Motta / Pipa - Piano Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

On this 52nd volume of the complete Liszt edition, Wai Yin Wong presents transcriptions and variations drawn from operas by Verdi and Auber. Born in Hong Kong, Young Steinway Artist Wai Yin Wong studied at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with Gabriel Kwok, the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University with Boris Slutsky, and the Yale School of Music with Professor Boris Berman and Professor Wei Yi Yang, receiving full scholarships from both US institutions. She was awarded First Prize at the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition, Australia, Second Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the Gold Medal at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz, Ukraine.

As composer, pianist and educationalist, the Prussian Philipp Scharwenka (1847-1917) was one of most highly respected musicians of his day, although his star faded soon after his death. His music - more conservative and classical in orientation than that of his pianist-composer brother, Xaver - sits somewhere between Chopin and Brahms, with echoes of Schubert and Schumann. This first installment of a survey of his piano music is intended to put these immediately attractive works before the public once again - for the first time in over a century. They are played here by the Portuguese pianist-composer Luís Pipa, professor of piano and chamber music at the University of Minho, near Porto, following up on his well-received Toccata Classics album of music by his compatriot José Vianna da Motta.

Piano Music - Piano Music [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/27/2008