Catalog

Violinist Airi Yoshioka's curiosity in the electro-acoustic medium led her to commission works from five composers -- part of the seven breathtaking works that are all given their world-premiere performances on this recording. The program exhibits a wide range of contemporary styles and reveals a diverse culture of American women composers productive in the electro-acoustic music. Airi Yoshioka has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. Deeply committed to chamber music, she is the founding member of the Damocles Trio and Modigliani Quartet and has performed and recorded with the members of the Emerson, Brentano and Arditti Quartets. She has premiered dozens of works and continues to build repertoire for violin through her numerous commissions. A graduate of Yale and Juilliard, Ms. Yoshioka is associate professor of violin at the University of Maryland.

Oboist Dan Willett can't resist transcribing works written for other instruments for the oboe and this recording is a testament to not only his transcription abilities but also to his fine performances of repertoire not originally intended for oboe. Three works by Mozart, Grieg, and Prokofiev make up this recording — the Mozart and Grieg originally written for violin and the Prokofiev for flute. Willett is a professor at the University of Missouri School of Music. In addition to frequent solo and chamber recitals, Willett has performed with numerous orchestras and at festivals. His collaborator is Natalia Bolshakova, who enjoys and active performing career.

Martin Herman composed his Arena in 1990-91. Herman has worked at IRCAM with Pierre Boulez and in Iannis Xenakis' studio. He is currently on the faculty of California State University, Long Beach, where he teaches music composition and theory and directs the Computer and Electronic Music Studio. Augusta Read Thomas' coolly austere Whites resulted from the composer's desire to make a sonic equivalent of a visual exploration of white. Stephen Jaffe composed his Impromptu in 1987. It is a short set of variations based on a bluesy pavanne and was composed for a 70th birthday concert in honor of George Rochberg. Jaffe is currently on the faculty of Duke University where he directs the concert series "encounters with the Music of Our Time." According to the composer Randall Woolf, the hard-driving Nobody Move "tries to find the common ground between the menace of the hard-core Hollywood villain and the fearless bravado of the virtuoso pianist, with the audience as helpless victim, too frightened to bat an eye." John Harbison won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1987. His Four Occasional Pieces were written over a ten year period between larger, more serious works. Today he holds an endowed professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Robert Kyr's White Tigers is based on a legend found in Maxine Hong Kingston's novel "The Woman Warrior" in which a young girl learns the ways of a woman warrior in part by emulating a white tiger - the wildest, most mysterious beast in the jungle - and goes on to liberate her people from oppression.

In his introduction, pianist Agustin Muriago says that “This recording showcases Argentine composers from different backgrounds and time periods whose works are rooted in folk music. Most of these composers combined a Eurocentric musical tradition with Argentine folk music, producing stylized versions of milongas, tangos, and vidalas…” Agustin Muriago has presented recitals featuring Latin-American music at festivals in Hong Kong, New York, the Sonus International Music Festival and the Latin American Music Center, among others and offered recitals, lectures, and master classes in China, Chile, Brazil, and the U.S. A graduate of The Hartt School, New York University, and Rowan University, he now serves on the faculty at the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University.

The University of Houston Percussion Ensemble serves as the cornerstone of the Department of Percussion studies at the University's Moores School of Music. Established in 1997 and directed by Dr. Blake Wilkins, the Ensemble has steadily gained recognition throughout the state of Texas through appearances on campus and in public schools. The group achieved further distinction when it performed at the 2002 Texas Music Educator's Convention. Their selection as Winner in the 2003 Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Competition and its appearance at the 2003 Percussive Arts International Convention has secured its reputation internationally as a leader in percussion performance. Since its inception, the Ensemble has given the world or U.S. premieres of a number of new works. In the fall of 2002 it also initiated its Commissioning Project to encourage new works for the medium. Two of the works on this new disc, Donald Grantham's Houston Strokes and Rob Smith's Surge were among the first in this series. Percussion music has proven over the years to be phenomenally popular with performers as well as listeners. This release is an exceptional addition to the catalog; and wait until you hear Vaughan-Williams' Thomas Tallis Fantasia arranged for five marimbas and two vibraphones!

Currently a faculty member of the Washington Conservatory, Haskell Small received his musical training at the San Francisco Conservatory and Carnegie-Mellon University. He has studied piano with Leon Fleisher, William Masselos and Robert Sheldon and composition with Vincent Persichetti. His musical output is difficult to categorize. Nevertheless, it is clear that he is a throwback to the great composer/pianist tradition of the past four centuries. For almost three decades he has been performing internationally as a soloist. Throughout his teen years, he was adept at playing various jazz and rock styles by ear, but he did not acquire fluent musical literacy until he was 18. Although his compositions include works for cello, voice and various chamber and orchestral groupings, solo piano music remains the main thrust of his work. The program of solo piano music found on this disc was conceived, and is presented, with the intense concentration, wit, and quirky juxtapositions that Small's concert audiences have learned to expect.

The eleven pieces on this CD of piano music by Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León were composed across a span of almost fifty years, from student works (Rondó a la Criolla, Homenaje a Prokofiew, Preludes 1 and 2) written in the mid-1960s when León was doing post-graduate work at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in the municipio of Marianao, La Habana, to going gone, the brilliant reworking of Sondheim's "Good Things Going" she crafted in 2012. Born in La Habana, Cuba, León came to the U.S. as a young pianist in 1967 and became a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Her many honors and awards include the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement award and honorary doctorates from Colgate, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase and The Curtis Institute. Pianist Adam Kent has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, and in chamber music on four continents. A professor at the State University of New York at Oneonta, Kent studied at The Juilliard School. His recordings appear on the Bridge, Claves, and Albany record labels.

The 99 Beautiful Names of God are the names by which Muslims regard God. Composer J. Mark Scearce was inspired to interpret these names into music from a desire to heal. He created 99 Beautiful Names in order to help a pianist friend, ill from cancer, by giving her a set of small pieces that she could play to bring her back to her instrument and through it, back to health. Pianist John Cheek comments that "Mark's nobilissima visione for solo piano aims to heal and give the listener some soul time: Intimate, respectful ruminations on the Godhead or visions of Almighty Power."

Horn soloist Eric Ruske has established himself as an artist of international acclaim. Named Associate Principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20, his impressive solo career began when he won the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the 1987 American Horn Competition, and in 1988, the highest prize in the Concours International d'Interpretation Musicale in Reims, France. Of his recording of the complete Mozart Concerti with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The New York Times stated, "Mr. Ruske's approach, firmly positioned with the boundaries of balance, coherence and good taste that govern the Classical Style, enchants by virtue of its confidence, imagination and ebullient virtuosity." A member of the faculty of Boston University since 1990, Mr. Ruske also directs the Horn Seminar at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

Acclaimed saxophonist Christopher Creviston offers arrangements, piano reductions and a world premiere recording for his second recording on Albany Records. The arranger of the popular Poulenc Sonata for flute, Creviston has done a magnificent job of adapting this work for the saxophone. Composer Dorothy Chang wrote Two Preludes for Christopher Creviston in 1993 and they are receiving their world premiere recordings on this disc. As a soloist and with the Capitol Quartet, Christopher Creviston has been featured with bands and orchestras across the U.S., including the Baltimore, Indianapolis and National Symphony Orchestras and is in demand as a recitalist and clinician. Now on the faculty at the Crane School of Music, Dr. Creviston has held positions at the Greenwich House of Arts, the University of Windsor and the University of Michigan.

Mark Kroll writes: "Composers began writing new music for the harpsichord almost as soon as the instrument was rescued from extinction at the end of the 19th century. In fact, their contributions have played an important role in returning the harpsichord to its rightful place in the musical mainstream. The number of compositions has grown dramatically since those early days - and so has the quality. Each new work seems to exploit the unique sonorities of the instrument with ever increasing skill and sensitivity, and the contemporary repertoire now features excellent harpsichord music by almost every great composer of our time. American composers have been particularly enthusiastic advocates for the instrument. Six of them are represented on my first CD of contemporary American harpsichord music for Albany Records (TROY 457). This recording continues my exploration and support of this repertoire, and features some of the most exciting new contributions to the genre. All except the Hovhaness have been written in the last 25 years, and three belong to the first harpsichord pieces of the 21st century.

Born in New York City, Jay Reise's choreographic tone-poem The Selfish Giant, based on a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Djong Yu in London in 1997. His opera Rasputin, described in The Washington Times as "a spellbinding, challenging and profoundly beautiful creation," was commissioned and premiered by the New York City Opera in 1988. Memory Refrains (a string quartet in one movement) was premiered by the Cassatt Quartet in 2002. Open Night was the first work commissioned by the Kimmel Center Fresh Ink Contemporary Music Series in Philadelphia in 2003. Reise studied with George Crumb, jazzman Jimmy Giuffre, Hugh Hartwell, Carnatic rhythm with Adrian L'Armand, harmony with George Rochberg, and Richard Wernick. Deeply influenced by Carnatic (South Indian) music and jazz, Reise has developed his own rhythmic method which is a signature element of his music after 1990. Jay Reise is the Robert Weiss Professor of Music Composition at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and president of contemporary music ensemble Orchestra 2001. Marc-Andre Hamelin is universally regarded as one of today's masters of the keyboard. Critics and audiences alike have enthusiastically responded to his seemingly boundless technique, which embraces both stunning virtuosity and profound sensitivity. The New York Times dubbed him a "supervirtuoso," and the London Financial Times said, "Hamelin's wizardry defies the laws of nature." Mr. Hamelin's work in the recital hall and on the orchestral stage has taken him throughout the world. His prolific recording career has resulted in nearly 45 recordings and numerous industry awards and nominations.

Violinist Martha Walvoord and double bass player Jack Unzicker are both on the faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington with notable performing and teaching careers. This recording of new works for violin and double bass has as its centerpiece Michael Daugherty's The Diaries of Adam and Eve. The work was inspired by a novella of the same name by Mark Twain, which was published in 1906. Divided into seven movements, the music animates Twain's witty reimagining of the biblical tale of the first woman and man to inhabit the earth and the Garden of Eden. Other works written by George B, Chave, Andrea Clearfield, Tom Knific, and Daniel M. Cavanagh round out this program of new music for this unusual ensemble.

Pianist and educator David Witten's career has included numerous concert tours in Europe, Israel, Russia, China, and South America. He is the editor of Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis, which includes his landmark analytical study of the Chopin Ballades. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, SUNY Buffalo and Boston University, he is on the faculty of Montclair State University. Witten has chosen four works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who was born in Florence, but whose ancestry traces directly back to a Sephardic Jewish family that escaped the Spanish Inquisition. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's musical style is filled with colorful harmonies and a penchant for modal melodies. Coming to the United States in the mid-1930s, he found work at MGM and other studios, ultimately composing soundtracks for more than 200 films. This recording features both his early and late piano works -- two concert suites from 1924 and works from his later years in California.

This recording of works for cello is special because all of the compositions were written for Eric Bartlett. Music by one of America's most distinguished composers, Hugo Weisgall; two young composers, David Sanford and Peter Susser; as well as the gifted composer Paul Suits, is offered in stunning performances. Each of these composers has, in his own way, found the essence of cello. Eric Bartlett, a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, has also served as principal cellist of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival for 14 years. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts and the Juilliard School, he is the recipient of a Solo Recitalist's Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pianist Ryan Fogg is on the faculty at Carson-Newman College. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston and East Texas Baptist University. Fogg has chosen works by composers from around the country for this program of contemporary American piano music. What is particularly interesting is the range of expression and unique compositional style displayed by these composers who are contemporaries.

Pantcho Vladigerov has justifiably earned the symbolic title of Grand Master of the Bulgarian school of composing. It fell upon Vladigerov to become the first recognized representative and brilliant herald of the young Bulgarian art of composing that was trying to find its own place in the world of music after 500 years of being yoked by the Ottoman Empire. His enormous gift and the wide spectrum of his creations gave Bulgarian music what the other great musical nations took pride in long before his star began to rise. Vladigerov, known in the West as the teacher of Alexis Weissenberg, was a composer-pianist with electrifying technique, dazzling energy, and driving spirit. Pantcho Vladigerov's mother was a medical doctor and was related to Boris Pasternak and his father was a lawyer. In 1912, he was sent, with his brother to Berlin where he studied with Paul Juon. He also studied piano with Heinrich Bart who was a pupil of Franz Liszt. At fifteen Pantcho entered the School of Music. In 1918, he composed his first piano concerto for the Russian pianist Leonid Kreutzer. The performance of this work brought him recognition. In 1932 he returned to Bulgaria where he became Professor of Piano, Chamber Music and Composition at the Academy of Music in Sofia. For the next forty years he concertized, composed and made recordings. He died in 1978 at the age of 79. Alexander Vladigerov studied composition and piano with his father as well as conducting with Nathan Rachlin in Kiev. He was ferociously promoting George Gershwin and American jazz in Bulgaria at a time when such artists were persecuted by the Communists for similar activities.

Violinist Timothy Schwarz conceived of this recording as an exploration of works by living American composers who are writing in a wide range of musical styles. Some are heavily influenced by older composers; others are writing in a musical tradition they were not born into, exploring these ideas from the view of an outsider; and still others are taking well established genres and writing in a way that bridges them with the world of classical music. The works on this recording are beautiful, painful, though-provoking, and fun. Violinist Timothy Schwarz has enjoyed a brilliant career as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. He served as an Artistic Ambassador for the United States from 1996-2001, bringing American music throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. He is currently on the faculty at Rowan University and a visiting professor at the London College of Music. He is joined on this recording by a stellar group of musicians including Charles Abramovic, Douglas Mapp, and Doug Hirlinger.

This recording features the bird-like and zephyr quality of the flute in works of virtuosity and lyricism, but also highlights extended techniques, 21st century nuances, and contemporary lyrical styles, bringing to light the complete and modern capabilities of the instrument. Distinguished soloist, Dr. Tia Roper, was the grand prizewinner of the 2004-05 Artists International Debut Recital Award as well as a winner of the New York Flute Club Competition. She has served as principal flutist of the New York String Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and has performed as a soloist with the Queens Symphony Orchestra. She has given numerous concert performances in Russia, Switzerland, the Barbados, Japan, Venezuela and throughout the United States. She studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Boston University, and obtained her D.M.A. from Rutgers University. She serves on the faculty of the Bloomingdale School of Music and the Usdan Center for the Creative & Performing Arts. Her collaborator, pianist Mitchell Vines, enjoys an active performing career in Europe, South America, Asia and the United States. A graduate of Portland State University and Eastman, Vines is music and choir director of the Unitarian Church in Summit, New Jersey and Temple Israel in New York City.

Bernard Hoffer, born in Switzerland, came to the United States in 1941. He received degrees from Eastman, served as an arranger for the U.S. Army Field Band of Washington, D.C., and worked in New York as a freelance musician, composer, conductor and arranger. He is known not only for his chamber and orchestral music but also for works written for films, television, and commercials, notably the score to Thundercats, and themes for PBS News Hour and The American Experience. This fifth release devoted to his music on Albany Records features music for piano and the composer says that many of them are of a biographical nature, inspired by events or observations. Randall Hodgkinson, the distinguished American pianist is the featured performer, joined by Leslie Amper on Hoffer's work for two pianos, Events and Excursions.

Ezra Laderman is one of the last of that great generation of composers who first made a mark in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These are recent pieces, B'Shert having been written for Hsu. As she writes, The Sonata No. 3 is a spectacular work, with a depth that is both despairing and sublime! Since making her stage debut at age four, Hsing-ay Hsu has performed at such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall and abroad in Asia and Europe. Born in Beijing, Hsu began piano lessons with her parents, and later studied with Fei-Ping Hsu, Herbert Stessin at Juilliard, and Claude Frank at Yale. This recording adds to the comprehensive discography of Laderman's chamber works.

The versatile Duehlmeier-Gritton Duo has met with accolades throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East as they have performed works from Bach to Stravinsky. Most recent engagements have taken them to Asia for performances in Nanjing, China; Austria for a recital at Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna; Poland for a performance at the Autumn Warsaw Festival, and many other locations. They have also performed on the Dame Myra Hess series in both Chicago and Los Angeles where their recitals were broadcast on Public Radio. Orchestral performances include numerous collaborations with the Utah Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Symphony and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Their recording of the Henry Wolking Concerto for Two Pianos, 'Letting Midnight Out on Bail,' was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. In fact, the Wolking Midnight Jazz Suite on this new CD is extracted from that Concerto. Susan Duehlmeier studied with Leonard Shure at Boston University and Bonnie Gritton studied with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles, and they met at the University of Utah as faculty members. With shared musical training in the Schnabel tradition and similar tastes in repertoire, their musical partnership was launched.

While the first piano made its appearance in China in the late 19th century, Chinese piano composition did not begin until the 1930s. The common thread with the music on this compact disc is the use of traditional Chinese elements and their manifestation of a Chinese spirit. The music selected, spanning the period from the 1930s to 2007, traces the formation and development of a true Chinese style of piano writing. Pianist Tianshu Wang has been acclaimed by the press as a "superbly talented pianist" who plays with "prodigious technique and eloquent phrasing." A Steinway artist, Ms. Wang has performed across the U.S., China, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan. She is on the faculty of Capital University's Conservatory of Music as well as the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in China.

This recording's selections exemplify many of the features found throughout the extensive but largely little known body of Polish violin-keyboard writing. The wide stylistic variety parallels the diversity within Poland's cultural traditions shaped, in turn, by a long history of frequently changed borders and territorial makeup. Starting long before Poland's culturally progressive "Golden Age" (mid 15th-16th centuries), these connections occurred through trade, religious, intellectual, artistic, marriage and other contacts. As a result, this music, like the rest of Poland's culture, is generally western-oriented but sometimes includes distinctive eastern elements. Folk elements are often equally important. Most obvious is the use of Polish dances, e.g. the mazurka, but dance-related rhythmic figures, or their characteristic accents on normally less-strong beats or rhythmic subdivisions are often transplanted to non-dance settings. The historical association of Polish folk traditions with fiddles and then the violin itself (long Poland's most popular folk instrument), is so close that Poland's classical violin performance tradition reaching back to c. 1500 can also be considered to be an extension of her much longer folk practice. While the earliest of Poland's many widely-famous violinists date from the 19th century, numbers of Polish violinists were already known for their high level of performing throughout Europe in the 16th century. Likewise, effective keyboard writing on this CD reflects a rich Polish keyboard tradition, sometimes with the composer being either a performing pianist (like Chopin and Paderewski) or able to play the instrument with a high degree of accomplishment (Bacewicz).

Jeremy Reynolds has recorded the complete works of David Maslanka for clarinet. The 2-CD set includes world premiere recordings of Fourth Piece, Eternal Garden, Trio No. 1, Trio No. 3, and Images from the "Old Gringo." David Maslanka, who died in 2017, was not only a noted composer, but much loved and admired, particularly by wind and brass players. This recording project, which began in 2008, had the benefit of countless hours of collaboration between Maslanka and the musicians. Hailed as a "wizard of sound" Jeremy Reynolds is on the faculty at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music and is associate principal clarinet of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. He has performed on six continents, making his Carnegie Hall Debut in 2015 and has concertized extensively around the world. His collaborators include pianist Heidi Brende Leathwood, violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, and violist Basil Vendryes — all of whom are on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music. An interview with Matthew Maslanka can be found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MI667gKMHDU.

Since their first performance in Carnegie Hall in 2007, saxophonist Christopher Creviston and pianist Hannah Gruber have been guests on series and festivals across the United States. Active proponents of new music, they have commissioned works by Katherine Hoover, John Fitz Rogers and Gregory Wanamaker, among others. A former New York freelancer, Christopher Creviston is on the faculty of the Crane School of Music. He has appeared in venues ranging from Carnegie and Merkin to Paisley Park and the Apollo Theatre. In addition to his work with Hannah Gruber, Creviston performs regularly with the Capitol Quartet.

Composer Luke Dahn says that this recording has been a true collaboration from start to finish, with every piece being written especially for pianist Viktor Valkov, who provided input at each step of the compositional process. Dahn's compositions are heard throughout the United States and abroad performed by noted new music ensembles such as the Moscow Conservatory Studio for New Music, the League of Composers Chamber Players, and others. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the J.D. Robb International Composition Competition in 2014. He studied at the University of Iowa and Western Michigan University and is now on the faculty at the University of Utah. Viktor Valkov was the winner of the 2015 Astral Artists National Auditions and gold medalist at the 2012 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He has performed as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician. He is on the faculty at the University of Utah.

The six works on this disc were composed over a 57-year span from 1958 to 2015. They present a series of snapshots of composer Harvey Sollberger's compositional concerns through the medium of the flute. In the 35 compositions that feature the flute, these six can be thought of as the plums, but are not the only ones by any means. Harvey Sollberger, now 80 years old, has had a distinguished career as a composer, flutist, and conductor. He co-founded the Group for Contemporary Music, the first contemporary music ensemble in residence at an American university. His music has been performed throughout the world, his discography now tops 150 commercial releases and he has taught at Columbia, the Manhattan School of Music, the Indiana University School of Music and the University of California, San Diego. The IWO Flute Quartet, named after its members' home states of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, was formed in 2011 by four leading Pacific Northwest flutists. Each member (Sydney Carlson, Leonard Garrison, Jennifer Rhyne, and Paul Taub) advocates for contemporary music and enjoys significant careers as performers and educators.

Percussionist and baritone vocalist Lee Hinkle, whose percussion playing has been called "rock-steady" by the Washington Post, is the principal percussionist with the 21st Century Consort and a faculty member at the University of Maryland in College Park. An active recitalist and soloist, Hinkle has performed at universities and festivals across the U.S., and with the National Symphony Orchestra and Taipei Philharmonic. His recordings can be heard on six labels. For this recording, Hinkle explores the boundaries between contemporary music and theatre, performing compositions by Greek composer Georges Aperghis and American composers Daniel Adams and Stuart Saunders Smith as well as one of Hinkle's own compositions. These works include The Authors, a marimba opera, is made up of 11 movements with spoken and sung texts excerpted from various authors' novels, poems and sonnets. The performer is tasked with speaking, singing, whistling, and acting while playing the marimba.

Tanya Bannister's career began with her victories at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the New Orleans International Piano Competition, confirming her status among the leading pianists of her generation. Ms. Bannister has a special affinity for contemporary music. As she says, "I find the experience of working with composers to be an enlightening and energizing one..." Three works on this recording Del Tredici, Farrin, and Theofanidis were commissioned for her by Concert Artists Guild.

Molly Morkoski introduces her disc noting that "The selections on this disc encompass my musical journey as a college and graduate student through my time as a beginning professional in New York City. Three of the works represent my time in study with teaches whose musical input and genius still instructs my work today...There is the traditional repertoire of my youth and undergraduate studies, the period of discovery and love of new harmonic and rhythmic structures from my time as a master's student, and a final synthesis and balance of all styles from my time as both a doctoral student and professional musician in New York City." Morkoski has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, and has appeared at major concert halls and festivals around the world. She was a Fulbright scholar and the recipient of the Teresa Sterne Career Grant and the Thayer-Ross Awards. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Indiana University and SUNY-Stony Brook. Currently she is on the faculty at CUNY's Lehman College.

This disc contains three wonderful American works for piano, two of which, the Converse and the Oldberg, are receiving their world premiere performances here. The least known figure on the disc has to be Arne Oldberg. Who was he? He was the teacher of Howard Hanson for starters. He was born and lived in the Chicago area. His father, Oscar Oldberg, founded in 1886 and was the first Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Northwestern University. His son, Dr. Eric Oldberg, became President of both of the Chicago Board of Health and the Orchestral Association, the governing body of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Arne was appointed Professor of Music at Northwestern University in 1899, and later Dean of the graduate school, a position he held until he retired in 1941. Mary Louise Boehm writes: "I met Mr. Oldberg after he had retired. I premiered his Third Piano Concerto with the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Oldberg himself played for me his Piano Sonata which is recorded here. He also coached me, explaining his ideas about the piece to me." Frederick Shepherd Converse never had to worry about money as he was born into a prominent Boston family. He studied with John Knowles Paine at Harvard and also George Whitefield Chadwick. In 1896, he went to Munich where he studied with Joseph Rheinberger. For awhile, he taught at the New England Conservatory and Harvard, but he soon retired to his estate in Westwood, Massachusetts, near Boston, where he lived the rest of his life. Nothing much needs to be said as way of introduction for Amy Beach except to say that Mary Louise Boehm is an expert in the performance of her music. Her recording of the Beach Piano Concerto is still considered definitive.