Composers A to Z

A selective lineup of some of the composers whose works I have played.


Don at batting practice A  Theodore Antoniou. I premiered his work Aphierosis in my first Dinosaur Annex concert in 1987. He brought me to Greece with Alea III in summer 2003, where (outdoors at Epidavros) we performed new theater, film, and popular music by classical Greek composers.

B  There are a lot of B composers to choose from! Among the most scintillating is Milton Babbitt, whose Septet but Equal I premiered. There is also Bartok, whose Violin Sonatas Daniel Stepner and I have performed together. OK, Bach, Beethoven, & Brahms can also be marvelous cornerstones of any program.

C  George Crumb. I last played Vox Balanae at Jordan Hall's First Monday concerts with flutist Reneé Krimsier and Yeesun Kim, cellist of the Borromeo Quartet.

D  Tamar Diesendruck, whose aptly titled Sound Reasoning in the Tower of Babel, often finds a way into my programs. I performed her Being as How in its premiere performance with John Harbison conducting. Her trio On That Day, which I performed with Tom Chiu and Darrett Adkins of the Flux Quartet, kicked off the opening concert of the Americans in Rome concert series.

E  Paul Elwood—composer, banjo player, and velcro tap dancer. I premiered his Altars Altered at a concert in Rome.

F  Charles Fussell. I commissioned and premiered his wonderful Piano Trio for First Night 1999. In 2003 that work was choreographed by the Nicola Hawkins Dance Company, and I got to play it again with Cyrus Stevens, violin, and Michael Curry, cello.

G  Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the great 19th century composer and pianist. Born in New Orleans, he traveled throughout the Americas. I often play his Marche di Gibaros: Souvenir di Porto Rico for toe-tapping audiences.

H  I love Henze and Hyla and Hartke, but I must single out Franz Joseph Haydn, one of my heroes. He was born on a farm and wrote for princes. I often turn to the E-minor, C-major, and A-flat major Sonatas for inspiration.

I  Ives. And I don't mean Burl!

J   Scott Joplin. I performed Martha Graham's last ballet, Maple Leaf Rag, around the world with her dance company in the 1990s.

K  Zoltan Kodaly. I love the lack of artifice in his works. I perform his op 3 Kilenc Zongoradarab. In my World Tour lecture-recital, I play recorded examples of Hungarian Cimbalom music to illustrate the influence in Kodaly's work.

L  Arthur Levering. I have played and recorded two CDs of his music. He got the idea for School of Velocity after hearing my performance of another "L" composer, David Lang (a premiere of his flute trio Burn Notice). I recently performed Arthur's Echoii with Nicholas Kitchen, violinist of the Borromeo Quartet.

M  Felix Mendelssohn, composer of my youth. I played his Capriccio Brillante with the Westchester Symphony Orchestra when I was 17.

N  Jeff Nichols wrote Caracole for me in 1996 (published by C.F. Peters). A caracole is a half turn to the right or left performed by a horse and rider.

O  Leo Ornstein, who incredibly lived to age 108. In lecture-recitals on American music, I sometimes include his A Dirge of the Trenches, written at the end of WWI.

P  Geoffrey Poole. I got to play the American premiere of Septembral, a very cool piece for bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, with Dinosaur Annex in Boston.

Q  Qin Yi. I played his music at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, when I was invited to join Bright Sheng during his residency there.

R  Maurice Ravel. I first played his Concerto in G as a winner of the Westchester Conservatory Concerto Competition in 1979.

S  Robert Schumann finds his way onto many of my programs. And Leonard Shure greatly influenced my study of the Piano Sonatas, Kreisleriana, and Fantasy.

T  Su Lian Tan is a brilliant composer residing in Middlebury, Vermont. I performed her Inventions and Sinfonia at the Monadnock Music Festival in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

U  Chinary Ung. Seven Mirrors for solo piano.

V  The brothers Viñao: Ezequiel and Alejandro. Ezequiel's brilliant electro-acoustic work Conference of the Birds makes up the better half of one of my electro-acoustic concerts; Alejandro's Triple Concerto was my initiation piece for Dinosaur Annex in 1987.

W  Scott Wheeler. My good friend Scott wrote Flow Chart for me in 1993. In 1998 he wrote Epithalamion for my wedding. I recorded his Dragon Mountain with the Grammercy Trio. Also I must mention Yehudi Wyner. His brilliant Horn Trio was the culminating work on the Americans in Rome concert series. I enjoyed performing it with William Purvis, horn, and Sunghae Anna Li, violin.

X  Iannis Xenakis. Evryali for piano solo.

Y  Chen Yi's work Qi was played by Dinosaur Annex in 1999.

Z  Three, actually: Arlene Zallman, Marilyn Ziffrin (also Carl Ruggles' Biographer!), and Ellen Taafe Zwillich. After playing a few of her pieces over the years, I had the pleasure to sit on a panel moderated by Ellen at the Florida State University biannual music festival.