Abdel Rahman El Bacha (piano) Mirare MIR 165 ****

Beirut-born Abdel Rahman El Bacha here offers the five piano works Prokofiev wrote between the premiere of his First Piano Concertos in 1911 and his departure from his native Russia for the US in 1918. At one end, the Toccata, Op. 11, is a great showpiece. At the other, the Visions fugitives, Op. 22, are mostly impressionistic, though sometimes violent. In between, the Ten Pieces Op. 12, feature up-to-the minute styles but also include old forms in a way that prefigures the Classical Symphony. The composer's grotesque streak gets full rein in the Sarcasms, Op. 17, and the Second Sonata is so diverse that a Russian musicologist coined the word "polypersonalia" to describe it. El Bacha plays with a gritty gumption that highlights the pieces' angularity and dissonance. mirare.fr

MICHAEL DERVAN