Solo Piano Music
Justin Kolb (piano)
A proponent of American music, pianist Justin Kolb frequently performs the music of Joan Tower, Tania Leon, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Peter Schickele. He has performed premieres of music by Robert Starer, Paul Alan Levi and Jan Bach. His program of Starer's solo piano music in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was hailed by the New York Times as a "Piano Recital Program with a difference." Kolb also performs much of the standard keyboard literature with an emphasis on Beethoven, Liszt and Alkan. The notes for this disc are written by the composer who has had a life-long love affair with the piano. Contemporary music lovers will find this program most appealing and refreshing.
Track Listing
| Title | Composer | Performer |
|---|---|---|
| Sonata for Piano, No. 3 | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
| From Sketches In Color, Set Two | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
| Prelude & Toccata | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
| The Ideal Self | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
| Twilight Fantasies | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
| The Contemporary Virtuoso | Robert Starer | Justin Kolb, piano |
Reviews
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"Robert Starer was born in Vienna in 1924, and received a substantial portion of his training there. He came to the United States in 1947 to study at Juilliard, and has been here since, as an honored teacher at several New York City musical institutions. In temperament and style, he sounds like an American composer. His highly accessible piano music features a good deal of adventuresome harmonic language, but in essence it is tuneful and at times impressionistic. Like so many American composers, he is indifferent to serialism, despite a brief flirtation with the approach in the early 1950s. Although a single CD does not do the wide-ranging music of Starer justice, there is a core of Neoclassicism to the body of work on this CD that is strongly reminiscent of Prokofiev's way with older forms, such as sonatas and fugues.Justin Kolb has become a champion and friend of the composerHe plays all of the music with vigor, dexterity, and affection."
*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.