Complete piano works (2025)

"Rautavaara is best known for his large-scale works. However, he also wrote chamber and piano music, and here we have all his piano music conveniently gathered together, along with a couple of transcriptions, easily accommodated on two discs. The first thing to say is that this is real piano music, idiomatically written for the instrument and always sounding good. Apart from an early flirtation with serial technique, the idiom is basically neo-Romantic and it occasionally recalls earlier composers, whom I shall mention as they arise. These are mostly quite demanding pieces, requiring a fluent technique, often fast moving or with chunky chordal writing or rhythmic irregularities, but none of this music is of the barn-storming kind. Morta Grigaliūnaité is a Lithuanian pianist who is making a good career for herself. She has long been fascinated by these works, ‘captivated by their strength of character and unreserved virtuosity.’ She plays fluently and well and also wrote the sleevenotes." (MusicWeb Int.)