Palmgren piano music

[Alan Howe]

I'll certainly be putting this on my wants list...
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Ondine/ODE11922
A sample of Palmgren's Piano Sonata (with a different performer) can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqAKJfAFljY

[petershott@btinternet.com]

It's already on my list of orders - 'phew, May is looking to be a very expensive month. Dry crusts and tepid water for me - but some really exciting issues to which I look forward.

I was impressed by the five Palmgren piano concertos - on a Finlandia set (and interestingly performed by three or four different soloists but the same orchestra and conductor). So high hopes for this new disc of the sonata and other works for piano.

[Alan Howe]

The compact Piano Sonata of 1901 is an early work and written in a style which looks back to the keyboard greats of the previous century, perhaps especially Liszt and Grieg. It's probably not an undiscovered masterpiece, but the sheer exuberance of expression, especially in the opening movement, is often overwhelming. Credit must surely go here to Ondine and what sounds like a very accomplished and sensitive pianist in Henri Sigfridsson. Pianophiles are going to love this - and I haven't even mentioned the 24 Preludes. If you love Rachmaninov...