Franz Schubert was deeply attached to the piano! You can sense this when you hear Robert Franz' magnificent transcription of Schubert's quartet Death and the Maiden, with which the duo Lontano (Babette Hierholzer and Jürgen Appell) open their second GENUIN album. In a recording that exclusively features Schubert’s music, the structures and the relentlessness of the work are mercilessly and yet beautifully sculpted in all their grandeur. Suddenly the quartet is very similar to the great F minor Fantasy, while the Notturno, originally for piano trio, is given a new sense of levitation. A great ensemble, two wonderful pianists, three summits of chamber music! Duo Lontano was founded in 2004. The two artists can look back on years of successful concertizing on extended tours to Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, Poland, and the USA. Recent concert highlights have included appearances in Wurzburg, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palermo, White Plains, and Petropolis.
