The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for decades. Astonishingly, he was only in his early twenties when he wrote his monumental ‘Symphonic Poem in Four Movements’ Johanna d’Arc – heard here in its first recording – a vast symphonic fresco depicting the life, death and transfiguration of the heroine of Friedrich Schiller’s 1801 play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Moszkowski admitted to the influence of Wagner and Raff on the work – but he also managed to prefigure the musical language of the Hollywood epics of sixty years later. As pianist, Ian Hobson has a long-standing relationship with Toccata Classics, and this is the fourth recording he has made in his alter ego as conductor – at the helm of the Sinfonia Varsovia, as with his previous albums, which uncovered the early orchestral music of Martinu. This is the first of a series of Ian Hobson recordings for Toccata Classics that will focus on Moszkowski’s piano and orchestral music.

Moritz Moszkowski enjoyed a considerable international reputation as a composer and pianist, and was feted as the natural successor to Chopin. It is a mark of his music's success that it was arranged for countless ensembles and solo instruments. French violinist Emile Sauret transformed the popular Spanish Dances into virtuoso showpieces filled with all manner of impressive elaborations, Jascha Heifetz similarly turning Etincelles or "Sparks" into something brilliantly light and twinkling. The interaction of two violins makes the Suite highly dramatic, contrasting with the fine lyrical melody of Moszkowski's Serenata.

Rubinstein & Moszkowski: Piano Concertos

The great pianist Paderewski said: "After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique". Presented here on this album, Etsuko Hirose showcases the wide range of the piano music by an extraordinary composer who was a star in his lifetime but is now in need of a romantic revival. Born in Nagoya in Japan, Etsuko Hirose began studying the piano at the age of three. When she was only six, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.26 with orchestra. After pursuing her studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Bruno Rigutto and Nicholas Angelich, she has received the guidance of Alfred Brendel, Marie-Francoise Bucquet and Jorge Chamine. A prizewinner at prestigious international contests such as the Frederic Chopin Competition for young pianists (Moscow), the G. B. Viotti and the Munich ARD Competition, she won First Prize at the Martha Argerich Competition in 1999, which launched her solo career.

Although Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) wrote a considerable quantity of piano music, only a single piece, ‘Étincelles’, made it into the repertoire, not least because Horowitz enjoyed playing it. The early works on this second instalment in Ian Hobson’s survey of Moszkowski’s complete music for solo piano reveal a debt to Mendelssohn and Schumann, but the effortless craftsmanship to be heard here already justifies a later remark of Paderewski’s: ‘After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique’. Most of the pieces in Opp. 15 and 18 are attractive salon miniatures, but the Three Piano Pieces in Dance Form, Op. 17, are extended Lisztian essays that showcase Moszkowski’s mastery of the keyboard and his command of form.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it underperformed for a century or more. This third volume presents his very first orchestral work, a strikingly assured Overture in D major, written when he was seventeen, and his last, a sombre, dignified and deeply felt Prelude and Fugue for string, composed on the death of his mother in 1910. Between them comes Mszkowski's First Orchestral Suite, from 1885, a joy from start to finish, with one delightful inspiration following another in a daisy-chain of dance-rhythms, memorable tunes and instrumental colour.

The Stenzl brothers, Hans-Peter and Volker, invite you on a special kind of European journey with their new GENUIN album. In celebration of the anniversaries of Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel, Moritz Moszkowski, and Dmitri Shostakovich, they have recorded suites and individual pieces by these great composers, who often humorously look beyond their own cultural horizons. With sophistication, elegance, care, and emotion, they weave dances, melodies, and stories from all corners of the world into their music. As a distinguished German duo performing internationally for more than 30 years, they present these little treasures with a keen eye for both the larger musical narratives and intricate details - genuinely cosmopolitan!