Louise Farrenc's contributions to the keyboard repertoire are a cornerstone of her creative identity. The Air russe varie stands out as one of her most enduring masterpieces, acclaimed by Robert Schumann for it's rigorous counterpoint and refined musicality. The brilliant Souvenir des Huguenots draws it's themes directly from Meyerbeer's hit opera, while the Grandes Variations sur un Theme du Comte Gallenberg is a monumental testament to Farrenc's mastery of the variation form. This is the sixth and final volume in Maria Stratigou's acclaimed survey of Farrenc's complete works for piano.

In his compositions Joachim Raff balanced the traditional lineage of Mendelssohn and Schumann with the progressive elements found in the music of Liszt and Wagner. His fondness for the piano suite gave him a suitable canvas to blend and resolve past with present, as he does in the melodically captivating Suite No. 2 in C major. Similarly, he fuses Baroque influences with hints of Lisztian Romantic bravura in his pianistic masterpiece, the Suite No. 4 in D minor. '[Raff] could ask for no better advocate than pianist Hyelim Kim' (Fanfare on Volume 1 in this series).

Louise Farrenc won the admiration of her contemporaries as one of the most respected pianists, composers and pedagogues in 19th-century Paris. She was acclaimed as a performer of Beethoven's music, and her graceful Melodie in A flat major was included in an 1846 anthology of works by an array of composers inspired by the music of Beethoven. Farrenc's Impromptu in B minor appeared in another publication, Vogt's Musical Album of Autographs, alongside compositions by 62 other musicians including Berlioz, Gounod and Liszt. The Fugues were never published in Farrenc's lifetime and are heard here in a world premiere recording. '[Stratigou] has a full mastery of Farrenc's romantic style and a technique to match' (American Record Guide on Volume 3, GP942).

Florent Schmitt stands alongside Debussy and Ravel as one of the most original and influential French composers of his time. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1900, Schmitt wrote successfully in many forms but he was a formidable pianist who described his often rich and multi-staved scores as “fistfuls of piano”. His music for the instrument is colourful, filled with adventurous harmonic innovation, stylistic bravura and good humoured wit. This complete collection for piano duo and duet includes unpublished works and rarities.

Lauded as one of the most original and brilliant of Georgian composers, Sulkhan Tsintsadze synthesized 20th-century classical elements with the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and modal characteristics of Georgian folk music. In so doing he developed, across a wide spectrum of the repertoire, his own highly personal and approachable idiom. His 24 Preludes for Piano were composed in 1971 and are unmistakably national in character. He gave new life to traditional Georgian folk songs and dances in a masterfully structured cycle that flows with the seamless eloquence of a film. This virtuosic kaleidoscope of contrasting images reveals music that is both extravagant and vibrant. Inga Fiolia studied at the Central Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and the Cologne Musikhochschule with Alexey Nasedkin, Rudolf Kehrer and Vassily Lobanov. She has collaborated with orchestras including the Brussels Philharmonic, the Georgian State Chamber Orchestra and National Philharmonic, and the South Westphalia Philharmonic, and has broadcast on all the major German TV and radio stations.

The history of Cuban music is the story of a fusion between European – largely Spanish – and African elements. Some of the finest, most stylistically diverse and exciting Cuban piano music can be heard on this album. Ernesto Lecuona is one of the greatest of all Latin American composers for the instrument, his Malagueña being the most powerful representation of Spain in Cuban music. Danzas afro-cubanas reflects the African influence on his music. Drawing on the genres of son and canción Carlos Fariñas's Cantero radiates vivid colour while the music of Andres Alen Rodríguez blends song, habanera and jazz influences.
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REVIEW:

This debut release by a young Cuban pianist makes a very good case for the compositions she includes and her skills in presenting them. A lovely disc—don’t miss it.

– American Record Guide

This third and final volume dedicated to Enescu's piano works shows the unique blend of influences he acquired during his teenage years in Vienna and Paris. These start with his Brahms-like treatment of the piano as a symphonic instrument in the Scherzo and Ballade to the infusion of French late-Romanticism and Faure in the Impromptus. The crowning achievement of these early compositions is the Suite dans le style ancien, Enescu's first public solo piano opus, a stylised evocation of Bach seen through the prism of turn-of-the-century Paris.

Lubox Fiser was one of the most influential and versatile Czech composers of the twentieth century, with a prolific and impressive body of work for the stage, screen and concert hall. Fiser’s eight piano sonatas (of which the second is lost), were composed for the instrument described by the composer as ‘his greatest love of all.’ Retaining a special place in Fiser’s oeuvre, they became an intimate diary of his constantly evolving compositional style, from his student days and the neo-classical Sonata No. 1, through the experimental sonatas of the 1960s and 1970s, to the simplicity of melodic line and the immediate emotional impact of the final sonata, No. 8.

Jaan Rääts has written prolifically for the piano and his ten sonatas, spanning half a century, reveal his sophisticated control of expressive gestures. The composer himself has said: "I don't like rigid systems. I like absorbing musical material, filtering it, emotionally developing it as needed. Using it as a springboard for my imagination..."

A native of Bohemia, Leopold Kozeluch made his name in Vienna, a thriving musical center dubbed the land of the Clavier by Mozart. The sonatas in this volume all appeared in 1784, meeting the challenge of Mozart's popularity head-on. Kozeluch was singularly adept at producing what was considered the ideal fortepiano sonata of the time, his high reputation making him an influential supporter of a new instrument capable of accommodating the clarity, the delicacy, the light and shade he demanded in music.

Unlike the only published piano duet arrangement by Max Reger, which has serious performance limitations, Eleonor Bindman’s new transcription of the Brandenburg Concertos highlights their polyphony, imagining how Bach might have distributed the score if he had created four-part inventions for piano duet. With an equal partnership between the two instrumentalists, using the modern piano’s full potential to convey the unique scoring and character of each work, the concertos are ordered to create an engaging listening sequence. Both Eleonor Bindman and Jenny Lin receive critical accolades wherever they perform. The Poughkeepsie Journal write of Bindman: “…a strong pianist who attacks her work with great vitality and emotion. She is extremely expressive and mesmerizes her audience with her flair and technique.” Gramophone magazine hailed Lin as “an exceptionally sensitive pianist,” while The Washington Post labeled her as “…surely one of the most interesting pianists in America right now…”

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REVIEWS:

Beyond mere curiosities, these transcriptions allow for familiar works to be experienced in new and valid ways. Pianists Bindman and Lin make a great case for them.

– Fanfare

Only pianists of the highest caliber could deliver these performances. Nothing seemed out of place, and the phrasing and dynamic shaping of the lines were exceptional. This is a fresh look at some of Bach’s greatest works in piano arrangements that work quite well.

– American Record Guide

Sandor Balassa’s distinguished reputation in his native Hungary and beyond rests in numerous operas and orchestral works. But here, the sheer diversity of his piano music equally provides ‘a feeling of richness, inspires a sense of adventure, and touches our hearts.’ His sophisticated, lyrical style is heard in education Sonatinas, adaptations of works both virtuoso and visionary originally for harp, cimbalom and harpsichord, and even include a Gallop in ¾ time, justified by the composer as being about a three-legged horse. István Kassai graduated as a pianist from the Budapest Academy of Music in 1982 studying in the class of Pál Kadosa. In 1984 he pursued a second diploma at the Conservatoire Européen de Musique under the close supervision of professor Yvonne Lefébure. He also undertook several master courses, including one led by György Cziffra, who had a great impact on Kassai’s artistic development. During his career, Kassai has won several first prizes in international competitions such as the International Piano Competition for Young Artists in 1972 in Czechoslovakia, the Piano Competition organised by Hungarian Radio in 1979, and the Paris International Debussy Piano Competition in 1982. Moreover, Kassai’s artistic talent has been acknowledged by such prestigious awards as the ARTISJUS Prize in 1976, the Chevillion-Bonnaud Prize of the Fondation de France in 1986, the Nívó Prize of Hungarian Radio in 1990, the ‘Ferenc Liszt’ Prize in 2001 and the Leó Weiner Memorial Prize in 2010.

This recording charts a two-decade period in the musical life of the eminent Dagestani composer, teacher and conductor, Murad Kazhlaev. He has always written with idiomatic flair for his own instrument, the piano, from the early Romantic Sonatina to the beautiful folk themes that make up the Dagestan Album. His nonchalant wit can be savoured in Picture Pieces whilst expressive beauty permeates the Six Preludes.

Regarded at the height of his career as the foremost symphonist of his day, the young Joseph Joachim Raff was rescued from penury by Liszt, and the lyrical and self-assured Six Poemes were dedicated to his famous amanuensis as a gesture of gratitude. The Fantasie Op. 142 is a powerful example of Raff's mature piano music, while the Erinnerung an Venedig paints an effective sound picture with economy of language and distinctive harmonic piquancy.

Gerhard Frommel (1906-1984) regarded his piano sonatas as a miniature compendium of his entire output, reflecting a fundamentally Romantic approach melded with Stravinskian vitality. The sixth sonata’s poised profundity, inventiveness and structural perfection gives it a place as one of the best in its genre, its serene transparency lying between the powerfully heroic fifth sonata and the crystalline quality of the seventh; a summation of expression in a work that Frommel was conscious would be his last.

As a twelve-year-old Tatjana Blome won first prize in the Steinway Competition and a year later gave her first evening recital. In 1995 she made her debut in the Berlin Philharmonie with Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. She studied with Josef Matthias Blome, Renate Kretschmar-Fischer, Heidrun Holtmann, Aribert Reimann and Gerhard Oppitz. Her career has brought performances throughout Europe, with recitals in Austria, France, Slovenia, Portugal and Russia and appearances as a soloist with various orchestras. Tatjana Blome has recorded over fifty works for labels including Deutsche Grammophon, EDA and Grand Piano.

Among Armenian composers who worked principally in Armenia without seeking to establish any worldwide reputation, the composer E.A. Abramian (1923-86) was one of the most significant and respected. Probably his most important work for the piano is the 24 Preludes (1952/72). The cycle remains within the realm of tonality, although much expanded and enlarged through the use of chromatic elements that often generate harmonies of considerable complexity. Pianist Mikael Ayrapetyan’s repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and includes rarely performed Armenian works.