Complete Piano Duets (lord Berners)

Lord Berners (1883-1950) was one of the most idiosyncratic and fascinating personalities in British music. He became a pioneer in the avant-garde when he wrote his first music whilst living in Rome as a diplomat during World War 1; Balanchine choreographed his first two ballets and Ashton the next three; in 1931 he had the first exhibition of his paintings; in 1934 he published the first volume of his autobiography, First Childhood, and two years later his first novel, The Camel ? and three more novels came out in 1941. On top of all this during the 1930s, known as ?the versatile peer?, he increasingly gained a reputation as an eccentric, which he realised was good for publicity. A wry humour pervades everything, as in these three sets of piano duets. Berners? songs and piano music, too, are as full of whimsical references as those of Erik Satie ? he has been called the English Satie and the Ronald Firbank of music. Berners was not prolific but whatever he did was stamped with his own