This is the second and last volume of Naxos’s complete music for solo piano by Rodrigo. It is played by the superb Artur Pizarro. I was enthusiastic about Volume 1 a couple of years ago (see review), even chose it as one of my recordings of the year. I wasn’t alone in admiring it: both my colleagues Steve Arloff and Patrick Waller praised it and it was Editor’s choice in Gramophone. I have no reason to be less enthusiastic this time. Pizarro’s playing is certainly second to none, combining clarity with warmth and being unfailingly rhythmically alert.
Daniel Ott, who holds degrees in Composition from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and currently serves on the faculty of the latter, is not only expertly familiar with the piano duet as a genre, but also harbors a very personal link to it: The piano duo who performs the works on the album, Karen and Jeffrey Savage of 88SQUARED , are close friends of Ott from university days.