2012 marked the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Frederick Delius and Somm joined his many admirers in paying tribute to a composer who has a very special place in the history of twentieth-century music. Our first volume of Delius’s orchestral music transcribed for two pianos provided us with a fresh and enjoyable slant on Delius's orchestral music which most of us know and love.

Here in England we have been jealously possessive of the fact that Delius was born in this country, which would automatically label him as a “British” composer. In fact Delius had no home and was by nature rootless and a wanderer. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire of naturalised German immigrants, and aged 22 he lived and worked for a short time in Jacksonville, Florida, where he fell in love with negro spirituals and the sound of negro voices singing in chorus - his first powerful source of inspiration.

Delius was a complete rebel who flouted convention. Although he himself had studied composition at the Leipzig Conservatory, he held academic respectability in utter contempt and adapted the technique of composition to his own ends, relying on instinct and technical knowledge. It no doubt amused him to be described by those who had only a superficial experience of his scores as an amateur or a dilettante, but his special brand of genius was recognised by his friends and kindred spirits - Percy Grainger, Philip Heseltine, Julius Buths and Eric Fenby, among others. It was they who expertly arranged some of Delius’s orchestral music for two pianos or piano duet.

Volume 1, released in 2012, marked the beginning of an exciting collaboration between Somm and the duo team of Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi, who have given us these remarkable premiere recordings. Their deeply felt performances do not only transcend the limitations of the instruments, they also allow many more of the inner strands of the orchestral textures to be heard with greater clarity.

“Callaghan and Takenouchi are fine pianists” - International Piano, May 2012

“Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi... play with such love, panache, and exact synchronisation” - BBC Music Magazine, July 2012

“certainly worth hearing, sensitively executed” - Sunday Times, March 2012

“…very impressed with the sensitive way the two performers unite on this disc, and their collective spirit for addressing the knotty musical priorities.” - International Record Review, June 2012