A fascinating exploration of the Black Chicago Renaissance

Fantasie Nègre: The Piano Music of Florence Price Samantha Ege (piano). Milton Court, Barbican Centre, London, 24.11.2021. Florence Price Fantasie Nègre No. 4; Fantasie Nègre No. 3 Margaret Bonds Spiritual Suite Florence Price Fantasie Nègre No. 1 Vítêzslava Kaprálová   Sonata Appassionata, Op. 6 (UK premiere) Florence Price    Fantasie

A very, very intelligent take on the concept of the playlist, here converted into something intensely personal and revealing via the juxtapositionof the familiar with the rare, of tonal-based language and freer imaginings, this is an incredibly rewarding album.

The release of this disc chimes in well with Víkingur Olafsson's recent performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K 491 at the Proms with the Philarmonia under Paavo Järvi. this disc seems the natural successor. And if either you didn't hear the Mozart  concerto or you'd

Here, Mozart, Scriabin, Liszt, Schubert, Thomas Tomkins and Bill Evans all rub shoulders, culminating in - joy of joys! - Schumann's Gesänge der Frühe, Op. 133, the exquisite fruit of that composer's troubled late period