Stephen Hartke Piano Album, Volume. 2: Piano Sonatas

Volume one of the Stephen Hartke Piano Album covers more than thirty years of the composers considerable output of shorter works for solo piano. Nearly all the pieces in this volume were composed as gifts for friends and thus belong to thetime-honored if somewhat quaint category of Albumblätter (Album Leaves). From a compositional standpoint most of them involve some distinctive feature which connects each work to its dedicatee. Included works: Post-Modern Homages (Set I) Post-Modern Homages (Set II) Preludio sopra due soggetti cavati The Flames of the Sun Make the Desert Flower Hysterical and The Piano Dreams of Empire.

Awarded two Grammys in 2013: Best Contemporary Classical Composition to Stephen Hartke and Best Chamber Music Performance to eighth blackbird for their album “Meanwhile” on Cedille Records (CDR90000133). Commissionedfor eighth blackbird by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. Incorporates various forms of Asian court and theater music from Japanese Bunraku to Vietnamese water puppets both Indonesian and Turkish shadow puppets toclassic Burmese court theater.INSTRUMENTATION:Flute (d Picc A fl large Flexatone beaters removed); Clarinet (BCl large Flexatone beaters removed); Viola (scordatura: B-F#-C#-G#); Cello; Percussion; Piano