been hailed by Time magazine as “the world’s best composer of art songs.” Of his own work he has said, “I conceive all music vocally… it is always the singer within me crying to get out.” This recording features his complete Piano Album I, a series of small-scale but significant piano compositions dating from 1978 to 2001. These and the set Six Friends were largely written as gifts to friends and colleagues, forming musical sketch books which are filled with miniature masterpieces. They have echoes in Rorem’s larger works, and stand in their own right as beautiful gems which create an atmosphere of tranquility and heartfelt tenderness.