This unique 2-CD recording is produced by Prima Facie in association with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). It celebrates the genius of the Viennese composer, pianist and writer Otto M. Zykan (1935-2006), whose historic recordings of Schoenberg's piano music are re-released here for the first time since their original issue on LP in 1970.

Acclaimed by the German critic Joachim Kaiser as "captivating technically and spiritually in equal measure", Zykan's performances are important documents reflecting a lifelong dedication to Schoenberg's art. In this important release revealing the breadth of Zykan's musicianship and creativity, they are coupled with a new recording of Zykan's own complete solo piano music, played by the British pianist Duncan Honeybourne. Honeybourne was asked to record Zykan's piano music for the coupling by the composer's partner, Austrian musicologist and radio producer Irene Suchy. Duncan Honeybourne's link with the Viennese tradition comes through his former professor, Rosemarie Wright, Zykan's contemporary in the class of Bruno Seidlhofer, the most prominent piano teacher in Vienna.

Honeybourne writes: "I have Rosemarie to thank for opening the Second Viennese School to me when I was barely a teenager. Through her I came to love the piano works of Schoenberg, Berg and Wellesz, which Seidlhofer had illuminated for her as he had for Zykan." Of Zykan's own piano music, he remarks: "Zykan's early piano pieces are distinctly Schoenbergian, his later creations highly improvisatory, colourful and often rhapsodic. But a distinctive and original pianistic imagination is common to all. Exploring this fascinating heritage has brought me much joy and satisfaction."

This remarkable release charts a compelling journey into the imagination of a vibrant musical polymath.