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Alexander Melnikov and Andreas Staier's sensitive and insightful performances, combined with the fortepiano's freshness and added edge, make for a special evening of Schubert.

In the first half of the 19th century, the piano was still very much a developing instrument, and the composers were often pushing its limits both mechanically and sonically. 

An evening entirely devoted to Schubert's four-hand piano music, with a glorious tandem of Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov.

The story of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations is well known. The composer and publisher Anton Diabelli wanted to promote his new firm, and chose to do so by inviting fifty composers of varying fame to write a variation on his own waltz theme. Beethoven was, of course, the dominant figure in Vienna at the end of the 1810s, and his variation was to be the highlight.