From the French piano literature of the first half of the 20th c. Kathryn Stott has selected four 'solitaires' – each work occupying a special place in its composer’s œuvre. Jehan Alain's brief Prelude (1935) is followed by Henri Dutilleux’s only piano sonata (1948), written for and premiered by Geneviève Joy, the composer’s wife.
Dedications to friends of the composer killed in the first years of WWI mark Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, his last work for piano solo. Closing the disc is Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus from Olivier Messiaen's monumental fresco Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.