Grigory Krein: Piano Music

Grigory Krein (1879-1955), a member of an astonishing dynasty of Russian-Jewish musician- composers, was recognised by his contemporaries as one of the major

composers of his day. His piano music charts a stylistic evolution from the early influence of Grieg, Reger (with whom he studied) and Debussy towards a more complex and chromatic language with harmonies that synthesise the soundworlds of Skryabin and Szymanowski; there's also an echo of the rhapsodic Celtic wildness of Bax. Indeed, all of these pieces are informed by a remarkable sense of energy - latent in some and given its head in others.