Copland: Piano Sonata / Piano Fantasy / Piano Variations

Featuring

Benjamin Pasternack
Aaron Copland

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Composer Biography

Aaron Copland's solo piano music is his most extensive output outside of orchestral works, spanning from 1920 to 1982.

Composition History

Aaron Copland dedicated his Piano Fantasy to the memory of William Kapell, a young American virtuoso pianist who died in a plane crash in 1953.

Compositional Technique

The Piano Fantasy, one of Copland's most ambitious works, is a single-movement piece that freely employs serial procedures while maintaining a discernibly tonal feel.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Aaron Copland himself described his Piano Fantasy as a "spontaneous and unpremeditated sequence of 'events' that would carry the listener irresistibly from first note to last."

Composer's Artistic Vision

The three major piano works on this album — Piano Sonata, Piano Fantasy, and Piano Variations — reveal the intensely serious side of Aaron Copland, contrasting with his more popular music.

Performer Biography

Benjamin Pasternack, the pianist on this recording, won the Grand Prize at the inaugural World Music Masters Piano Competition in 1989 and the highest prize at the Busoni International Piano Competition in 1988.