Fizdale, Robert

Pianists Arthur Gold (1917-1990) and Robert Fizdale (1920-1995) met during their student years at Juilliard. Their debut as a piano duo took place in 1944 at the New School for Social Research with a program of 20th century works that included music written for them by John Cage. Over the course of their career, Gold and Fizdale performed works composed for them by Georges Auric, Samuel Barber, Luciano Berio, Paul Bowles, Howard Brubeck, Alexei Haieff, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti, Ned Rorem, Henri Sauguet, Germaine Tailleferre and Virgil Thomson.

Gold and Fizdale were admired both for their artistry and for the scope of their repertory, which included most of the two-piano literature, music for piano duet, and works involving other performers, notably Bela Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and percussion. The duo toured and recorded extensively, and retired from public performance in 1982.

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