Toccata Press

Mily Balakirev learned his craft from local musicians. Conductor Karl Eisrich introduced Balakirev to the music of Chopin, Glinka, and Alexander Ulybyshev, a music loving landowner who maintained a vast library of musical scores. In 1855, Balakirev composed his Piano Fantasia on Themes from Glinka's a Life for the Tsar, and Ulybyshev took Balakirev to St. Petersburg to meet Glinka himself. Glinka appreciated Balakirev's talent, and offered advice and encouragement. Balakirev enjoyed a brilliant debut as a pianist in St. Petersburg, and in 1858 performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in the presence of the Tsar. In April 1858, Balakirev fell ill with "brain fever"; although he recovered, he would suffer from lifelong headaches, nervousness, and depression. With the deaths of both Glinka and Ulybyshev, Balakirev decided to carry on their ideas ………..

from Allmusic

In 1931 the pianist and muse Harriet Cohen invited all her principal composer friends each to make an arrangement of a work by J S Bach for inclusion in an album to be published by Oxford University Press. Published as A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen, it is recorded here for the first time by virtuoso pianist Jonathan Plowright. The disc is completed by eight other 20th century British Bach transcriptions.