#ursulaoppens

[budaallmusic]

Richard Wilson / Colin McPhee ‎– Music For Solo Flute / Concert Piece For Violin And Piano / Concerto For Piano With Wind Octette Accompaniment #composersrecordingsinc 1973 US Composed By – #RichardWilson Flute – #HarveySollberger Piano – #UrsulaOppens Violin – #RolfSchulte Composed By – #ColinMcPhee Conductor – #CarlosSurinach Piano – #GrantJohannese

[musicnewshq]

Bruce Brubaker is one of the most exciting pianists in the contemporary American classical scene. Beyond his formidable chops, which speak for themselves, he excels as a curator, a role that classical soloists are increasingly expected to fill. Along with Ursula Oppens, Brubaker executed that role fabulously on the 2014 ECM album Piano Songs, which contained two-piano arrangements of pieces by the great New York composer Meredith Monk (whose work is usually heard sung, often with accompaniment on one piano). Those performances were faithful to the source material, but also visionary—a new way “in” to music written by an icon whose work was a key part of the 1970s New York scene.

In that light, it’s easy to skim the release details of Glass Piano, Brubaker’s new album of piano pieces by another New York icon, Philip Glass, and think it’s a little too obvious. Glass Piano mostly repeats the program of the composer’s own Solo Piano album, from 1989. On account of that recording’s major-label distribution (and its decades of popularity), its contents—including "Mad Rush", the five-part "Metamorphosis", and "Wichita Vortex Sutra"—amount to some of the most famous Glass compositions. These are often the only pieces a casual listener will know from Glass’s...