ERNÖ DOHNÁNYI : The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 1 (Martin Roscoe) (2011) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Ernö Dohnányi's music fell out of fashion when Bartók became the modern composer the avant-garde and the general classical audience could all agree on, but much of it has an elegant charm. Moreover, the two large sets of piano works on this album offer a part of the missing link between Liszt and Bartók: they are late Romantic in conception and generally in harmony, but the emphasis is on structure rather than expression, and they are not especially virtuosic. Consider "An Ada" (track 7) from the set of ten bagatelles entitled Winterreigen (Winter Rounds). It is built on the interval of a fourth, to which slightly differing counterpoints are added, and it's easy to imagine the young Bartók beginning to abstract patterns like this one. The Winterreigen and the Four Rhapsodies, Op. 11, at the beginning of the program are the most interesting, but the Pastorale (track 15) could easily fit on a program of unusual Christmas music. Pianist Martin Roscoe, a specialist in Dohnányi's music who earlier recorded this exact program for the ASV label, approaches the music with a quiet, precise confidence that serves it very well. Recommended for anyone interested in the fin de siècle, but especially for pianists who are looking for something striking and little-known to add to a recital: nearly everything on the program here will fill the bill. by James Manheim