GLENN GOULD (1932-1982): Piano Sonata, 5 Short Pieces, 2 Pieces, So You Want to Write a Fugue? (arr. Sasha Grynyuk), FRIEDRICH GULDA (1930-2000): Play Piano Play (10 Übungstücke für Yuko).

Description: Original compositions by two composers who shared a penchant for rather public eccentricity, a successful performing career as formidable, if idiosyncratic, pianists - and almost nothing else, musically speaking. Gulda's ten short pieces form an engaging, lighthearted jazz suite, presenting a series of traditional jazz styles effortlessly incorporated into the idiom of the concert hall. The result is quite irresistible, combining elegance with a sense of fun and spontaneity. Gould's sonata is a serious and sophisticated work, somewhat Hindemithian, the work of an accomplished and mature composer. The various 'pieces' are very brief and aphoristic, less tonal and reflecting Gould's interest in Schoenbergian developments in early 20th-century piano music. Grynyuk's solo piano rendition of So You Want, with the tongue-in-cheek pedagogical vocal parts incorporated into the piano, emerges as an elegant, artfully constructed fugue - no great surprise in view of the composer's affiliation with Bach. Sasha Grynyuk (piano).