Piano Phantoms is Michael Lewin's 2013 collection of 18 character pieces based on spectral themes. Some of the selections are by familiar classical composers and musical notables, such as Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg, Robert Schumann, Antonin Dvorák, Sergey Lyapunov, Nicolai Medtner, and Eugčne Goossens, and their pieces evoke the supernatural with a mix of Romantic moodiness and virtuosic flair. (One might ask, why is there nothing by Franz Liszt, that master of the macabre?) Of the modern composers represented, William ...
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Piano Phantoms is Michael Lewin's 2013 collection of 18 character pieces based on spectral themes. Some of the selections are by familiar classical composers and musical notables, such as Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg, Robert Schumann, Antonin Dvorák, Sergey Lyapunov, Nicolai Medtner, and Eugčne Goossens, and their pieces evoke the supernatural with a mix of Romantic moodiness and virtuosic flair. (One might ask, why is there nothing by Franz Liszt, that master of the macabre?) Of the modern composers represented, William Bolcom is easily the best known for his easygoing Graceful Ghost Rag, and this is without doubt the most engaging track of the album. The program includes music by fairly obscure figures, such as Walter Niemann, Carl Tausig, Carlos Troyer, Heino Kaski, John Vallier, Harry Farjeon, Florence Price, Edgar Bainton, Ferdinand Hiller, and Julie Rivé-King, though that's no reason to overlook their generally effective depictions of ghostly entities, several of which are recorded here for the...
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