The young pianist-composer Leo Ornstein went from wowing the ladies with his virtuosity to writing a Violin Sonata in 1915 of such atonal violence that it frightened even him.
By the time of the two works recorded here his style was more rounded. The mix of enfant terrible and Lisztian piano-slayer is now tempered by an intense lyricism, the rhythmic energy balanced by searing poetry.
In the exhilarating hands of Marc-André Hamelin and the Pacifica Quartet these performances fizz with exuberance. A real treat.
