This is the third Naxos album to feature the exemplary playing of Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, hailed by Fanfare magazine as ‘one of the major artists of our time.’ Once again the programme gives voice both to her country’s musical heritage and to its present, bringing living and overlooked composers centre-stage. Among the eight items on the recording are new works - Victoria Vita Polevá’s searing lament, Bucha. Lachrimosa, and two pieces by Bohdan Kryvopust, the powerfully commemorative On the River and the folk-music inspired Ukrainian Suite. Solomiya has appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Lviv National Philharmonic and other leading orchestras, also featuring at chamber festivals worldwide, including the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Kyiv Music Fest. In 2021, she was named Honoured (Merited) Artist of Ukraine, the country’s highest cultural honour.

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Although Bedřich Smetana composed a considerable amount of piano music, these works are recorded much less frequently than, say, his orchestral masterpiece Má vlast (‘My Fatherland’) or his renowned opera The Bartered Bride. The programme on this welcome new album is dominated by Smetana’s two popular and joyous books of Czech Dances, his last major works for piano. Rounding out the recital is his earlier Piano Sonata in G minor, which reveals clear influences of Beethoven and Liszt. The latter regarded it as one of ‘the most outstanding, finely felt and finely finished pieces that have recently come to my note’, surely making it as deserving of a place in the repertoire as any comparable sonata of the period. Appearing here in her debut recording for Naxos is South Korean pianist Bogang Hwang, a participant in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competition and Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition held in Louisiana in the USA in 2025.