Catalog

Pianist Sara Laimon is an active performer in both solo and chamber music. She has performed in Canada, the United States, England, France, Japan, Mexico and Poland, and she has represented the U.S. Information Agency as an Artistic Ambassador in India and Nepal. Laimon is a founding member and co-artistic director of the acclaimed New York-based group Sequitur and has been guest artist with numerous other ensembles. As a sought-after performer of new music, she has worked with composers such as Ligeti, Berio, Bresnick and Kirchner, as well as performing and recording music of many emerging American composers. The New York Times described her 2001 live performance of this disc's repertoire as "a sense of knowing exactly where she wanted to go: music-making as intelligent as it was technically proficient". Born in Vancouver, Laimon is a graduate of the Vancouver Academy of Music, the University of British Columbia, Yale School of Music and SUNY Stony Brook, where she received a DMA under Gilbert Kalish. She was a member of the piano faculty at the Yale School of Music and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg before joining the McGill Faculty of Music in 2001, where she is currently chair of the Piano Area.

Rhythmic vitality, lyricism, a fascination with folksong and virtuosity, and a distinctive American voice are traits that unite the four works on this recording performed by Leonard Garrison on flute and piccolo. Garrison, assistant professor of flute at the University of Idaho is the flutist for the Northwest Wind Quintet and principal flute of the Walla Walla Symphony. He has been flutist in the Chicago Symphony and the Tulsa Philharmonic, soloist on NPR's Performance Today and winner of the 2003 Byron Hester Competition. A graduate of Oberlin and SUNY-Stony Brook, Garrison received his DMA from Northwestern University.

After decades of relative obscurity, a number of gifted American composers who flourished around the turn of the 20th century are being discovered by music lovers. After their deaths composers such as Horatio Parker and a number of others were dismissed as derivative and minor figures, writers of pale imitations of European art music. But, as their works begin to reenter the repertoire with greater frequency, listeners at the turn of the 21st century are discovering music of great charm, impeccable craftsmanship and sincere expression. In fact, in their day many of these composers were greatly admired. Parker, for example, as professor of composition and Dean of the School of Music at Yale, enjoyed a reputation as a master of compositional craft, and taught a number of important younger composers, including Charles Ives. The reality was that Ives helped take music in a new direction, but now from the distance of a century or more, the fact that Parker's music was not ground breaking seems somehow less important and we as listeners are free to admire the craftsmanship and respond to the sincerity of this wonderful music.

Composing two generations later, Daron Hagen follows a path similar to Samuel Barber. Like Barber, Hagen is a product of the Curtis Institute and revels in the world of vocal writing. As Hagen is himself a pianist, Qualities of Light is a uniquely personal and demanding work. In writing for the instrument that has always been his musical voice, Hagen employs a generous array of pianistic gestures and styles for this nocturnal journey. As its title suggests, Qualities of Light has a strong sense of tonality. In this case, however, the tonality has more overtly painterly connotations. The hues and casts of ever-changing shadows and darkness through the course of the night provided Hagen with the impetus for this piece, as they occur during hours with which the insomniac composer is well acquainted.

There's a reason reveille is played on the trumpet instead of the bassoon; the trumpet commands attention, its stentorian voice rising above all. But the trumpet can also be soulful and quiet, even playful and, with its various mutes, can create many different moods in both classical music and jazz. This new release features world premiere recordings of distinctive American works for trumpet and orchestra, alternately heroic, romantic, introspective and, in Frederick Tillis' work based on the spiritual Sinner, Please Don't Let this Harvest Past, redolent of African-American folk traditions, but cast in a modern, jazz context. Paul Neebe, acclaimed as both a solo player and orchestral musician, has made a commitment to American contemporary music. He is currently Principal Trumpet of the Roanoke Symphony, the Charlottesville Symphony and the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra in Virginia. He is a graduate of both Juilliard and the Catholic University of America.

There are few pre-1900 examples of violin and piano sonatas by American composers. The most celebrated are ones by Amy Beach and Arthur Foote. Less familiar is one by Rubin Goldmark from the same period and an even more rare work is a sonata by Alexander Reinagle dating from the 1790s. Violinist Ting-Lan Chen and pianist Nathan Buckner perform these two rarely heard sonatas on this recording. Chen, a Taiwan native, has performed around the world as a soloist and recitalist, including appearances at the White House and United Nations. A graduate of Taipei National University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she is on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Nathan Buckner, also on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, studied at Juilliard, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland. He has performed in major venues throughout the United States, as well as in Belarus, China, England, and Mexico, among many others.

George Walker began his concert career as a pianist with a "notable debut" recital in Town Hall, New York, in 1945 - a recital sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Efrem Zimbalist. Two weeks later, he performed the Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting. He was immediately hailed as one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation. In 1950, he became the first black instrumentalist to be signed by a major concert management, National Concert Artists. In 1953, he made an unprecedented tour of seven European countries - Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and England with phenomenal success. Today, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. And by the way, as a composer, in 1996, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, which was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa conducting.

This compilation represents a cross section of American piano music written around the turn of the new millennium. The title American Virtuoso refers as much to the music as to its performer and describes how these composers have idiomatically responded to the challenge of writing for the piano. Yet the range of styles here is as wide as the generation gaps between the composers. All of the works, except for the first two Thomas Etudes, were written for and premiered by James Giles. All receive their world premiere recordings here, except for the Wild arrangement, which Wild himself has recorded in the past. Mr. Giles has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation, acclaimed for the dynamic brilliance and communicative power of his playing. Giles performs regularly throughout the United States as recitalist and concerto soloist. His international tours have taken him to the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Cortot in Paris, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and several cities in China. A native of North Carolina, Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, Nelita True at the Eastman School and Robert Shannon at Oberlin College.

Steve Witser has served as assistant principal trombone of the Cleveland Orchestra since 1989, and is a member of the highly acclaimed Center City Brass Quintet. He was educated at Eastman and since 1993 has been a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also been principal trombone of the Honolulu Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony. He has also taught at Oberlin and the Eastman School. Kathryn Brown performs regularly as a solo pianist, chamber musician and singer. She is currently on the piano faculty and is a vocal coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

For his third recording on Albany Records, tuba phenomenon Tim Buzbee has produced an excellent selection of recorded works for the tuba, this time featuring an eclectic group of composers (including Buzbee himself) and their unique styles. One could say that Buzbee's approach to music and playing the tuba is emotionally charged and perhaps even spiritually driven, and that underlying energy clearly reveals itself through the music in the pieces recorded here. Adding to that energy is a certain spiritual dichotomy that conjures up mental images of angels and demons or good versus evil. Many of the pieces presented here delve deep into the soul triggering a range of emotions from sadness and pain to exuberance and joy. The music is so emoÂtional and moving that it is easily forgotten you are listening to a tuba, and in doing so Buzbee has achieved what every musician strives to accomplish.

Japanese-American composer Asako Hirabayashi writes: "After 150 years' absence, there has been a vigorous revival of interest in and compositions for the harpsichord. To address the lack of music for harpsichord as a solo instrument, I started to write my own pieces." The recording was made at St. Bridget's church in rural Johnson County, Iowa. The harpsichord is a French double manual after Peter Taskin, built by Eizo Hori in 1986.

Violinist Igor Kalnin references Emily Dickinson's poem, Hope is the thing with feathers, as capturing the spirit he wanted to express with this recording. He hopes that this collection of solo violin music will connect with other people in the same uplifting was as Dickinson's poem. There is a wide variety of musical, stylistic, and technical variety in the compositions as it features works by composers from various backgrounds and cultures. Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader. A native of Russia he was on the faculty at the Glinka State Conservatory and performed with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin. After coming to the US in 2004 he taught at Yale and Luther College. He is now Artist-Teacher of Violin at Illinois State University. He is a laureate of several international and national violin and chamber music competitions in the U.S., Europe, and Russia.

August Nölck was a respected and well-published cello teacher of his day, a director of the Vienna conservatory and a voice from the great German cello tradition of the 19th century. He authored a catalog of cello pieces numbering in the hundreds of opuses, yet no mention of his name appears in contemporary histories of famous cellists. This recording of Nölck's salon music for cello and piano should help bring his music and his accomplishments back to the attention of cellists and audiences. Cellist Beth Vanderborgh enjoys a rich and varied career as both soloist and chamber musician. She is principal cellist of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and on the faculty at the University of Wyoming. She is joined by colleague Theresa Bogard.

Here is an imaginative offering that should have wide appeal. John Bullard has attracted international attention for his work in developing and transcribing the classical repertoire for the five-string banjo. A highly regarded bluegrass artist as well, John began playing the banjo as a child and was strongly influenced by the legendary Earl Scruggs. He was on the 1992 faculty of the world-renowned Tennessee Banjo Institute, along with Pete Seeger and Bela Fleck. It has been said about him: "what Segovia did for the guitar, John Bullard may well do for the five-string banjo; elevate it to a respected classical instrument." Bullard himself writes: "I love the five-string banjo. Penetrating and soulful, its personality is bewitching. I encountered "Scruggs Style" picking as a youth and was hooked. I have the same visceral reaction when I hear lutes and harpsichords. They posses that raw, plucked sound so characteristic of the banjo. In fact, when I listen to Renaissance and Baroque music, I hear banjos. The same earthy texture found in Appalachian music attracts me to the Early Music of Europe and Britain. While it is fascinating to realize the ties between Appalachia and its musical ancestors, my transcribing of "Classical" works for banjo simply indulges my passions. While drawn to the music of Bach, his contemporaries, and their Renaissance forebearsI love the five-string banjo."

Pianist Rochelle Sennet says that “Bach to Black represents my strong interest in performing repertoire by Black composers in combination with works of J.S. Bach. The suites included on this recording represent beauty, excellence, contrast, celebration of dance style, and dialogue.” She has paired the English Suites of Bach with works by Black composers based on similarities in key, mode, rhythmic energy, and occasional disruption of tonal expectations. Dr. Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and Texas Christian University, she received her DMA from the University of Illinois. She has been a prize winner in numerous competitions including the Kingsville International Piano competition, and the US Open Music Piano Concerto competition, among other. She is on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is her fourth recording for Albany Records.

Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, Vol. II represents pianist Rochelle Sennet’s continued interest in performing suites and multi-movement works by Black composers in combination with works by Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to works by Ulysses Kay, Harry Thacker Burleigh, and George Walker, this 3-cd volume contains works by three Black women composers: Florence Price; Montague Ring; and Joyce Solomon Moorman. Dr. Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Texas Christian University and the University of Illinois, where she currently serves on the faculty. A prize-winner of numerous competitions, she has appeared as a recitalist at concert halls across the U.S., as a soloist with ensembles and orchestras, and has presented frequent guest lectures, masterclasses, and clinics.

Pianist Rochelle Sennet says in her introduction that this third volume of Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, represents her continuing interest in performing suites and multi-movement works by Black composers in combination with the suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. This volume contains world premiere recordings of suites by Adolphus Hailstork and James Lee III as well as Black women composers Margaret Bonds, Montague Ring, Nkeiru Okoye, and Betty Jackson King, as well as a suite by William Grant Still. Dr. Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar, with solo performances around the United States as well as in Russia. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Texas Christian University, and the University of Illinois. She is on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As Joseph Fennimore writes in his notes for this very well documented CD, "Ms. Verbit is the first pianist to have undertaken the Olympian task of deciphering and recording these early pieces of Antheil. She uniquely has the requisite tenacity, skill and resources for the task. Dedication is the word. Her researches have been thorough, her relationship with Antheil becoming deeply personal even though they never met. Everything about him that could be known, she has learnt. When she refers to Antheil as "George," one has the feeling he asked her to call him that."

Since 1998, Benjamin Coelho has been a member of the University of Iowa's School of Music faculty, where he directs the bassoon studio. As a founding member of the Manhattan Wind Quintet, Mr. Coelho performed numerous recitals and concert tours throughout the United States. He has commissioned, performed, and recorded many works by American and Latin American composers, some of which are included on this recording. Before coming to Iowa, Mr. Coelho was the Vice-Dean and Bassoon Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). He also worked extensively as a performer in his native Brazil, holding principal positions with symphony orchestras in Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, and Belo Horizonte. In the United States, Mr. Coelho has played with the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony, and the Camerata Chamber Orchestra. Currently, he performs as the principal bassoon with the Cedar Rapids Symphony and the Iowa Woodwind Quintet. He is also a member of the Wizards, A Double Reed Consort. Mr. Coelho received degrees from Tatui Conservatory (Brazil), Purchase College and the Manhattan School of Music, and is working on his Doctorate of Music at Indiana University.

Acclaimed as an artist of unusual sensitivity and virtuosity, pianist Steven Masi has concertized extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As a recitalist and chamber musician he has appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, Casals Festival, Chattauqua Festival and Music Festival of the Hamptons, and as a guest soloist with orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony and New Symphony Orchestra of London. Critic Colin Clarke has written about his Beethoven performances: "It is not exaggerating to suggest that Masi belongs with the elite in the late sonatas, providing as satisfying an experience as the likes of Solomon, Kempff, and Pollini, for example." Producer Joseph Patrych comments that "When Mr. Masi approached me with the idea of tackling this set, I was compelled by the maturity and thoughtfulness of his playing in the ones I heard. What you have before you represents the fruit of five years of labor, consideration, discussion and a shared passion for this seminal body of work in the piano literature."

Heidi Louise Williams performs piano sonatas by American composers with the oldest work written in 1919 and the most recent in 1991. Charles Tomlinson Griffes, George Walker, Carlisle Floyd, and Samuel Barber all used their art to explore imponderable realities that could be more fully accessed within the realm of music. These artists absorbed a variety of musical languages into their own, foreshadowing, in many cases, the postmodernist aesthetic of stylistic coexistence. From Walker's inclusion of folk tunes to Barber's gripping sincerity, from Floyd's devotion to human narratives to Griffes' persuasive fusion of styles, these works rely in some way or another on the power of human empathy, nobly representing the United States as an essentially diverse nation. Praised by critics, pianist Heidi Louise Williams has appeared in solo and collaborative performances across North America and internationally, having won numerous awards. A graduate of Peabody, she is on the faculty at Florida State University. This is her second solo album for Albany Records.

This recording is a short tour of some of the most important works in the development of the clarinet as a stand-alone instrument along with two new works by composer/clarinetist Sean Osborn that build on the works that came before. Sean Osborn has traveled the world as soloist and chamber musician, and during his 11 years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has also appeared as guest principal clarinet with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra. The New York Times dubbed him "...an excellent clarinetist," the Boston Globe called him "...a miracle," and Gramophone "...a master." With more than 40 concertos in his repertoire, Sean has also recorded dozens of CDs for London, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, CRI, and others, as well as premiering works by John Adams, John Corigliano, Chen Yi, and Phillip Glass to name a few. Sean has performed at many festivals including Marlboro, Seattle Chamber Music, Aspen, Zagreb Bienalle, Pacific Rims, and Colorado. He is also an award-winning composer whose works have been played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Marlboro Music Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic among others. His other recordings for Albany Records include Cyrille Rose's 32 Etudes; the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and Quartet; and a disc of music by American composers.

Solo violin discs don't get more varied than this! Movses Pogossian is a prizewinner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and the youngest-ever First Prize winner of the USSR National Violin Competition. His American debut was in 1990 performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops. He has since performed with major orchestras in Europe and the United States. A major proponent of new music, he has premiered over 30 works. He is currently a Visiting Artist Teacher at SUNY Buffalo, and a member of the Baird Piano Trio and Duo Forza. As you can imagine, the styles and technical approaches are as eclectic as the backgrounds of the composers themselves, which allows for some wonderful contrasts along the way. A definite must for adventurous chamber-music listeners.

Here we have four premiere recordings by 19th and 20th century women composers. Here are some facts about these relatively unknown composers. Grandval studied music with Friedrich Flotow, composition with Saint-Saens and piano with Chopin. Not bad! She was a prolific composer and many of her works were published, performed and favorably reviewed during her lifetime. Johanna Senfter was from Oppenheim, Germany. She studied in Frankfurt and then in Leipzig with Max Reger. She composed more than 180 works including nine symphonies, concertos for piano, violin, and cello, five string quartets, a piano quintet, a clarinet quintet and numerous vocal works. Serra Miyeun Hwang was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. She moved to the United States at the age of 18, later receiving a BA in composition for the University of California. The German composer Barbara Heller is best known as the editor of a collection of the piano music of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. Clarke and Bacewicz need no introduction.

Born in the German spa town of Honnef am Rhein, Boris Papandopulo (1906-91) has emerged as one of the most significant Croatian musicians of the 20th century. Son of the Greek nobleman Konstantin Papandopulo and the famous Croatian opera singer Maja Strozzi-Pecic, he arrived in Zagreb in 1910. He studied conducting in Vienna and composition at the Zagreb Music Academy. He was an extremely prolific composer, with several hundred works in his catalog. His distinctive stylistic pluralism is evident in his solo piano music. His style is marked by its eclecticism and the artful manner in which various music idioms are brought together. This recording, performed by the distinguished pianist Nicholas Phillips, is the first devoted to Papandopulo's music.

The pianist Olga Solovieva writes about the piano music of Boris Tchaikovsky. "If I were to formulate what is most important to me in this music, I would say: sincere, straightforward, and simplicity in expressing ideas, feelings and states of mind that are far from being simple, unambiguous or superficial. A remarkable feature of his works is their saying just what is needed to be said, without any regard for the conventions of music." Once Boris Tchaikovsky was asked about his favorite composer. Having a chance to avoid the question, he nevertheless answered: "If I had to choose, I would choose Mussorgsky." Olga Solovieva graduated from the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnessins (Moscow) in 1998 and took a post-graduate course in the same Academy as an assistant to Professor Leonid Blok in 1998-2000. At the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, she won a special prize and was awarded a special diploma "The Best Accompanist" (accompaniment to cello). Currently she teaches at the Gnessins Musical College and works at the Moscow Conservatory.

Schubert made an extraordinary contribution to the four-hand repertoire, and his compositions in the form span his entire career. In all, he wrote some 60 works for piano four hands, many of which rank among his most profound and inspired creations as well as his most charming and delightful. It is clear that Schubert did not consider it simply occasional music, but as a serious medium that was perhaps more natural to him than the composition of solo piano music. In fact, Schubert made his first public performance as a pianist in March 1818 performing his own four-hand arrangement of the Italian Overture in D Major on two pianos with Ansel Huttenbrenner. And when he decided to approach Beethoven, whom he worshipped, it was with a four-hand work, the Variations in E Minor, which made a favorable impression. Schubert was also extremely demanding that the pianists he performed with were first rate and once commented that "this damned bashing, which is to be found among even the most renowned pianists, I cannot stand. It delights neither the ear nor the heart." One of Schubert's favorite partners was Josef von Gahy who described his playing: "the sometimes tender, sometimes flowing and bold performances of Schubert, who played the primo part, his strong technique, and free interpretation made the hours of playing together delightful and unforgettable."

This recording demonstrates three aspects of the towering genius of Liszt - the virtuoso, the transcriber, and the visionary. Throughout most of his life, Liszt was essentially a musical transcendentalist and evidence of this can be found in both his pianistic and compositional technique. No one had ever before asked a pianist to perform such technical difficulties that pervade his music. And while the sheer virtuosity of his works create enormous excitement there is also a stunning dramatic and emotional impact created by it. And yet when he chooses to speak in a simple, direct way he is masterful. These same qualities are clearly exhibited in his two-piano and four-hand works that number some 107 compositions and include original pieces, transcriptions, and reworkings of his own music. Indeed, the intrinsic greatness and scope of his work is indisputable.

Johannes Brahms began his musical training as a violinist and cellist, although at his core, he was a pianist. He collaborated closely with violinist Joseph Joachim, and the violin sonatas reflect their association. Violinist Limor Toren-Immerman has won numerous competitions and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., Israel, and Russia. She enjoys an international career as a recitalist and chamber musician and has received numerous awards, including the Baroness Leni Fe Bland Award, the H.I.A.S. Award, and the Jascha Heifetz Endowed Violin Scholarship, among many others. Ms. Toren-Immerman began her musical education in Russia at the Gnessin State Music College. She also has degrees from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance and the University of Southern Calfornia Thornton School of Music. She is on the faculty of the California State University Fresno and was a founding member of Trio Accento. Pianist Hatem Nadim has performed extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, Korea, and the U.S. He is recognized as one of the leading chamber music pianists of our time. Born in Egypt, he studied at the Cairo Conservatoire and the University of Frankfurt, Germany.

While the music on this recording is not Scott Joplin, it most certainly does capture the flavor of old time rags. Sydney Hodkinson, the producer for this series of Eastman recordings says: "From roughly the late 1930s through the early sixties, most serious American composers worked within one of two basic musical encampments, continuing and expanding upon traditions established by the 20th century giants Schoenberg and Stravinsky. In striking contrast to this earlier era, today's younger generation of composer benefits from exposure to what has been called a +veritable salad bowl of styles,' marked by an extremely wide range of character, aesthetics and musical cross-currents. The works represented in this Eastman American Music Series of new music recordings bear eloquent testimony to the effect this healthy and diverse musical diet has had on the work of American composers. Various auditory repasts offer composers a choice of forms and influences from such divergent sources as jazz, non-Western music, romanticism, dodecaphony, minimalism, pop and rock, asceticism, cross-over, and spiritualism and all on the same menu! This variety serves both as a high-calorie, vibrant sign of our own creative times, and as a demanding burden placed upon American composers seeking, indeed groping for, their own unique voices: +Red or green peppers? Radish? How much onion? What kind of lettuce? How do I choose my OWN language that will allow me to speak what I need to say?' The works recorded on this disc present the distinct and often unusual offerings of a few leading, contemporary American +workers' in this sonic kitchen." The pianist for this disc, Tony Caramia, is associate professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music, where he is director of piano pedagogy studies and coordinator of the class piano program.

The title of this recording -- Bridges -- implies connections. The bridges invoked on this disc are a series of personal and musical connections between five composers that lead from the 19th century piano virtuoso Chopin to 20th century tango master Piazzolla -- links from mentor to student through five generations: Chopin; Mathias; Williams; Ginastera; Piazzolla. All five composers were immigrants, literally and/or musically, so underlying the repertoire on this disc is the free exchange of ideas that come from travel and immigration. This program has been selected by Rosa Antonelli, a pianist who has championed repertoire from Latin America, particularly from her homeland of Argentina -- often resurrecting little-known jewels. Antonelli, a Steinway Artist since 1998, is one of today's leading performers, who has toured extensively, with more than 1,000 concerts in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America to her credit. Her three previous recordings on Albany Records have received rave reviews from critics.