Wolff Ernst

This final installment in Hyperion's cycle of the complete songs of Richard Strauss contains a miscellany of material, with the expected positive and negative results. The best news comes at the end, with the inclusion of Strauss' orchestral Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) in piano transcriptions by Max Wolff and Ernst Roth (the latter in the really sublimely done Im Abendrot, which, if you sample the final pages, might rightly persuade you to shell out for the whole album).

'Panorama of American Piano Music' is a comprehensive survey of 20th century piano works, beginning with Ives’ “The Alcotts” movement from the 'Concord Sonata' (1912) through Lou Harrison’s 'Summerfield Set' (1988). Every decade is represented with works from between those years. Pianist Yvar Mikhashoff (1941–93) was a master at presenting marathon concerts on a single theme. The 'Panorama' was one of them, exploring the remarkable diversity of 20th century American music, from serialism to minimalism, populist to avant garde experimentalism, short works for amateur pianists to virtuoso pieces. Never before has such a survey of piano music been represented.