The piano music of the Portuguese virtuoso and composer José Vianna da Motta (1868–1948) absorbs Romantic influences from Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Brahms. To this mix Vianna da Motta added elements from Portuguese folk-music to constitute a major step in the development of a national style for Portuguese classical music. His last piano piece, a Méditation recorded here for the first time, reveals da Motta in the visionary soundworld of late Liszt and Scriabin. This release marks the 150th anniversary of Vianna da Motta’s birth and the 70th anniversary of his death.

Luís Pipa is professor of piano and chamber music at the University of Minho, near Porto, and the president of the Portuguese branch of the European Piano Teachers’ Association. He studied in the Conservatoires of Braga and Porto and the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts of Vienna, later obtaining the degrees of Master of Music in Performance Studies and PhD in Performance from the Universities of Reading and Leeds in the United Kingdom. He has also himself composed some pieces for piano and chamber music, as well as a number of songs.