Executive Producer Douglas Picard Recorded at Makai Studio on a Steinway Concert B Produced and Engineered by Fritz Kasten Mastered at The Annex by Tom Carr Piano Technician Jim Christopher White Rose Photograph by Rod Dresser Copyright 2003 Chopin s Nocturnes set a melancholy mood to recall past emotions, and console misgivings all in the foreground of dark night. The Nocturne in B flat minor is the first of Frederic Chopin s twenty one nocturnes, and the C sharp minor Nocturne was published posthumously. Enrique Granados was a composer and pianist from Barcelona Spain who was well loved in Paris, receiving the French Legion of Honor for his Goyescas suite which included the Maiden and the Nightingale. Listening to Granados is like looking at a painting by Francesco Goya whom Granados idolized...The nightingale sings as the maiden pours out her story of tumultuous love.....Playera weaves together Andalusian dance rhythms which are dark, sensual and slightly coquettish. On an invitation to perform at the White House during WWII, the ship Granados was travelling on was torpedoed by a German submarine. Granados made it to a life raft, but perished when he dove back into the water, leaving the raft to try and save his wife. Johannes Brahms Intermezzo in A Major Opus 118 no. 2 reflects the complexity and passion of the composer s feeling when so deeply in love that one speaks with the utmost sincerity and honesty. Claude Debussy s Arabesque is a cascade of flowing water moving with the unique dance steps that take place in nature. This piece creates a serenity that comes from being surrounded by the rhythm of wind moving over water. Franz Schubert was a choir boy in a seminary who became a schoolteacher and then a free lance musician. Never married, he wrote the Impromptu a year before his untimely death at 31 years old. His melodies are spiritual in nature, prayer like in their simplicity and yet inspire a very human interpretation. Robert Schumann s Arabeske was written during his three year courtship of Clara Wieck which was marked by her father s steadfast refusal to consent to the union. They finally married anyway and despite the obstacles some of Schumann s most glorious piano compositions arose from this period. Mirroring his life at the time, Arabeske is selfless in its adoration with a tinge of minor dissonance. It was my desire with these selections and the special technique they were recorded to create a peaceful atmosphere for you the listener to explore the Art of Love.