Prado / Scopel,Aleyson - Piano Works 1 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Almeida Prado's colossal piano cycle Cartas Celestes ('Celestial Charts') offers a paradigm of audacious invention (GP709, 710, 746, 747) but between 1985 and 1991 this prolific Brazilian composer also wrote a set of 14 nocturnes that display the genre's lyrical impulses. Along with abstract elements and features such as synesthesia, used in homage to his teacher Messaien, the full range of influences can be felt in Almeida Prado's Nocturnes Chopin, Scriabinesque color, bossa-nova, Brahms-like intervals, serenity and radiant songfulness. Ilhas ('Islands') is a mystical but programmatic work, the predecessor of Cartas Celestes in many essential elements. Aleyson Scopel is an award-winning Brazilian pianist and one of Almeida Prado's greatest contemporary advocates. Album Tracks 1. Nocturne No. 1 (1985) 2. Nocturne No. 2 (1985) 3. Nocturne No. 3 (1985) 4. Nocturne No. 4 (1985) 5. Nocturne No. 5 (1985) 6. Nocturne No. 6 (1986) 7. Nocturne No. 7 (1987) 8. Nocturne No. 8 (1987) 9. Nocturne No. 9 (1987) 10. Nocturne No. 10 (1987) 11. Nocturne No. 11 (1991) 12. Nocturne No. 12 (1991) 13. Nocturne No. 13 (1991) 14. Nocturne No. 14 (1991) 15. Ilhas = Islands (1973)

In this second volume of his survey of Cuban composers for the piano, Jose Raul Lopez presents the work of Nicolas Ruiz Espadero (1832-90), the most prominent name in Cuban music in the second half of the nineteenth century, both at home and abroad. Espadero's output ranges from delicate Chopinesque salon miniatures to barnstorming Lisztian operatic paraphrases that demand a fearsome virtuoso technique to do justice to their high-Romantic swagger. José R. López is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Keyboard Studies Program at Florida International University in Miami. Dr. López is the President of the South Florida Chapter of the American Liszt Society, inaugurated in 2010 at FIU and was recently appointed Honorary Secretary of The Alkan Society, based in London. He has performed throughout the United States, Italy and Central and South America with orchestras, in solo recitals, and with chamber groups in summer festivals such as the Music Festival of the Hamptons in New York and the Killington Music Festival in Vermont. Active throughout South Florida, he has been a featured performer in the Florida International University's Music Festival; ISCM New Music Miami Festival, the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, Coral Gables' Mainly Mozart Series, University of Miami's Miami Festival, and as founder and co-director of the Deering Estate at Cutler's InchChamber Concert Series,Inch entering it's 12th year. Album Tracks 1. 5 Grands Transcriptions, No. 5, La traviata 2. Preludio 3. 5 Grands Transcriptions, No. 3 Un ballo in maschera, Op. 46 4. Innocence-caprice, Op. 23 5. 5 Grands Transcriptions, No. 1 Poliuto 6. 5 Grands Transcriptions, No. 2 Faust, Op. 51 7. Pureza y calma 8. Ossian Polka 9. Sur la tombe de Gottschalk, Op. 68 10. Valse idéale, Op. 60 11. Souvenir d’autrefois (Nocturne), Op. 11 12. 5 Grands Transcriptions, No. 4 Il trov

Chandos' new exclusive collaboration with the recent Salzburg and Leeds competition winner Federico Colli is kicking off with this first volume in a unique Scarlatti series. Playing on a modern Steinway, the Italian pianist - internationally recognized for his intelligent, imaginative interpretations and impeccable technique - here explores the keyboard sonatas of Scarlatti, taking a fresh approach from a philosophical angle, by grouping the compositions into 'chapters' in order to reflect the many contrasts of his life and his contradictory personality. In personal liner notes Colli reveals InchI conceived a map of a journey into transcendental thought, beyond the works' phenomenological meaning. Each chapter has a title and the individual sonatas in each chapter refer back to the permeating image of it's basic idea.Inch This album is an exceptional start to what promises to be an exciting, long-lasting partnership. Album Tracks 1. Chapter 1. the Power of Illusion 2. Sonata KK19 in F minor 3. Sonata KK380 in E Major 4. Sonata KK9 in D minor 'Pastorale' 5. Sonata KK234 in G minor 6. Chapter 2. Live Happily! 7. Sonata KK492 in D Major 8. Sonata KK322 in a Major 9. Sonata KK525 in F Major 10. Sonata KK39 in a Major 11. Chapter 3. the Return to Order 12. Sonata KK396 in D minor 13. Sonata KK450 in G minor 14. Sonata KK430 in D Major 15. Sonata KK1 in D minor 16. Chapter 4. Enchantment and Prayer 17. Sonata KK197 in B minor 18. Sonata KK69 in F Major 19. Sonata KK208 in a Major 20. Sonata KK32 in D minor