Gallo/Banowetz/He/Somero - The Golden Age of Pianist-Composers

This collection spotlights six legendary pianist-composers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Adolf von Henselt�s ferocious technical studies and Romantic salon pieces led Schumann to dub him �the Chopin of the North�. Polish virtuoso Ignaz Friedman�s works offer delightful melodic beauty and harmonic inventiveness set alongside works by his countryman, J�zef Hofmann, renowned as a poet of the keyboard. The French master musician Alfred Cortot is represented here with a selection of stylish piano arrangements of works by great composers. As one of Finland�s most respected musicians during the early 20th century, Selim Palmgren displays a wide variety of technical and stylistic challenges with music that is both traditional and visionary; while music by the exiled Russian composer Nikolay Medtner is highly Romantic and spiritually charged. These six towering superstars represent the summit of the piano�s Romantic golden age, heard here in critically acclaimed performances by award-winning pianists.