I first ran into Barnatan (b. 1979) about five years ago playing some wonderful Schubert. I have heard him play with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, and he has become quite a busy pianist in recent years. All these works were inspired by other works of art (poems, a song, an opera, a Peo story) and also have a relationship with the night.

The Ades and Britten pieces are new to me and probably not readily available anywhere else, though Stevenson recorded his Peter Grimes Fantasy on Altarus 9042 (not reviewed). We might have come to a point where we simply expect good performances of what was at one time considered the most difficult piano work, Gaspard de la Nuit. Many have come my way in the past few years, but none better than Barnatan's. He does as good a job with Ravel's treacherous solo piano transcription of La Valse, so the program is framed by great and super-difficult Ravel.

Darknesse Visible by Thomas Ades (b. 1971) is a modern, pointillistic work based on a song by John Dowland. Sharp, accented notes in the highest piano are accompianed by very quiet, fast repeated notes (similar to 'Scarbo'), Barnatan's dynamic range in this work is nothing short of incredible. The Debussy sits at the mid-point of the program, followed by the Peter Grimes Fanatasy, a nine minute operatic fantasy that owes much to Liszt, thought the old master never delved into writing passages to be plucked inside the piano as Stevenson does.

Avie's recorded piano sound is state of the art, so the wonderful performances are matched by recorded quality. Barnatan is moving into the world-class arena with this kind of playing, and one hopes that his career will continue to grow. I feel that, among pianists in their 30s, he can already be counted as one in the top echelon. I hope that his third CD arrives for review in less than the five years between his first and second solo discs.