Selim Palmgren, along with his contemporaries Rachmaninov, Glazunov and Sibelius, was invited for a professorship at the Eastman School of Music and was considered the equal of these composers during his day. In Palmgren’s lifetime his music was published and performed widely gaining much popularity and acclaim. Today he is largely forgotten, so it is with Jouni Somero’s project to record Palmgren’s complete piano works that we gain a fuller picture of this fascinating composer’s music. From virtuoso concert studies to the remarkable variety in the Ten Pieces, op.79, this eighth volume in the series consists almost entirely of world première recordings.

Jouni Somero is one of the most active performers among present Finnish musicians. He has given over 3,100 concerts in many countries worldwide. He studied piano in Switzerland and at the Music Academy in Cologne under Professor Herbert Drechsel, and, under the legendary Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, he deepened his knowledge of the interpretation of Liszt’s music. Michael Ponti, the American virtuoso, has also acted as Somero’s musical advisor. Jouni Somero’s recording career began in 1989 (with Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Études), after which he has made over 100 recordings for different labels, including Naxos. His wide repertoire includes all the solo piano works of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Bortkiewicz, as well as seldom heard music by, among others, Alkan, Godowsky, Rubinstein, Reinhold, Godard, Cui and Gottschalk. He has also made several piano arrangements of orchestral, operatic and pop music, and his YouTube channel has gained millions of views.