Henrique Oswald - Piano Music

Henrique OSWALD (1852-1931)

Six Morceaux, op.4 (c.1887) 

Trois Romances, op.7 

Il Neige (1902) 

Six Pièces, op.14 

Feuilles d'Album, op.20 

Braz Velloso (piano)

Recorded: Eglise Evangélique, Saint Marcel, Paris, 11-12 June 2012.

Born in Brazil in 1852, Henrique Oswald was the son of a Swiss father and Italian mother, and it was to Italy they returned to educate their musical protegee son. Most of his compositions were for solo piano, and though he lived through the French Impressionist era, he was little persuaded by them, his music belonging to the previous generation of which Faure would be a good guide to the disc’s contents…on repeated hearing you come to enjoy the polish and refinement of music that seeks to please by its elegance rather than any dramatic input. Chopin remains ever present in the Six Pieces with a particularly attractive Tarantella and a sparkling Scherzo to follow the tender Nocturne. Four little encore pieces, Feuilles d’album, and the short character piece, Il neige, complete these highly engaging performances from the Brazilian pianist, Braz Velloso. Few recordings catch such a realistic piano sound.