STEPHAN ELMAS (1862-1937): Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 - Ballades No. 1 in E Flat, No. 2 in B and in G (unnumbered), Barcarolles No. 1 in E Flat Minor and No. 2 in C Minor, 7 Nocturnes.

Description: Elmas was a child prodigy who met Franz Liszt and became closely acquainted with Rubinstein and Massenet. Elmas’s life was darkened by illness and the tragedy of his Armenian homeland, but his music reflects the ease and facility of his technique, harking back to the Romanticism of Chopin, Liszt and Schumann, rather than the challenging times in which he lived, and with a quality of craftsmanship that gives his music a magnetic attractiveness. We missed this first volume when it originally came out. Mikael Ayrapetyan (piano).