Discovering America

America has always had an uneasy relationship with classical European culture, especially musically. The Americans who composed concert music for solo piano needed to discover their own true voices, influenced by European tradition but with independent, unique and idiosyncratic visions. The resulting works are amongst the greatest and most striking compositions of the past 125 years. We will explore music for piano by Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, John Cage, Morton Feldman and Steve Reich, with special attention to pieces playable by intermediate level pianists, with sounds that won't drive the neighbors crazy!