One of the first American pianists and composers to achieve any degree of international fame, Edward MacDowell was already a brilliant pianist at the age of 16. After a brief period in Paris, he studied composition in 1882 with Joachim Raff in Frankfurt, Germany. While there, MacDowell was also encouraged by Franz Liszt, to whom he dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor.
In 1886 MacDowell completed his second piano concerto. One of the most accomplished and often-performed American works of its time, the Concerto D Minor premiered in New York in early 1889 with the composer himself performing. MacDowell continued to play the concerto both in the United States and abroad — most notably in Paris at a concert devoted to American music.
Glittering keyboard displays, surging emotional appeal, and a grand heroic manner characterize these two popular works of the late nineteenth century, created by the preeminent American composer of the era, acclaimed by critic and composer Virgil Thomas as "our nearest to a great master before Charles Ives."