<<  -- 3 --  Roderic Dunnett    INTEGRITY AND MUSICIANSHIP

Shostakovich, Scriabin and Szymanowski are obvious composers to bear in mind when a late 20th/early 21st century composer of these unassuming gifts serves up a set of piano preludes. (Small is as good and artful an executant as he is a composer; Prelude 3 is a fine example). But these compact essays are classics in their own right. Small's fugue [listen -- Prelude 14, track 16, 1:35-3:08] is as characterful as Scarlatti. There's the same tracking problem -- though you can see why 57 CD tracks, encompassing both Bach and Small, might have seemed excessive. But take it from me, you'll want to replay every one.

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