GLASGOW HERALD:
They're at it again. The indefatigable piano duo team of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow have been hard at work unearthing more hidden treasures from the classical repertoire: orchestral and chamber music arranged for piano duet or two pianos. A couple of years ago their first volume of "unauthorised" piano duos of Schubert's music featured The Trout Quintet, sparklingly rendered by this superlative husband and wife team of pianists, who sacrificed none of the character of the music in their interpretation of the transcription.

Now they have dug up a version for piano duet of the great B flat Piano Trio, which captures the spirit, the flavour and the zest of the vast and mighty trio. The arrangement was made by one Josef von Gahy, astonishingly not a professional pianist but a civil servant, though he must have been able to find his way around the keyboard as he was not only a friend but a regular duet partner of Schubert himself. A cracking disc for devotees of this genre, with a stunning transcription of the Arpeggione Sonata which catches all the grace, poise, and refinement of the work, along with its bubbling virtuosity.
Michael Tumelty

INTERNATIONAL PIANO:
The history behind this disc is interesting. Joseph von Gahy was not only a lifelong friend of Schubert but also his duet partner. After the composer’s death Gahy set about transcribing several of his partner’s vocal and instrumental works for piano duet. There is no question of the authenticity of the enterprise. Gahy remained faithful to the originals, even to the extent of parts of the phrases being split between the two players. So seamless is the performance of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow that this cannot be detected.

THE SCHUBERTIAN:
Josef von Gahy was born in Hungary in 1793 but moved to Vienna c.1818. Like Josef von Spaun he was a civil servant, and it was probably Spaun who introduced him to Schubert. He soon became a member of Schubert’s group of friends, attending many Schubertiads and, as an accomplished pianist, playing Schubert’s four-hand piano pieces with him. After Schubert’s death Gahy formed a piano duo with Marie Stohl, a piano teacher and proficient pianist, whose sister Eleonore was a highly regarded Schubert singer. Gahy later fondly recalled his friendship with Schubert and the many enjoyable hours he spent playing duets with him when he provided Kreissle von Hellborn with some material for his major biography of the composer.

Gahy arranged several of Schubert’s instrumental and vocal works for piano duet. Apart form his transcription of the “Trout” Quintet (D.667), published by Josef Czerny in 1829 and recorded by Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow as part of The Unauthorised Piano Duos, Vol. 1 (Divine Art 25026), none of these arrangements was intended for publication. They include the Octet (D.803), the G major String Quartet (D.887), the String Quintet (D.956) and three of the pieces played on this disc: the Piano trio in B flat (D.898), the Notturno in E flat (D.897), possibly a rejected slow movement for the Trio, and the “Arpeggione” Sonata (D.821).

As Goldstone points out in the highly informative booklet accompanying the disc, these three transcriptions, the originals of which are housed in the Wiener Stadt- un Landesbibliothek, are “meticulously faithful to the originals”, resulting in “some extremely complicated writing” with “parts of phrases flying back and forth between the two players”. Examples of this abound in the first movement of the Trio and in the Notturno, for instance. The fact that Gahy, who played the secondo part, took care “not to assign to his right hand more than it could accomplish, for two of its fingers had by then become paralysed” and transferred some notes to the primo’s right hand to compensate, does not actually make a lot of difference to the listener. For the players, however, it can result in some unusual adjustments (technically and texturally) apart from the frequent octave displacements – but Goldstone and Clemmow solve the problems fearlessly, and with their customary panache and instinctive musical understanding. There is one questionable moment, however, in the first half of bar 79 in the slow movement (and repeated in bar 81) [approximately 4:40 minutes into track 2 of the disc]; the harmony of the original piano trio version seems to be distorted in the transcription, perhaps because the bass G is not given enough prominence?

In 1823 the Viennese guitarist Johann Georg Staufer built the arpeggione – a six-stringed bowed, fretted instrument, tuned exactly like a classical guitar. It was for this instrument that Schubert wrote his Sonata in A minor (D.821) in November 1824. The first edition of the work in 1871 included an alternative cello part, as the arpeggione was by then more or less extinct. Since then, of course, the work has been arranged for a variety of instrumental combinations, with or without piano; but, as Gahy died in 1864, four years before it was “discovered” in Vienna by George Grove, his transcription is clearly the first. One interesting feature, pointed out by Goldstone, is the appoggiatura-like “wrong” note at the beginning of bar 2 of the opening movement (Allegro moderato). For those familiar with the work, it certainly sounds out of place, particularly as it does not appear again later in the movement, but has to be accepted on its merits as Gahy’s “reading” of an unclearly notated note in the original manuscript.

The fourth piece on the disc is not one of Gahy’s transcriptions, but is Schubert’s own “Friendship” Rondo in D major (D.608). It has the subtitle ‘Notre amitié est invariable’ – not Schubert’s own but possibly added by the publisher Diabelli. As Schubert may have written the piece with Gahy in mind as his duet partner, it is tempting to think of this “constant friendship” as being an allusion to what was undeniably a very productive musical relationship.

We are indebted to Goldstone and Clemmow for bringing to light Gahy’s fine arrangements of three of Schubert’s instrumental works, and they succeed in transferring the joy of discovery to their interpretation of the pieces. The playing is of the highest quality, the textural balance is first-rate and the sound quality excellent. Highly recommended!
A. Crawford Howie

ALL-MUSIC GUIDE: (Answers.com)
Once again, the piano duo of Goldstone and Clemmow has discovered works transcribed for piano, four-hands that are sure to fascinate not only fans of piano duets, but also those of the original composer. Through observant reading of a biography of Schubert, the team realized that transcriptions had been made of some of his chamber music by one Josef von Gahy. Gahy was one of Schubert's closest friends in Vienna, a civil servant, and very accomplished amateur pianist. Gahy frequently played Schubert's piano music at evening Schubertiads, but more importantly, Gahy and Schubert often played duets at the piano together. Gahy made his transcriptions after Schubert's death, hence the "Unauthorised" in this disc's title, but given his close relationship with Schubert, they are authoritative. Goldstone and Clemmow found Gahy's manuscripts at the Vienna City Library, and obtained copies of the Piano Trio No. 1, the Notturno for piano trio, and the "Arpeggione" Sonata for this recording. The first two works lose only a little of the original's lush lyricism of the strings, most noticeably in the outer sections of the Notturno, but otherwise, the transcriptions are extremely well suited to the piano. In fact, the faster sections of the Notturno sound exactly as if Schubert had written it for just the piano. Any loss, however, is made up for in the duo's attention to the shaping and shading of the music, which is just as lovely as one could hope. The Arpeggione, of course, has already proven to be hardy enough to withstand performances on every instrument imaginable without losing any of its warm charm and playfulness, so it's no surprise that it also works well in a piano duet version. (There is a small surprise in the opening of this version of the sonata for anyone who knows the piece intimately.) The team rounds out the disc with a Rondo, D. 608, that almost assuredly was performed by Gahy and Schubert themselves. Goldstone and Clemmow's dedication to expanding the piano duet repertoire has once again found treasure with these Schubert transcriptions.
Patsy Morita

AMAZON.COM:
For those who enjoyed Goldstone & Clemmow’s first volume Schubert: The Unauthorised Piano Duets [sic – should be Duos] , this sequel will come as a blessing. It’s somewhat difficult to stumble upon the Divine Art label’s two Schubert volumes, and I regret the fact that many Schubert lovers out there are ignorant of these two mesmerizing and invaluable recordings. Both contain a plethora of four-hand piano arrangements, most of which are of Schubert’s beloved chamber music. In the first volume, our ears were rewarded with the immaculate piano arrangement of the Trout Quintet. Here we get a similar treasure trove of Schubert’s loveliest chamber music, translated into the piano’s language by way of complex and exquisite arrangements.

“I count the hours I spent playing duets with Schubert among the most enjoyable of my life, and I cannot think back on that period without being overcome by the most profound emotion… My friendship with Schubert remained untroubled until his death.” These are the words of Josef von Gahy, a friend of Schubert’s who had the illustrious position of being Schubert’s favorite piano duet partner. Gahy completed a vast number of four-hand transcriptions of Schubert’s works. And these are not deficient piano reductions so often published by sixth-rate musicians and incompetent hacks. Anthony Goldstone mentions in the liner notes that Gahy “transcribed about thirty of Schubert’s works” and that his “transcriptions are faithful to the originals… This leads to some extremely complicated writing in both the Notturno and the B flat major Trio, with parts of phrases flying back and forth between the two players.” According to Goldstone, Gahy worked on the piano arrangement of the B flat major Trio for eight months. But one doesn’t need historical facts to feel impressed; just listen to the highly effective piano arrangement of the Trio and bask in its brilliance, precision and craftsmanship.

In truth, and I know this is a dubious thing to say, I actually enjoyed the piano arrangement of the D. 898 Trio much more that its original version. Goldstone & Clemmow’s adoration and reverence for Schubert’s music are such that they make no room for technical error or interpretative shortcomings. On the contrary, they imbue this work with a new breath of musical air while maintaining all the dynamism and intricacies of a well-coordinated chamber ensemble (and one can argue that they are a chamber duo, after all). Schubert’s Piano Trio is an emotionally balanced work that employs a light first movement, a sublime second, and then two more jovial movements. With the exception of the development section in the first movement and also the Andante, Schubert has refrained from expressing sorrow, pathos or struggle. Instead, he communicates a mood of gaiety clothed in his usual melodic wrappings. Goldstone and Clemmow are of such a calibre that technique is never questioned. And their devotion to Schubert is truly remarkable; they are real amateurs in the best sense. Thus they deliver all the goods and provide a phenomenally refreshing outlook on this chamber work through the scope of the solo piano.

It can also be expected that this duo accomplishes the same feats with the famous Notturno and the Arpeggione Sonata. Gahy’s wondrous arrangement of the Notturno is impossible to dislike. Although the tempo may seem faster than what one is used to, the piano duo creates stunning waves in the virtuosic passageworks. In the corresponding lyrical sections, the duo represents Schubert’s ideas with clarity while simultaneously exhibiting passion. Moving on, I think the Arpeggione Sonata receives the best pianistic treatment from Gahy and an even more stimulating aural experience through the hands of Goldstone and Clemmow. Like the Piano Trio, this music is unabashedly light-hearted, but its endearing themes are convincing enough to realise we’re hearing quality music. Although actual recordings of this original work featuring the strange arpeggione instrument exist, I definitely find the Sonata more appealing as a piano arrangement. The only “authorised” piano arrangement featured here is Schubert’s own “Friendship” Rondo in D major. It’s assumed that this duet was intended to be played by both Gahy and Schubert as a touching testament to their friendship. The sentiment is not lost on the husband-wife team who play with affection and heartfelt joy.

Bottom line: Schubert lovers are incredibly fortunate to have such piano arrangements recorded by a stellar piano duo like Goldstone and Clemmow. Although these are not Schubert’s most titanic compositions, they have endured in the hearts of many and make for gripping piano music. Since Goldstone divulged Gahy’s list of arrangements as nearing thirty, I hope to see a third volume in this exciting series!
“Hexameron”

STIRLING NEWS (and other UK regionals):
This richly rewarding offering features the first ever recordings of three Schubert chamber works arranged for piano duet by his friend Josef von Gahy, along with another piece which the composer penned specifically to celebrate the pair’s enduring friendship. It’s sparkling keyboard fare, expertly handled here by the husband and wife team of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow.
Kevin Bryan

CLASSICALNET:
The Piano Trio, D 898, Notturno D 897 and 'Arpeggione' Sonata D 821 are all original Schubert works and there is certainly nothing amiss to have them labelled unauthorized. So why is this and the previous issue of the 'Trout Quintet' been tagged as such? Josef von Gahy, who was not a professional musician, but a Hungarian civil servant happened to be one of Schubert's closest friends, and his admiration for the composer knew no bounds. They often played together four-hand works and Gahy's fine playing drew words of praise from Schubert many a time.

By the time of the latter's death, their relationship had become an inseparable one. As a humble homage to his great idol, Gahy decided to arrange some of Schubert's pieces for piano duet and this recording embraces three such arrangements plus the 'Friendship' Rondo, D 608, an original Schubert piece for two pianos, composed in honour of his great and dedicated friend.

The Goldstone and Clemmow duo, married since 1989, have etched a name for themselves in such repertoire, and these interpretations are as absorbing and entertaining as the arrangements themselves. While always highlighting the romantic streak of these works, they unfailingly bring to the fore both Schubert's and Gahy's flair for structure and melody.
Gerald Fenech

MUSICAL POINTERS:
It's well-known that before recordings, piano reductions were the only easy way of getting to know orchestral and ensemble repertoire. So listening to, or even playing such arrangements is a privileged form of access into the 19 th century musical mind. Goldstone and Clemmow have done much admirable work in reviving and recording this repertoire, as had the Duo Crommelynck on Claves (Brahms symphonies and another Dvorak New World, for example) before they tragically ended their own lives.

Schubert wrote relatively few chamber works in relatively many forms; therefore it is compellingly interesting to see how they translate to piano duet, the form in which he above all composers is the acknowledged master. No real surprises – in the trios, but especially the Notturno and the slow movement of D898, one misses the sustaining power of the strings. On the other hand, in the Arpeggione Sonata, which we almost always hear ‘transcribed' for ‘cello anyway, the range and capacities of the piano four hands more than compensate and make the work arguably more pleasant than the original.

Does it matter if the arrangement is by the composer or not? Of course, how a composer himself transfers textures (Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op 14/1 in string quartet version) is always especially interesting, even more so if he was unsure what the best form was for (Brahms Piano Quintet.) But other transcriptions are significant for the transcriber's philosophy (Busoni, Liszt), or occasionally have surpassed the original in popularity, perhaps in technical quality ( Pictures from an Exhibition ). Von Gahy was a friend of Schubert's, as the notes explain; he made his transcriptions with immense fidelity to the text; they sound entirely idiomatic and consistent with the one original work on the disc, a duet written to commemorate this friendship.

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW:
Given how much he left uncompleted, it is surely perfectly legitimate to ask, is there no end of Schubert? Apparently not: having previously tackled all of Schubert’s legitimate pieces, finito and non-finito, for two piano pianos and piano duet for Olympia, Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow are by no means resting on their laurels. Here, already, is Volume 2 of some less legitimate Schubertian offspring, and I am sure there are more to come: no end of it, in fact. I missed Volume 1 in this series (reviewed in October 2004), an omission which, having heard the volume under review, I look forward to rectifying, not least because it apparently contains a four-hand arrangement (or better, re-creation) of the Trout Quintet which lends a new complexion to that glorious work. The question of legitimacy arises because we are dealing, here, there and everywhere, not with music from Schubert’s own quill but with arrangements: in the case of the Trout by Joseph Czerny, and in the present case by a less familiar member of his circle, Joseph von Gahy (1793-1864). The disc is even billed as “The Gahy Friendship”, though the arrangements appear to date form after Schubert’s untimely death.

It is all very well saying that Schubert might have approved of the drafting or performance of such arrangements. The objection must always be that we will never know, though it is certainly the case that Schubert and Gahy played together, four-handed. Having said which, one can then sit back and enjoy what is on offer: four works, mostly unearthed from autograph manuscripts in the Vienna City Library. According to Goldstone, they are strictly faithful to the letter of the originals, far more so than Czerny’s Trout.

The B flat Trio is, of course, a sublime late masterpiece, and one of the things that make it so is Schubert’s manipulation of his restricted textures, a dimension that inevitably immediately disappears here. Even so the stature of the Trio remains intact, while the separate and beautiful Notturno for the same combination also survives its translation and remains sublimely mellifluous. Given the disappearance of the arpeggione (a cello-guitar hybrid) as an instrument in daily use, the sonata which Schubert wrote for it is usually heard as an arrangement anyway, mostly on the cello; here the transfer to the piano medium feels more of a deprivation. By contrast, the last piece on the disc is actually an original after all: the D major Rondo, D. 608 was written by Schubert as a 20-year-old and was even possibly intended for himself and Gahy to perform together. (The spurious subtitle is Diabelli’s, whose edition engineers some non-Schubertian hand-crossing for the same sentimental effect.)

I would hate to think of any reader encountering this release without a prior knowledge of Schubert’s originals, the Trio in particular. Otherwise: beautiful playing, sympathetic recording, illuminating presentation, including comments form the inside, so to speak, by Goldstone himself. Roll on Volume 3.
Piers Burton-Page

KLASSIK.COM
The question whether it is valid to rework an original piece can in principle be answered in the positive. For one thing because an accused is innocent until proven guilty. In this context guilt would lie quite simply in the reworking being superfluous. Because who needs a reworking if the original is sufficient? There is more than one example to the contrary to show that it does not have to be like that – the overwhelming majority of listeners only know Mussorgski’s Pictures at an Exhibition from Ravel’s orchestral treatment, not from the original for piano. The same is true of Schönberg’s reworking of his own string sextet Transfigured Night for string orchestra. We could continue the list of positive examples, just like the list of the ones deemed negative. What is the position now with Joseph von Gahy, Schubert’s friend and piano partner, and his unauthorized re-writings thirty years after Schubert's death? Does this world-first recording give us superfluous transference or an enriching treatment?

It has to be said first of all that no criticism can be levelled at the musicians. The well-proven duo (and married couple) Caroline Clemmow and Anthony Goldstone again show class in their treatment of Schubert. The first recording contains among other things a 4-handed version of the Trout Quintet by Joseph Czerny, as well as the Overture to Rosamunde. Both CDs are published by Divine Art. The duo are very expressive and more than masterful. With apparently playful ease they manage the elaboration in clear lines. Often it sounds as if one person is playing with four hands, without it ever being too uniform or homogeneous. Particularly in the pieces originally composed for string trio they seek out the dialogue, that to and fro of phrases between two musically equal partners.

However, if you ask whether the selected works add any value to the repertoire, the answer has to be more ambivalent. Almost symphonic in its extent is the 35 minute long B major trio for violin, cello and piano, D898, one of Schubert’s best known chamber pieces, which constitutes the first part of this recording. And the string trio as a piano duo does indeed work very well at first, particularly as the original number of four voices is retained. Even the triumphal opening of the first movement works, with the string players not missed at all. But the longer you listen, the stronger becomes the impression that this treatment loses compared with the original. It is true that the harmony is clearer on piano alone, but the vocal passages come out with less complexity, and the shape seems less well developed.

The dialogue so important for a string quartet must of necessity be lost because of the piano’s single tone. And even Goldstone and Clemmow’s sensitive and excellent playing cannot alter the fact that the overwhelming part of the of the trio was written precisely for string players. In the original the piano only rarely takes the lead, for the most part it acts as accompaniment. So the substantial fidelity to the original which Gahy’s reworking has retained, while commendable, is at the same time a weakness. What is expressive on the cello and the violin comes through on the piano, while still interesting and pleasant, as more meagre and ordinary. Many passages barely work in themselves as they do on a string instrument, rather their linking role is revealed. In the first movement it is the cantabile second theme and its elaboration which are weaker than in the original. In the second movement it is the principal theme, whose form cries out for the cello.

However dubious the impression left by these treatments of the B Major Trio, this changes markedly in the second part of the recording – the reworking of the A Minor Sonata D821 for Arpeggios, an almost forgotten guitar and cello hybrid, in which the piano brings out a real sense of happiness to go with its commendable rarity value. Not a single bar prompts the question how the original might have sounded, for three reasons: Firstly, almost no-one knows the original; secondly, this is the great Schubert! thirdly we can obviously thank Gahy’s successful treatment. The extremely dance-like and poetical first movement captivates by its alternation between quiet minor and loud major passages. Generally speaking, in this small sonata the contrast between the themes is a more fundamental component than in some other Schubert sonatas. A profound adagio intermezzo leads up to the fine allegretto final rondo.

The recording ends with a genuine, un-reworked Schubert duo in scherzo style, the Rondo in D Major D608, where Caroline Clemmow and Anthony Goldstone once more demonstrate their sparkling skills.

Only the second half of this CD can be recommended unreservedly, but that can be done with a clear conscience. Anyone who does not yet know or own the B Major String Trio should get the original, not the reworked version. Lovers of the piece, or the simply curious on the other hand, need not hesitate to buy this, on account of its flawless interpretation.
Aron Sayed