“I am delighted to make Walter Niemann’s piano sonatas available on disc for the very first time. His piano pieces are passionate and romantic works, full of colour, variety and inventive harmony. I consider Walter Niemann the most outstanding German impressionist composer of the 20th century and I am dedicated to contributing to the revival of his music.” – Bing Bing Li

Listen to an extract from Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 60,
“Romantische”: I. Allegro moderato

Highly respected in his day as a scholar, composer and pianist, Walter Niemann fell out of favour after the Second World War. His prolific output for piano, which includes several full-scale sonatas, is mainly romantic and reflective in style, yet with an underlying passion. The Sonata No. 1 is notable for its contrast between impassioned writing and wistful expressiveness, while the heartfelt Sonata No. 2 ‘Nordic’, which features an exquisite and plangent slow movement, is testament to Niemann’s Scandinavian sympathies.

SONATA NO. 1 IN A MINOR ‘ROMANTIC’, OP. 60 (1919)
1 Allegro moderato (Im romantischen Balladenton) (09:00)
2 Poco adagio (09:12)
3 Non troppo allegro e poco giocoso (06:40)

THREE COMPOSITIONS FOR PIANO, OP. 7 (1909)
4 I. Intrada: Allegro non troppo ma sempre con molta
    espressione (02:39)
5 II. Erinnerung: Andante mesto (02:28)
6 III. Arabeske: Vivace e leggiero (01:41)

SONATA NO. 2 IN F MAJOR ‘NORDIC’, OP. 75 (1921)
7 Un poco sostenuto (08:16)
8 Adagio mesto (08:18)
9 Poco allegro agitato (07:52)

FANTASIE-MAZURKA, OP. 53 (1918)
10 Poco sostenuto e patetico quasi improvisato (04:08)

TOTAL TIME: 60:09

At the age of eight Bing Bing Li was awarded the accolade of ‘Star of the Future’ by the Government of Jilin Province in China. Her inherent musicality and dazzling technique provided early opportunities to perform on concert platforms throughout China. At the age of ten she won China’s National Piano Competition, making her recording début on the national label. After moving to the UK four years later to study under a full scholarship at the Purcell School, she became the only pianist to be awarded a full scholarship at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels at the Royal Academy of Music, from which she graduated with a DipRAM and a distinction in 2012. During her studies at the RAM she won a record number of prizes. Bing Bing Li has since taught at the RAM, King’s College, London, and Chetham’s International Summer School. She was recently appointed to the senior piano faculty at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Now resident in Britain, she enjoys a successful career as a soloist and recitalist throughout Europe, in North America and in China, and is in constant demand for her piano master-classes. In addition to her wide-ranging repertoire, she has a real passion for ‘rediscovering’ music of composers celebrated in their lifetime, but currently neglected.