Arthur Bliss: Selected Works For Piano (1923-27)

The works in this album all date from the 1920's when Bliss was in his thirties and establishing his reputation. The first tw o, Bliss (A One Step) 1923, and The Rout Trot (1927), are in a different category from the others being, in effect, brilliant tongue-in-cheek pastiches of dances that were currently in vogue, yet laced with piquant, discordant harmonies. They reflect , too, the influence that popular music and jazz had on many composers of the time - for instance, Stravinsky, Milhaud.