EMILE NAOUMOFF (b.1962): Piano Music - Las Brisas, Elégy No. 3 “Mélancolique et ‘Slave’”, Nocturno: La silencieuse ancienne ruelle de Tryavna, 2 Danses Bulgares, Cathedral in Tears, Réminiscenses No. 3 “Désespoir” and No. 5 “Berceuse”, from La musique dans l’univers d’un enfant: Nos. 1-3, 8 and 13, Rhapsodie, Anecdotes Nos. 5, 6 and 9, Le parfum de l’âme: Nocturne, Valse pour Nadia: pour ma fille, from Les saisons de la vie: No. 4 “Entraînant”, Romance.

Description: Naoumoff, born in Sofia in 1962, was a child prodigy as pianist and composer in his native Bulgaria but was soon taken under the wing of Nadia Boulanger in Paris – ‘the gift of my old age’, she said. Naoumoff himself has tended to record the music of other composers, and so this recital of his piano music has been recorded by Gregory Martin, who has worked with him in various capacities. It presents music from across Naoumoff’s career – from that gifted childhood to a piece inspired by the sight of Notre Dame Cathedral in flames in 2019 – absorbing influences from Slavic folk-dance to Gabriel Fauré, whose ‘grand-student’ he is. Gregory Martin (piano).