The piano music of the American composer Phillip Ramey (born in 1939) is rooted in the motoric athleticism of Prokofiev and Bartók, tempered with sober lyricism, spicy modernist dissonance and a fresh approach to the grand Romantic gesture.

This is the fourth Toccata Classics album dedicated to his music – MusicWeb International called it ‘a terrific Toccata series’

It includes the virtuosic Cossack Variations, the mercurial Epigrams, Book Two and Lament for Richard III, a dramatic character-study of a famous historical villain.

Two sonatas add further substance to a varied programme: No. 3, serially inflected and culminating in a barbaric finale; and No. 7, infused with declamatory rhetoric, quirky rhythm and engaging melody.