The ‘École de Paris’ was a group of composers from central and eastern Europe who made the French capital their home in the 1920s and ’30s. One of their number was the Romanian Marcel Mihalovici, born in Bucharest in 1898 and based in Paris from 1919 until his death in 1985 – one of the most significant of twentieth-century composers who has yet to receive the recognition he deserves. This first album dedicated to his piano music traces his stylistic evolution, the early blend of French insouciance, echoes of eastern European folk-music and Neo-Classical contrapuntal clarity gradually taking a tougher turn and blending Bartók and Bach. It ends with a monumental passacaglia for the left hand alone, one of the most daunting summits of piano literature.

‘This is a terrific disc, then. Presentation could not be bettered; the recording (Berlin’s Jesus-Christus-Kirche, produced by Stefan Lang and engineered by Boris Hofmann) is top rank. Matthew Rubenstein is a highly technically equipped musician of sterling musicality. The excellent Toccata Classics offers not just an educational experience, but a beautifully moving musical one, too.’ – Colin Clarke, Fanfare, May/June 2016 (TOCC0291: Heinz Tiessen - Piano Music)