Piano Music by Jean-Michel Damase

Damase was born into a musical family in Bordeau and by the age of 12 was taking piano lessons with Alfred Cortot. He studied composition with Henri Paul Busser (pupil of Gounod, Franck and Widor, and orchestrator of Debussy) and harmony and counterpoint with the great organist Marcel Dupre. Damase won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1947. The same year saw him making his professional debut as a pianist and soon thereafter he started to make recordings with the French Decca label.

Damase's compositional style is akin to Debussy, Ravel, Poulemc and Prokofiev but it becomes obvious from even his early work, that he is perfectly able to weld these influences into a convincing vehicle of his own persuasive language.

Nicholas Unwin studied at the Royal College of Music, London winning the prestigious Chappell Gold medal as well as the Cyril Smith Recital Prize. He has been keen to promote the music of 20th century composers and his CD recordings of the Tippett Sonatas have won particular recognition for him.

Introduction et Allegro (1992)
Theme et Variations (1956)
Sonate (1953)
Apparition (1968)
Huit Etudes (1977)
Sonatine (1992)