MAY 2019

Spirio SPOTLIGHT

LISTEN TO ADAM BRINBAUM PERFORMING JAZZ STANDARDS AND JED DISTLER INTERPRETING THELONIOUS MONK. DISCOVER THE ESSENTIAL MELODIES BY FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY AND HOW ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI MASTERS ROMANTIC PIANO SONATAS. 

The star of this month’s spotlight is jazz pianist Adam Birnbaum who performs jazz standards such as ‘Stella by Starlight’, ‘I love you’ and ‘Bluesette’ on the high-resolution player piano STEINWAY & SONS SPIRIO. We also feature the US artist in our SpirioSync video with ‘On Green Dolphin Street’.

If Jazz is your thing, we can offer you a new selection of tracks by Thelonious Monk with ‘Ask me Now’ and ‘Bemsha Swing’ performed by Jed Distler.

This month, Steinway artist David Osborne delights us with a new Disney medley and a fine selection of vintage pop by icons Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees.

The great German composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was behind some of the most renowned romantic works, with many of his popular melodies appearing in symphonies, concertos and incidental pieces. But in the composer’s famous ‘Songs Without Words’, pianists can enjoy a large spectrum of wonderful piano music. You can find them on our ‘Essential Mendelssohn’ playlist.

Finally the exceptional Italian virtuoso Antonio Pompa-Baldi contributes three piano sonatas – a compilation of which Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique is probably the most famous. The first you’ll hear comes from composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a contemporary of Beethoven, bridging the Classical and Romantic periods. His Sonata No. 4 has a Mozart sound to it, although it was written after Pathétique. The last of the three was written by the Irish composer Howard Ferguson, and adds even more beauty and majesty to Pompa-Baldi’s programme. It is an unsung masterpiece of 20th century piano scores.

Each month we features highlights from the SPIRIO catalog. Learn more about the artists, the history and the music found exclusively on SPIRIO.