This is the fourth disc in an enjoyable Schubert series by a husband-and-wife team who met as students and established themselves in the 1950s. It begins promisingly with the famous Marche Militaire (No. 1 in D major) taken faster and more crisply than by amateurs but sounding all the fresher for that. Rightly, these artists offer crisp tone and the kind of rhythmic precision that includes flexibility: indeed, they play as one and the result is consistently pleasurable. Indeed, this track alone demonstrates their high quality of performance.
Schubert wrote much for piano duet, and it must be admitted that not everything is particularly memorable. Thus, the second and third of the Trois Marches Militaires sound much like the celebrated first without its melodic verve, though the two minor-mode marches from the set of six, D819, are more personal and striking. The many conventional repeats can induce boredom in lesser hands, as can the predictably episodic structures. Such music needs the sympathy that Beyer and Dagul give it, not apologizing for salon style but raising it to the highest level it can attain. The most interesting work here is the lengthy Divertissement a la Hongroise, played characterfully: the notes point out that Liszt transcribed it for piano solo and that it may have inspired his own Hungarian rhapsodies (and also that Mendelssohn lost patience on hearing it).
These artists have often played Schubert's duets in concert and present them with strength as well as charm. Occasionally, I think them too forceful in music intended for the home, but forte mostly remains on the right side of harshness. The recording is clear and satisfying.'