Timo Andres, Piano
Part of: Zankel Hall Center Stage
Performers
Timo Andres, Piano
Program
TIMO ANDRES Fiddlehead (World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
ROBIN HOLCOMB Wherein Lies the Good
ELLINGTON / STRAYHORN "The Single Petal of a Rose" (arr. Timo Andres) from The Queen’s Suite
GABRIELLA SMITH Imaginary Pancake (NY Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
ELLINGTON "Reflections in D" (arr. Timo Andres)
COPLAND Piano Sonata
ELLINGTON "Prelude to a Kiss" (arr. Timo Andres)
RZEWSKI Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
PHILIP GLASS Etude No. 20
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
The varied all-American program that Timo Andres has put together for his Covid-delayed Carnegie Hall solo debut reflects his omnivorous musical appetite as well as the country’s motley musical culture. As the pianist wrote in a note for his cello concerto, Upstate Obscura, “The question of what constitutes ‘Americanness’ in art has long interested me. It’s a somewhat self-serving interest, of course, since I’m an American composer. But it’s useful to think about. It was little more than 100 years ago that composers started writing music that sounded ‘American,’ transcending the Eurocentric pastiches of earlier efforts. It’s a recent enough occurrence that one can still imagine different paths composers could’ve taken, could still take.” Alongside pieces by singer-songwriter Robin Holcomb, jazz great Duke Ellington, and minimalist master Philip Glass, the bill of fare includes new works by Andres and Gabriella Smith, as well as a pair of older “classics,” Aaron Copland’s Piano Sonata and Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues. Of the latter, Andres says: “Both pieces represent, to me, the best qualities in American music—a directness, almost bluntness, that manages to be at once vernacular and avant-garde.”