This newest CD from KASP Records includes two of the less frequently heard masterworks of Schubert and Schumann, plus six great short works of Brahms.
The E-Flat Major Sonata of Schubert is a truly outstanding work, especially for a twenty year old composer. The outer movements have great charm and harmonic ingenuity, and the slow movement shows surprising passion, and depth.
Schumann's Waldscenen (Forest Scenes) are a collection of nine short pieces displaying a remarkable contrast of moods and feelings. Though the "Prophet Bird" is probably the most famous of them, the listener will surely also enjoy the "Haunted Place," the exuberant "Friendly Landscape," the repose of "Shelter," the "Hunting Song," and the other three pieces which make Waldscenen the epitome of the miniature as art form.
The Brahms works include the early "Edward Ballade," based on a tragic Scottish ballad, a wonderful autumnal Intermezzo from his Op. 116, and the Four Piano Pieces of Op.119, Brahms's last work for solo piano. This last wonderful group runs the emotional gamut from the profound first Intermezzo, to the edgy yet charming second, to the rambunctious third, and finally to the sometimes ominous, yet triumphant concluding Rhapsody.
Donald Isler has been praised by the New York Times, the Classical Music Guide, the Newsletter of the Spohr Society of Great Britain and elsewhere for his interpretations.
