia de Larrocha.’