Since his 2014 victory in BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Martin James Bartlett has built a considerable international reputation. "Love and Death", with it's imaginatively conceived programme, gives proof of his artistic range. In creating the programme, Bartlett's starting point was Liszt's transcription of Schumann's passionate song 'Widmung' ('Dedication'), set to a poem by Friedrich Ruckert. "It is a love song that also speaks of death," he explains, "and it concludes with a quote from Schubert's 'Ave Maria', introducing the idea of heavenly love." These themes are explored throughout the album.