ARTHUR VINCENT LOURIÉ (1891-1966)

COMPLETE PIANO WORKS • 1

GIORGIO KOUKL

“Discovering Arthur Lourié’s music was a moment of revelation and pure joy, and well worth the effort to find his scores, although some are still unfortunately hidden or lost. Lourié's inventive power, infinite richness of musical texture and delicate structure of his harmony make of him a forerunner, well ahead of his time. He could have reached a well-deserved worldwide celebrity, but partly due to his complicated personal story this never occurred. Now 50 years after his death it is time to re-establish his reputation as one of the most important composers of his century.” – Giorgio Koukl

About this Recording

This first volume devoted to Arthur Vincent Lourié’s piano music traces his journey from the Debussian Impressionism of his youthful Cinq Préludes fragiles, Op. 1 through absorption of Scriabin’s chromaticism in the eerie Masques (Tentations) of 1913 to the near-Cubism of Formes en l’air. Although Lourié was lauded – or derided – as a pioneering Futurist, his post-Revolutionary writing in France embraced a nostalgic Neo-Classicism represented by the Petite Suite en Fa.

GIORGIO KOUKL

GIORGIO KOUKL is a Czech pianist/harpsichordist and composer. He studied in Prague at the state music school and conservatory. He continued his studies at both the conservatories of Zurich and Milan, where he took part in the masterclasses of Nikita Magalov, Jacques Février, and Stanislaus Neuhaus, and with Rudolf Firkušný, friend and advocate of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. It was through Firkušný that Koukl first encountered Martinů’s music. He is now considered one of the world’s leading interpreters of Martinů’s piano music, having recorded that composer’s complete solo piano music, together with four discs of Martinů’s vocal music and two discs of his piano concertos. As a logical continuation of this work, Koukl has now recorded the complete solo piano works of Arthur Lourié, an important member of the “silver age” group of Russian composers, and of Vítězslava Kaprálová.