Claude Debussy: Suite Bergamasque
- Prélude
- Menuet
- Clair de lune
- Passepied
May Aufderheide: Two Piano Solo Ragtime
- Dusty
- Thriller
Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 (Black Mass)
Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
- Prélude
- Fugue
- Forlane
- Rigaudon
- Menuet
- Toccata
Ernesto Lecuona: Three Piano Solo Pieces
- Malaguena (Spanish Dance)
- Yla negra bailaba! (A Black Woman's Dance)
- Danza Lucumi (Cuban Dance)

The structural concept behind this recording is to bring together "a chronological selection of 20th century contemporary piano solo works from France, Cuba, Russia and America, an illustrative collage of ethnic diversity of New York's inhabitants". From the perspective of Taiwanese pianist Joanne Chang as a New Yorker. I would even venture to say that it's this propensity for cultural encounters that has shaped the way we perceive music today.

There's a certain level of dramatic weight and controlled energy within Joanne Chang's expressive and evocative playing, very different from today's generically precise but mechanical approach. Even her account of Debussy's Clair de lune reveals more harmonic depth than most "tinkly" interpretations. The Passepied is sharply pointed, detailed and colorful. Both of May Aufderheide's ragtime pieces are bouncy and full of life. And for a piano work that is both technically and emotionally taxing, Chang still manages to bring out all the key motivic details within the darkly elusive "Black Mass" Sonata by Alexander Scriabin. There's a rhythmic elasticity to Maurice Ravel's Tombeau which can otherwise sometimes seem a bit stiff. And the diverse ethnic "feel" of each of Ernesto Lecuona's Dances is well captured and projected by Joanne Chang.

All in all an excellent overview of the music from these disparate composers. I'm aware that the layout of pieces on this CD is in chronological order, but I would have prefered to hear the piano rags at the end. To go from Aufderheide to Scriabin in an instant is too much of a mindset swing to reconcile. If you can, program your CD player to allow for alternate track positions.