PAUL REALE (b.1943): Piano Sonatas No. 5 in A, No. 10 “Sonata Piazzollana” and No. 12 “Stroke of Midnight”, Chocolate Soccer Ball, Concert Étude No. 2, Beethoven for the Brain Dead.

Description: Reale has a truly authentic American voice: eclectic in its cultural references and having a respect for tradition, but with a knife-sharp edge that keeps listeners alert. This collection of piano pieces represents the widest possible variety in his catalog chosen together with soloist John Jensen, a pianist with whom Reale has worked for most of his life and considers his ideal interpreter. Atmospheres of jazz-infused bar-life, Piazzolla’s tangos and a comic pastiche on 20 of Beethoven’s works contrast with the dark and austere Stroke of Midnight, the chiming bells of which confront the harsh realities of mortality. John Jensen (piano).