Nicode: Piano Music, Vol. 1

As pianist, conductor and composer, Jean Louis Nicode (1853-1919) was one of the most highly respected musicians of his day. Born in Posen in Prussia (Poznan in presentday Poland), he became a stalwart of musical life in Dresden in the closing years of the nineteenth century. Today his name is as good as unknown, with his music suffering the same fate as his reputation as a performer - although he was a highly accomplished composer. His piano music has hints of Chopin, Liszt and Schumann, and the spirit of dance is never far from the surface, but his expansive, and only, piano sonata has a visionary quality with it's origins in late Beethoven.