Two new recordings of music by Paul Reale (b1943) on different labels confirm that the American composer deserves more attention. The repertoire touches the tip of the Reale iceberg – among his works are 11 piano sonatas, three piano concertos and nine other concertos – but the pieces here more than demonstrate the skill and imagination he brings to his art.

Reale’s studies with such eminent 20th-century figures as George Crumb, Otto Luening, Chou Wen-chung and George Rochberg might suggest that he falls into specific modernist schools of composition. On the contrary, Reale brings a wealth of stylistic knowledge to music full of references but also bursting with creative ideas and expressive generosity. Most of the activity in the works on these recordings is tonally based, yet with surprising detours that keep the ear alert to the evolution of material.

The MSR Classics disc contains two of Reale’s piano sonatas and a piece of exceptional appeal and unusual scoring, the Concerto Dies irae for piano trio and wind ensemble. There is never a moment when the soloists and ensemble sound at odds with one another. Reale uses the wind ensemble so deftly that its palette of colours adds subtle connections as violin, cello and piano weave lines through exuberant and, when the ‘Dies irae’ theme exerts itself, dark terrain. The performance, from 1982, is an alluring series of conversations between violinist Kenneth Goldsmith, cellist Terry King, pianist John Jensen and the fine California State University Wind Ensemble under David Whitwell.

Reale is the first-rate soloist in his Piano Sonata No 7, subtitled Veni Creator Spiritus for its nuanced use of the plainchant within five movements that make inventive use of traditional forms. In the Piano Sonata No 8, Il trionfo della folia, Reale reflects the mad quality of the ‘La folia’ theme through a spectrum of virtuoso flourishes, played with purposeful brilliance by Walter Ponce.

The works for cello and piano on the Naxos release reveal more sides of Reale’s sensibility. The centrepiece is the Cello Sonata No 2, subtitled Chopin’s Ghost for its homage to the Polish composer, both in Romantic urgency and echoes of Chopin’s music. Equally captivating are the Cello Sonata No 1, German Folk Songs, Wexford Carol and, especially, Séance, a piece for solo cello in which contemporary premonitions rub shoulders with Baroque titbits. The performances by cellist Kim Cook and pianist Christopher Guzman are keenly alive to Reale’s vivid sound world.