This big box of piano works for four hands from Schubert starts with what is probably not only his best known, but also his best work for the genre. And yet… I have tried this recording many times, but it doesn’t get to me. I think it is the heavy handedness (pun certainly intended!) of the duo Noël Lee and Christian Ivaldi. They make Schubert sound even more bourgeois than he already is.
I found out about this because of the blessings of streaming. When I bought the records it was not really possible to compare so easily. Now I can in just a few keystrokes find all the important performances, and these are way better. Sometimes listening to a recording makes me think there is something missing, but I am at a loss to explain what. Comparing makes that a bit easier.
The Dutch and French (Noël and Ivaldi are/were French) wiki page about Noël Lee mentions the recordings of Schubert for piano four hands with Christian Ivaldi are considered reference material. It seems again I’m not in agreement with the reverence for older recordings in classical music.