Mccallum/Helyard - Charles-Valentin Alkan, C�cile Chaminade, Ernest Chausson, Benjamin Godard, Jules Massenet, Guy Ropartz: Four Hands for

Playing four-hands piano was both vital in the dissemination of music in the nineteenth century and also a popular domestic activity. The French composers recorded here span the Romantic century, from the salon charm of Chaminade and Massenet and the virtuosity of Alkan�s wild dance to the innocence of the family music-room in pieces by Chausson, Godard and Ropartz. The original 1853 Parisian Erard piano on which this recording was made combines warmth with bell-like clarity, because of its straight stringing, allowing it to produce a surprising variety of appealing, expressive textures.