Faculty Album Release: Roger Reynolds at 85, Vol. 2: Piano Etudes

Via mode records:

This is the second of two volumes celebrating “Roger Reynolds at 85,”and marks the first recording of his Piano Etudes, in two Books.

Book I was written between 2010 and 2011, Book II in 2016–2017. 

Reynolds’ Etudes allows the performer to not only choose the number of Etudes to be presented (even repeating them, if desired) as well as their order. In this way, the performer becomes a co-creator with the composer.  All 12 Etudes are presented in this recording by Eric Huebner.

Each Etude inhabits a world distinctly its own.   Reynolds dares a remarkable leap from the first to the second book. Rather than merely continue the premises and promises established by the first six etudes, the second six constitute a difference in kind rather than an extension. Their complexity is intensified, their investigations more extreme, even though they make comparable technical demands. 

The Etudes carry subtle quotations from Reynolds’ own, earlier piano works as well as the traditional literature of piano etudes. The lineup Reynolds has chosen includes Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Debussy, and Ligeti. Yet these allusions are not mere homages, and these quotations range from fleeting to obsessive. 

Reynolds collaborated with Huebner on the 2009 Mode release, Epigram and Evolution (mode 212/13), an anthology of Reynolds’ piano works to that date. This led the composer to value Huebner’s extraordinary capacity to combine virtuoso technique with Zen-like concentration. Their artistic bond inspired Reynolds to contemplate writing his own brand of etudes. 

Composer supervised first recordings. 

Track Listing:

BOOK I: Origins

1. Mercurial  2:09
2. Persistence  4:04
3. Alternation  7:27
4.Web  4:03
5. Fixities  7:22
6. Barrage  4:04

BOOK II: Extensions

1. Migration  8:22
2. Concatenation  10:21
3. Calligraphy  7:22
4. Rips  10:46
5. Insistence  8:04
6. Field  4:54

Eric Huebner, piano

Pianist Eric Huebner has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and has been featured in works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud and R. Strauss among others. In June 2012 he gave the New York Premiere of Elliott Carter's Two Conversations and a Controversy for piano, percussion and chamber orchestra with Musicians of the New York Philharmonic, Collin Currie, percussion and David Robertson conducting as part of the CONTACT! series. He has previously collaborated with Mr. Robertson in performances of Gyorgy Ligeti's Piano Concerto and Olivier Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques. From 2001 through 2012, Huebner has been a member of Antares, a quartet comprised of clarinet, violin, cello and piano. First prize winners of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Antares appears regularly in major chamber music venues throughout the United States and worked closely with many composers on the commissioning of new works for its combination.

A passionate interpreter of the music of our time, Huebner has premiered countless works, including a recent set of piano etudes by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Roger Reynolds with whom he's had a particularly fruitful collaboration. Huebner has been involved with the New York Philharmonic's CONTACT! series since its inception and is a member of the orchestra's Contemporary Music Ensemble Committee. A regular visitor to the west coast, Huebner has twice been a featured recitalist at the Ojai Festival in California, has performed on the Monday Evening series in Los Angeles, the Carlsbad Music Festival, Piano Spheres and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In New York City, he has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Carnegie’s Zankel and Weill Recital Hall, Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, (le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette and Subculture. Additionally, he has appeared with numerous NYC-based contemporary music ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, New York New Music Ensemble, American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Manhattan Sinfonietta, So Percussion and the American Modern Ensemble.

A devoted teacher as well as performer, Mr. Huebner is an Associate Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) where he maintains a studio of graduate and undergraduate piano majors and minors and teaches courses in 20th century piano music and piano literature. Since the fall of 2014, he has been a member of the adjunct faculty of The Juilliard School where he teaches a course in orchestral keyboard performance.

Mr. Huebner’s performances have been broadcast on PBS and NPR, and on radio stations KMOZ (Los Angeles), WNYC (New York), Radio Bremen (Germany), ORF (Austria) and the BBC. He has recorded for Col Legno, Centaur, Bridge, Albany, Tzadik, Innova, New Focus Recordings and Mode Records. A recent solo release on New Focus Recordings features Huebner in works by Schumann, Carter and Stravinsky. Mr. Huebner holds a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He lives in Buffalo and New York City and is married to composer Caroline Mallonée.