Martucci: Piano Sonata, 4 Piano Pieces Op.31, Mazurka Op.35

New recordings of neglected but compelling piano works from the spring of Giuseppe Martucci's career.

Martucci composed all the pieces on this album during the year 1876. As Ilaria Sinicropi observes in her booklet essay, Martucci was 'a composer in the making', in the first flush of his talent. In finding his own voice for instrumental composition, he looked naturally northwards, to the other side of the Alps, and in particular to Schumann and to Brahms, with their strong narrative arcs, their expansion of traditional models such as sonata form and their richly chromatic but disciplined harmony.