Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Continuing Brilliant Classics’ acclaimed exploration of César Cui’s piano music, Australian pianist Paul Rickard-Ford presents a captivating selection of works spanning 1883 to 1901, including several world-premiere recordings. These elegant salon pieces reveal the lyrical charm, Russian character, and refined craftsmanship of a composer once admired by Liszt, Leschetizky, Hofmann, and other leading musical figures of his age.
💎 🎵 Purchase, stream or download (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Presto): pianoclassics.lnk.to/CuiPianoMusicVol2ID
🎬🎮 These tracks are available for sync licensing in videos, films, TV shows, games, advertising, and more. For licensing inquiries: info@brilliantclassicslicensing.com
Composer: César Cui
Artist: Paul Rickard-Ford (piano)
This valuable revival of the piano music by Cesar Cui began with a 2CD volume played by Marco Rapetti (youtu.be/xKtkdfkP_ic), surveying the composer’s early output from 1877 to 1888. Born in what is now Vilnius, capital of modern-day Lithuania, Cui began to learn the piano as a child, initially from his elder sister. His first and last compositions were written for the piano, and he produced 29 opus numbers for the instrument (the total opus catalogue reaches 106).
The Australian pianist Paul Rickard-Ford now moves the project on with a chronological survey from the Quatre Morceaux Op.22 of 1883 to the Theme and Variations Op.61, from 1901. Dedicated respectively to Theodore Leschitzky and to Josef Hofmann, these pieces show how admired Cui was in his day, even if he is now generally treated as the forgotten member of the ‘Mighty Handful’ group of Russian composers.
One of Liszt’s final works was a piano transcription of Cui’s orchestral Tarantelle Op.12. Other collections on the album are dedicated to Anton Rubinstein (the two Polonaises Op.30) and to Hans von Bülow (three Impromptus Op.35), as well as a charming pair of Bluettes Op.29 dedicated to the Countess de Mercy-Argenteau who was Cui’s generous patron and indefatigable supporter outside Russia.
Many of the pieces here are receiving their world-premiere recordings, such as the four pieces composed in 1900-01 and collected as Op.60. They include a Polka, a Novelette, a Mazurka and a Polonaise: all familiar genres, which Cui inflected with his individual brand of Russian-accented lyricism ultimately drawing on an early-Romantic lexicon of expression formulated by Chopin and Schumann. Thus all the music here belongs to the salon, designed first and foremost to charm and to entertain.
Paul Rickard-Ford has been on the staff of the Sydney Conservatorium for more than thirty years and was Chair of the Piano Unit from 2006 to 2016. His discography includes the Années de pèlerinage of Liszt as well as recitals of Chopin and Schumann.
Tracklist:
4 Morceaux, Op. 22 («à Mr Théodore Leschetizki», 1883):
0:00:00 I. Polonaise
0:08:31 II. Bagatelle italienne
0:09:58 III. Nocturne
0:16:19 IV. Quasi scherzo
0:21:53 Valse-Caprice, Op. 26 («à Mme Anna Essipoff-Leschetizky», 1883)
2 Bluettes, Op. 29 («à Mme la Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau», 1886):
0:34:10 I. Valse
0:40:48 II. Scherzando giocoso
2 Polonaises, Op. 30 («à Anton Rubinstein», 1886):
0:46:28 I. (Allegretto)
0:54:27 II. (Allegretto)
3 Valses, Op. 31 (1886):
1:00:42 I. (Allegro)
1:05:59 II. (Allegretto)
1:08:02 III. (Allegretto mosso)
3 Impromptus, Op. 35 («à Mr Hans de Bülow», 1886):
1:15:18 I. (Allegro)
1:19:22 II. (Allegro)
1:22:51 III. (Allegretto mosso)
5 Morceaux, Op. 52 («à Louis Diemer et Raoul Pugno», 1895):
1:28:42 I. Prélude
1:30:39 II. Petit caprice
1:33:52 III. Intermezzo
1:35:32 IV. Étude-Fantaisie
1:38:56 V. Marche-Humoresque
1:41:56 Impromptu-Caprice (1896)
4 Morceaux, Op. 60 (1900-01):
1:47:03 I. Jadwinia-Polka («à Mme Hedvige Zaleska»)
1:49:38 II. Novellette («à Mr Alexandre Ziloti»)
1:55:30 III. Mazurka («à Mlle Léocadie Kachperow»)
1:58:49 IV. Polonaise («à Mme Marie Kerzine»)
2:06:16 Thème et variations, Op. 61 («à Joseph Hofmann», 1901)
📲 Follow us on Social media: @BrilliantClassics & @PianoClassics
#Cui #Complete #PianoMusic #Vol2 #CesarCui #PaulRickardFord #Piano #ClassicalPiano #ClassicalMusic #PianoClassics #BrilliantClassics
Continuing Brilliant Classics’ acclaimed exploration of César Cui’s piano music, Australian pianist Paul Rickard-Ford presents a captivating selection of works spanning 1883 to 1901, including several world-premiere recordings. These elegant salon pieces reveal the lyrical charm, Russian character, and refined craftsmanship of a composer once admired by Liszt, Leschetizky, Hofmann, and other leading musical figures of his age.
💎 🎵 Purchase, stream or download (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Presto): pianoclassics.lnk.to/CuiPianoMusicVol2ID
🎬🎮 These tracks are available for sync licensing in videos, films, TV shows, games, advertising, and more. For licensing inquiries: info@brilliantclassicslicensing.com
Composer: César Cui
Artist: Paul Rickard-Ford (piano)
This valuable revival of the piano music by Cesar Cui began with a 2CD volume played by Marco Rapetti (youtu.be/xKtkdfkP_ic), surveying the composer’s early output from 1877 to 1888. Born in what is now Vilnius, capital of modern-day Lithuania, Cui began to learn the piano as a child, initially from his elder sister. His first and last compositions were written for the piano, and he produced 29 opus numbers for the instrument (the total opus catalogue reaches 106).
The Australian pianist Paul Rickard-Ford now moves the project on with a chronological survey from the Quatre Morceaux Op.22 of 1883 to the Theme and Variations Op.61, from 1901. Dedicated respectively to Theodore Leschitzky and to Josef Hofmann, these pieces show how admired Cui was in his day, even if he is now generally treated as the forgotten member of the ‘Mighty Handful’ group of Russian composers.
One of Liszt’s final works was a piano transcription of Cui’s orchestral Tarantelle Op.12. Other collections on the album are dedicated to Anton Rubinstein (the two Polonaises Op.30) and to Hans von Bülow (three Impromptus Op.35), as well as a charming pair of Bluettes Op.29 dedicated to the Countess de Mercy-Argenteau who was Cui’s generous patron and indefatigable supporter outside Russia.
Many of the pieces here are receiving their world-premiere recordings, such as the four pieces composed in 1900-01 and collected as Op.60. They include a Polka, a Novelette, a Mazurka and a Polonaise: all familiar genres, which Cui inflected with his individual brand of Russian-accented lyricism ultimately drawing on an early-Romantic lexicon of expression formulated by Chopin and Schumann. Thus all the music here belongs to the salon, designed first and foremost to charm and to entertain.
Paul Rickard-Ford has been on the staff of the Sydney Conservatorium for more than thirty years and was Chair of the Piano Unit from 2006 to 2016. His discography includes the Années de pèlerinage of Liszt as well as recitals of Chopin and Schumann.
Tracklist:
4 Morceaux, Op. 22 («à Mr Théodore Leschetizki», 1883):
0:00:00 I. Polonaise
0:08:31 II. Bagatelle italienne
0:09:58 III. Nocturne
0:16:19 IV. Quasi scherzo
0:21:53 Valse-Caprice, Op. 26 («à Mme Anna Essipoff-Leschetizky», 1883)
2 Bluettes, Op. 29 («à Mme la Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau», 1886):
0:34:10 I. Valse
0:40:48 II. Scherzando giocoso
2 Polonaises, Op. 30 («à Anton Rubinstein», 1886):
0:46:28 I. (Allegretto)
0:54:27 II. (Allegretto)
3 Valses, Op. 31 (1886):
1:00:42 I. (Allegro)
1:05:59 II. (Allegretto)
1:08:02 III. (Allegretto mosso)
3 Impromptus, Op. 35 («à Mr Hans de Bülow», 1886):
1:15:18 I. (Allegro)
1:19:22 II. (Allegro)
1:22:51 III. (Allegretto mosso)
5 Morceaux, Op. 52 («à Louis Diemer et Raoul Pugno», 1895):
1:28:42 I. Prélude
1:30:39 II. Petit caprice
1:33:52 III. Intermezzo
1:35:32 IV. Étude-Fantaisie
1:38:56 V. Marche-Humoresque
1:41:56 Impromptu-Caprice (1896)
4 Morceaux, Op. 60 (1900-01):
1:47:03 I. Jadwinia-Polka («à Mme Hedvige Zaleska»)
1:49:38 II. Novellette («à Mr Alexandre Ziloti»)
1:55:30 III. Mazurka («à Mlle Léocadie Kachperow»)
1:58:49 IV. Polonaise («à Mme Marie Kerzine»)
2:06:16 Thème et variations, Op. 61 («à Joseph Hofmann», 1901)
📲 Follow us on Social media: @BrilliantClassics & @PianoClassics
#Cui #Complete #PianoMusic #Vol2 #CesarCui #PaulRickardFord #Piano #ClassicalPiano #ClassicalMusic #PianoClassics #BrilliantClassics
