The piano music of the American composer Phillip Ramey (born in 1939) is rooted in the motoric athleticism of Prokofiev and Bartók, tempered with sober lyricism, spicy modernist dissonance and a fresh approach to the grand Romantic gesture.

This is the fourth Toccata Classics album dedicated to his music – MusicWeb International called it ‘a terrific Toccata series’. It includes the virtuosic Cossack Variations, the mercurial Epigrams, Book Two and Lament for Richard III, a dramatic character-study of a famous historical villain. Two Sonatas add further substance to a varied programme: No.3, serially inflected and culminating in a barbaric finale; and No.7, infused with declamatory rhetoric, quirky rhythm and engaging melody.

Stephen Gosling was born in Sheffield and studied with Oxana Yablonskaya at the Juilliard School in New York City, where he earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. At Juilliard, he was awarded the Mennin Prize for Outstanding Excellence and Leadership in Music and the Sony Elevated Standards Fellowship. His playing has been hailed as ‘electric, luminous and poised’ (The New York Times), projected with ‘utter clarity and convic-tion’ (Washington Post) through ‘extraordinary virtuosity’ (Houston Chronicle).

‘a composer with the strongest of identities and a consistency throughout his career. […] Gosling takes on the challenge of this music head-on. He is unashamedly virtuosic, precise in technique, his musicality well-crafted’ - Musical Pointers (Vol.1)

‘here is a real expressive impetus behind this music’ - Fanfare (Vol.3)