Composer: William Bland
Performer: Kevin Gorman
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Bridge
Catalogue: BRIDGE9556
Release: 2021
Size: 1 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Sonata No. 17 in A minor
01. I. Allegretto. Capriccio
02. II. Allegressimo
03. III. Lento
04. IV. Musette – Allegro, piu allegro
Piano Sonata No. 18 in G minor
05. I. Allegro Maestoso
06. II. Chaconne
07. III. Intermezzo – Largo cantabile
08. IV. Allegro – piu andante
William Bland’s cycle of 24 piano sonatas, one in each of the major and minor keys, was composed between the years 1998 and 2014. The cycle is the West Virginia-born composer’s magnum opus, and is a summation of an extraordinarily wide range of cultural influences. The musical content of the sonatas merges strains of the simple and complex, popular and classical, romantic and modernist. American pianist Kevin Gorman, in his debut recording writes: “the essence of these sonatas is passion, which beckons me as a pianist to recipro- cate the intensity with which these originally had been composed.”