Barber, S: Piano Sonata, Op. 26

This programme of piano works by one of America's foremost 20th century composers will make an ideal companion disc to the four others already in this series. Leon McCawley is a British pianist, born 1973, who studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, the same conservatory that Barber himself attended for lessons in piano, composition and voice. Excursions, Op.20, was written during the years 1942–44 and is the only work in which Barber adopted a style that might be termed 'American', with it's use of boogie-woogie, blues, a cowboy song and hoedown. The Op.26 Piano Sonata was written in 1949, when it's première was given by Vladimir Horowitz. It has since maintained a prominent position in the repertoire. The Souvenirs, Op.28 of 1952 exist not only in two piano versions but also as a ballet score. In these short and easily appealing pieces Barber adopts a style somewhere between Satie and Prokofiev but, in all essentials, remains true to himself. Although, after the 1966 failure of his third opera Antony and Cleopatra, Barber continued to compose, his music became far more reflective and concentrated. The Ballade, Op.46, from 1977, is a fine example of Barber's later music.

"Son should have no trouble building a career. She's got the fingers and the personality." DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Earl Wild, whose legendary career has spanned over 70 years, performs in this brand new recording four 20th and 21st century piano sonatas. Mr. Wild states: "I had a personal friendship with all four composers on this disc, although one of the relationships has been a little more intimate. I have performed the Hindemith and Stravinsky sonatas in public many times since the 1940s. The Barber Sonata however is a first performance for me. I have the greatest admiration for this wonderful work. My own Sonata was completed in April of this year. A stylistically eclectic work, it incorporates Civil War tunes, echoes of popular music of the 1920s and, in the finale (entitled "Toccata a la Ricky Martin"), there is a distinctive Latin American flavour.

This new release presents Lori Sims, gold medalist of the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition performing American Classics.

The works on For The Piano reveal a musical instinct mature beyond his years. Fiachra selected Samuel Barber’s bravura Piano Sonata and his elegiac Nocturne dedicated to John Field to bookend the two central works which are complementary highlights of the 19th and 20th century piano repertoire: Debussy’s Pour le Piano and Schumann’s Fantasiestucke.

The latter is a suite of eight pieces that tentatively relates to the Hero and Leander legend but more fundamentally is among the composer’s finest and most moving works for piano.

Fiachra Garvey is the top Irish prize winner at the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition. Fiachra was the recipient of the “Rising Star” award from the National Concert Hall, Dublin where he gave his debut main auditorium recital in 2011.

Van Cliburn’s one and only appearance at the Salzburg Festival was a huge success with the audience. The present live recording underlines not only the young pianist’s technical brilliance but also the originality of his interpretations in repetoire that is not limited to a particular musical epoch. Van Cliburn never returned to the Salzburg Festival, even though Die Presse asserted that “he has every right to be regarded as a star and is a dazzling pianist in every sense of that term. His concert is well-suited to any festival of international standing…including the Salzburg Festival.”