2013 sees the bicentenary of the births not only of Wagner and Verdi but also of the maverick French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. Alkan’s music was little appreciated during his lifetime (1813–83), and in the century which followed, when he was largely lost from sight, but now he is increasingly recognised as one of the most individual personalities in all music.

The five albums he called Recueils de chants – miniature tone-poems which marry Classical constraint to virtuoso Romantic excess – provide an attractive gateway to his freewheeling imagination. This is the second volume of a two-CD series presenting the first recording of the complete Chants in over twenty years.

Stephanie McCallum is Associate Professor in piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music of the University of Sydney. Described by Anthony Clarke in The Bulletin as ‘one of Australia's foremost pianists’, she has enjoyed an international career of over thirty years.

Critical comment on Volume One: ‘this is really fantastic playing – stylistically exactly right, with an individual voice [....] if you really want to get to know what this Alkan guy is all about, then Stephanie McCallum can really show you very well indeed.’

Kenneth Hamilton, CD Review, BBC Radio 3