Positioned between Southern Europe and North Africa, Malta has long been an artistic crucible that forms one of the Mediterranean's most significant cultural crossroads. With it's intense pianistic colours, Charles Camilleri's African Dreams explores that continent's native rhythms and melodic lines, while Carmelo Pace and Carlo Diacono look towards the worlds of Liszt and Chopin. Josie Mallia Pulvirenti's rarely heard Impressione Sinfonica is a concert masterpiece of virtuosic majesty, steeped in the piano's Golden Age. Award-winning Maltese pianist, Charlene Farrugia, has done extensive research into the life and work of composers from her homeland.

In this volume we discover how composers in England, Scotland, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries responded to the waves of jazz and syncopated dance music that had crossed the Atlantic and captivated European audiences. The album features a wide selection of famous and less well-known composers who each succeed in combining the authentic energising rhythms of foxtrots, tangos and shimmies with their own unique styles. Gottlieb Wallisch's seventh and final volume in this acclaimed series features many unknown gems and world premiere recordings. A digital EP of bonus tracks by Bliss, Schnitzler and Hijman (GP962DR) is also available for download and streaming.

José Antonio Bottiroli’s protégé Fabio Banegas returns for the latest volume in his exploration of the composer’s complete music for piano. These world premiere recordings focus on Bottiroli’s elegiacal works – laments in tribute to the memory of his loved ones. World premiere recordings. Volumes 1 and 2 can be heard on GP833 and GP871.

These idiomatic piano transcriptions of Khachaturian's ballet scores and incidental music are performed by Armenian music specialist Mikael Ayrapetyan. Includes the famous 'Sabre Dance' and 'Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia'.

This album presents a selection of early piano works by six of China's most internationally lauded composers. The pieces explore elements of Chinese and Western traditions though most are rooted in a traditional national style derived from Chinese opera or folk music. They evoke characteristic Chinese instrumental sonorities, especially percussion - gongs, drums, chimes and bells - from a variety of source material including Beijing Opera and ballads. Pianist Kiu Tung Poon has performed internationally and is admired for her 'lively and authoritative' playing (American Record Guide) and for her 'lyrical and emotionally nuanced' interpretations (Woodstock Times).

Secrets of Armenia presents a selection of delightful piano works reflecting the dances and folk songs from everyday Armenian life. Performed by pianist Yulia Ayrapetyan, a specialist in the music of Armenia.

This recording is a testament both to Isabel Dobarro's passionate commitment to the music of contemporary women composers and also to her promotion of their highly individual and richly varied perspectives. Featuring works by multi-award-winning composers including Dobrinka Tabakova, Julia Wolfe and Gabriela Ortiz, the music here ranges across continents, cultures and traditions.

Louise Farrenc's Rondos - heard here in world premiere recordings - were composed within the period of a decade, and are delicious examples of her art: graceful, elegant and expressive. Some of them are based on operatic themes or on songs, while others are simpler and intended for younger performers. Volumes 1 and 2 of this 6 album cycle can be heard on GP912-13 and GP934.

The enduring appeal of opera in the 19th century found a new and intimate expression in the realm of solo piano music. This recording reveals how the grandeur and expressive range of operas by Bellini and Verdi was brought from the theatre into private parlours and salons. The composers featured on this album preserve the spirit of the original works while reimagining the famous melodies and dramatic scenes as paraphrases, fantasies and variations. Awardwinning Italian pianist, Ruben Micieli, performs these dazzling pieces in his own unique way, making musical and structural adjustments to each transcription after studying the scores by Bellini and Verdi.

Yiming Zhang continues his exploration of the piano music of Ge Gan-ru - 'China's first avant-garde composer' - in this second volume of the composer's works. This world premiere recording of 12 etudes for Extended Piano, written in close collaboration with pianist Yiming Zhang, explores a variety of prepared piano techniques that are evocative of Chinese instruments. Volume 1 can be heard on GP835.

Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was the youngest of six children born to Wolfgang Amadeus and his wife Constanze. Franz Xaver's style was early Romantic, with compositions that were highly regarded by his contemporaries Schubert and Schumann. The Polonaise melancolique was an ideal medium for Franz Xaver's expressive melodies, and with some pieces anticipating Chopin, the Op. 17 collection forms a satisfying and substantial cycle. All of these works helped to establish Franz Xaver Mozart throughout Europe as a formidable concert pianist and composer.

Jouni Somero continues his acclaimed survey of Palmgren’s complete piano music with this seventh volume in the series. With a programme featuring many rarities and premiere recordings, these are works by one of the most prominent composer-pianists of his era.

This second volume of the 20th century Italian-American composer Rieti’s work for piano solo and duo sees Giorgio Koukl once again joined by Virginia Rossetti. Rieti frequently puts a smile on the face of his music, united with a fondness for brevity, and melodies reminiscent of the atmosphere of Parisian clubs. World premiere recordings. Volume 1 can be heard on GP921.

This is the first of two volumes dedicated to works featuring violin and piano by Nikolay Tcherepnin and his son Alexander. Pianist Giorgio Koukl and violinist Klaidi Sahatci are joined by cellist Johann Sebastian Paetsch in the Trio Concertante and Piano Trio. All but one of the works in this collection are world premiere recordings including the recently discovered early Violin Sonata in C minor by Alexander Tcherepnin.

Louise Farrenc was acclaimed as a pianist and pedagogue, one of the few women to teach an instrument at the Paris Conservatoire in the 19th century, and was admired by Robert Schumann and others for her compositions. This second of six volumes dedicated to Farrenc’s complete works for piano focuses on her Theme and Variations sets.

Maria Stratigou’s recording of the Études (GP912-13) was considered ‘beguiling piano music’ in BBC Music Magazine, confirming once again that Farrenc has been unjustly neglected as a composer.

REVIEW:

Over 50 minutes here are world premier recordings—7 of the 9 tracks—all written in the 1820s. There are brilliant parts all through these, but they are more elegant and expressive than the run of the mill variations.

Stratigou is clearly well qualified to tackle Farrenc’s piano works. Her joy in this music is evident not only in her playing, but in her beautifully written booklet essay. She has a full mastery of Farrenc’s romantic style and a technique to match.

-- American Record Guide

The admired Schumann authority, Jean-Pierre Armengaud, presents this second volume of Clara Schumann's solo piano music, which focuses on the transcriptions she made of works by her husband, Robert. Clara evokes orchestral density in the overture to Robert Schumann's only opera Genoveva, and also in the complex Bach-inspired Studies for Pedal Piano. Above all, the song transcriptions see her engaged in acts of complex creative union while also revealing the independence of her musical vision. Volume 1 in this series is on GP930.

Includes 5 World Premiere Recordings

The ten pieces in this collection have been selected as being most representative of Chinese culture, combining compositions from the 1960s and 70s with contemporary piano works and arrangements of ancient folk songs. Appearing here in his Grand Piano debut is young pianist and composer Edward Han Jiang.

Clara Schumann was one of the most famous of all 19th-century piano virtuosos, admired by contemporaries such as Liszt and Thalberg. Her piano works never succumb to stereotype and the Romances anticipate the sonority of Brahms' late music for piano. Her Variations, Op. 20 entwines Robert Schumann's themes with her own in music of touching intimacy. The Preludes and Fugues reflect Clara's love of Bach. This first volume of her complete music for solo piano is performed by the distinguished French pianist, Jean-Pierre Armengaud, who has written about Robert and Clara Schumann as well as having organised a symposium devoted to them.

This sixth volume of seven of Gottlieb Wallisch’s acclaimed 20th Century Foxtrots series takes us to Southern Europe, featuring composers from across the Mediterranean, such as Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Camilleri, Mompou and Skalkottas, among many others. International influences blend with regional character and famous names jostle with new discoveries, all of whose contributions create a joyous mix of exuberant theatricality, evocative elegance and colourful blues. Includes 16 world premiere recordings.

Gottlieb Wallisch is a specialist in the music of the 1920s and 1930s as can be heard in Grand Piano's 20th Century Foxtrots series. Here he turns his attention to Wilhelm Grosz, the Viennese composer, pianist, conductor and orchestrator who was a musician of remarkable versatility and wide-ranging influences. All but one of the works in this collection are world premiere recordings.

This new recording of piano works by the London-based Italian composer, pianist and pedagogue Carlo Albanesi, performed by Julia Severus, who also provides the booklet notes, is the first of two volumes exploring his little-known repertoire, and features the Sonata in D minor and Sonata in B flat minor.

Carlo Albanesi was an Italian composer-pianist who moved to London in 1882. He balanced a career as a piano soloist with that of professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music. Acclaimed pianist Julia Severus continues her survey of works by this unjustly forgotten composer-pianist. World premiere recordings. Volume 1 can be heard on GP924.

This acclaimed edition covering the early 20th century’s fashionable wave of hot dance music from America into Europe now takes us to Switzerland. 20th Century Foxtrots - 5 presents more evocative piano rarities from this decadent era, performed with panache and grace by Gottlieb Wallisch, and features numerous world premiere recordings and a plethora of rarely heard pieces. Volunes 1–4 can be heard on GP813, 814, 854 and 855.

Faik Bey Franz Della Sudda was Liszt's pupil from Turkey. Affectionately nicknamed 'Der Pasha' by Liszt, Della Sudda had a growing reputation among the musical press and society's elite for brilliant pianism and lyrically picturesque compositions. Prize-winning Turkish pianist, Zeynep Ucbasaran, performs this programme of all world premiere recordings.

A fundamental characteristic of Manuel Ponce's music is the range of styles and techniques he used throughout his career. The expressive Romanza de amor is a sublime example of his Romantic phase, while his huge contribution to Mexican nationalist music is represented in the folk music that appears in Rapsodia mexicana I and II. Moods of melancholy and nostalgia are evident in the Mazurkas as well as more modernist works such as the Intermezzo (No. 3). This is the fourth volume in alvaro Cendoya's critically acclaimed series of Ponce's complete piano works.