The Puerto Rican pianist Jesús María Sanromá (1902–1984) came to the USA to study and subsequently built his career there. He had a very wide repertoire and gave the US premieres of many contemporary works, including Ravel’s G major Concerto, but was equally at home in the classics or Gershwin. He had a long association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and their summer festival brand the ‘Pops’, resulting in the series of concertos reproduced here. All are conducted by Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979) who conducted the ‘Pops’ for an astonishing 50 years from 1930. Their Gershwin Rhapsody was a huge hit, and the MacDowell and Paderewski were first recordings.

We’ve filled out the set with Sanromá’s first recording of a selection of dances by Juan Morel Campos, his 19th-century Puerto Rican fellow countryman.