This is the 1983 debut album of Joan Rowland and Karl Ulrich Schnabel as Duo Schnabel. Schubert's Grand Duo is a towering masterpiece for one piano, four hands. The work has the proportions and the quality of a major symphony. It is surely no less important than any of Schubert's symphonies, and the Duo Schnabel performs the piece in this recording with an orchestral approach, without sacrificing the pianistic sonorities. The Variations in B flat are light-hearted, charming, and brilliantly conceived for the piano.

Mozart Sonata in F Major (K. 497); Schubert Divertissement (Sonata in E minor) on original French themes (D. 823); Schubert Eight Variations on a theme from Herold's opera, "Marie" (D. 908)

Winner of international prizes in Darmstadt and Salzburg, Joan Rowland gave her first performance with the Toronto Symphony at the age of eleven. Since then, she has given countless solo and orchestral concerts in the United States, Canada, and Europe. A specialist in romantic repertoire, she presents on this recording the most important of Schumann's piano music.

One piano, four hands. Music of an intensely pastoral and nationalistic flavor, these are among the most romantic and folk inspired pieces ever composed. The feeling of an enchanted atmosphere is present at all times in this music. The Duo Schnabel generates just the right feeling of dance throughout.