Of Polish origin, Alexandre Tansman arrived in Paris in 1919 where he soon joined the ranks of the most prominent composers and musicians of his time.

This programme ranges from the Suite dans le style ancien written in the fashionable neo-baroque style of the 1920s and ’30s, to the poetic Arabesques, the joyful Cinq Impressions and, with their tragic overtones, the Ballades Nos 1-3 which are among the composer’s most personal and original works. The post-war Eight Cantilenas were Tansman’s homage to the meditative aspects of J S Bach’s music.

Like our première recording of Tansman’s 24 intermezzi and Petite Suite, which was welcomed as “one of the most satisfying of Naxos’s fascinating excavations of obscure but rewarding 20th Century piano music”, this follow-up release has been much anticipated. The performances of Belgian pianist Eliane Reyes on that disc was admired for their “poetic sensitivity and deftness” by American Record Guide. She has received international acclaim for her playing both as a soloist and chamber musician.