Sofia Andreoli D'indy: Piano Sonata & Magnard: Promenades

Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931), a prominent French composer, wrote his only Piano Sonata in 1907.

SVEIN HUNDSNES is one of Norway’s most important living composers. He has written a wide-ranging body of music encompassing several vivid styles, moving seamlessly from tonal and non-tonal music to include jazz, rock and even funk. Hundsnes’ sequence of Clavinatas – one-movement free-standing pieces with a symmetrical form that often include toccata-like vitality – embody qualities that make his music so distinctive. Often syncopated, they possess short motifs, intensity and emotional ambiguity. Piano Sonata No. 1 and Downtoned Beats reflect his delight in drama and dance grooves.

This classic 1977 release features a stunning interpretation of Chopin's Préludes by pianist Martha Argerich, still considered a reference recording of the set by many critics. The programme also an equally impressive Piano Sonata No. 2, recorded in 1975.

A student of Franck, Vincent d’Indy founded the Schola Cantorum de Paris where he taught for many years. He was also a conductor, with a busy schedule of international touring. His compositions were permeated by the influence of Wagner- he attended the premiere of the Ring cycle- but in time he also absorbed the influence of French folk music, especially from the Vivarais, his ancestral home. Vincent d’Indy’s large-scale Piano Sonata is one of a small but masterful sequence of non-programmatic instrumental works that he wrote in the first decade of the 20th century.

Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Chopin's Piano Sonata in B flat minor are not only among the most demanding, but also the most visionary works in piano history.

C’est dans le plus strict respect du texte et de l’esthétique de Brahms que sont ici interprétées, au saxophone, ses sonates pour piano et violoncelle et pour clarinette ou alto.Aux côtés de Françoise Buffet, pianiste réputée pour ses interprétations sensibles de compositeurs romantiques, Nicolas Arsenijevic ouvre de nouvelles perspectives pour le répertorie de cet instrument.

In this first album of a series devoted to the complete piano sonatas of Franz Schubert, Giuseppe Bruno interprets the Sonatas in A Major, D664 and in C Major, D840. The Sonata in A Major is possibly the composer’s first breakthrough in the genre.

Martha Argerich, one of the great performing musicians of our time, is also a generous mentor and colleague to younger pianists.

Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear, in a seminal year approaching his debut at the BBC proms, presents his new album of works by Sergei Prokofiev, alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton.

Nigh on 60 years after his death, the Swiss composer, born in 1880 of Jewish origin, naturalized American in 1924, remains relatively little known by the general public and music lovers alike. Yet his music, full of lyricism, drama, virtuosity, poetry, has all it takes to please. His language combines tonality, bitonality, atonality, elements inherited from the Jewish musical tradition as well as allusions to movie style American music.