This CD began as a call for scores. I posted on the Washington Composers Forum that I was looking for new pieces to perform or possibly record: seventy composers responded with scores. Submissions were anonymous and I was surprised at the high quality of the music I received.

This is how I learned of the music of Brian Fennelly—hard, but so worth the effort—and David Philip Norris—also hard and also worth the effort. A few composers were friends—Marti Epstein, David Johnson and Michael Weinstein—and Al Vizzutti was briefly a teacher of mine who has had an outsized influence. (I was working on the Halsey Stevens Sonata for a graduate recital when I came to a lesson wondering where to breath in a phrase. Al looked at it, almost wondering what could be the problem and then simply played the entire phrase in one breath.)

Thanks to Herbert Tiemeyer, Phillip Collins, James Darling, Mary Squire, Tim Morrison, Al Vizzutti and Stephen Jones who taught me through lessons or by example. You are directly responsible for what I have achieved.

Thanks to Cristina Valdez for her amazing performance.

Thanks to Ron Haight for putting up with me through the editing process. My procrastination made the work much more difficult and for that I apologize.

Thanks to Tom Baker for taking Ron’s work and making it sound even better through the mastering process.

Dedicated to Susan Thornberg who has heard my routine for more than twenty years and has not yet left me.

Recorded at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Seattle, spring 2011; release in 2023.

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