Frederick Delius: Arrangement for Piano 4 Hands by Peter Warlock. Noriko Ogawa and Kathryn Stott.

BIS CD-1347.

Born of German parentage in Bradford, Yorkshire, Frederick Delius was to become one of the great English composers.

He spent much of his adult life abroad.

He grew oranges in Florida, USA and studied in Virginia, but, wanting to make music the appeal of faming didn't last for long and in 1886, at the age of 24, he won approval from his father to study music in Leipzig.

Delius was not a great composer of music for the piano. Indeed, he only wrote a handful of pieces and used the instrument sparingly in his other works.

The man who helped make Delius and the piano a pair was Philip Heseltine, who worked under the name of Peter Warlock.

Composer Delius and admirer/ arranger Heseltine struck up a friendship that was to last until the latter's death in 1930.

Eric Fenby was another who assisted Delius' compositions to be acknowledged.

Although a composer of some note, he is most famous as Delius' biographer.

This CD, a selection of many well-known compositions arranged for four hands by Peter Warlock, features some of the best known.

On hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, In a Summer Garden and North Country Sketches... all are delicate, lyrical studies that embody their titles.

The two pianists, Noriko Ogawa and Kathryn Stott, play with delicacy and precision, although when the score indicates a robust fortissimo they don't hang back.

This collection is a delight to listen to.