FOSS: Works for Solo Piano (Complete) - Scott Dunn

erlin-born Lukas Foss has figured prominently in American music as a distinguished composer, conductor and pianist. His career encompasses the breadth of 20th century techniques and is well represented in this first complete recording of his output for solo piano performed by his close associate, American pianist and conductor, Scott Dunn. The earliest work on the recording, Grotesque Dance, is characteristically light-hearted. Foss’s subsequent neo-classical tendencies are evident in Four Two-Part Inventions, Passacaglia and Scherzo Ricercato. The virtuosic Fantasy Rondo and the tender Prelude in D are infused with the influence of jazz, and of the composer’s mentor, Aaron Copland. Later experimental tendencies are heard in Solo, in which he deftly combines minimalist, serial, and tonal techniques. The coy For Lenny was written in honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 70th birthday and premièred by Foss himself at Tanglewood.