Susan Kander

"Hermestänze rises beautifully to the challenge of compressing a lot of musical information into a small space…swift, evocative pencil sketches. [...] A Garden’s Time Piece...is equally lovely and evanescent – most of the songs take no longer than a minute and leave you at once satisfied and waiting for more."

  -- Joshua Kosman, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"…subdued and gentle Messiaen-like sonorities… sly humor…. Kander writes most graciously for the violin.
I think she has succeeded brilliantly, skillfully juxtaposing movements of greater and lesser tonality such that the listener’s interest never flags…. Kander in this recital proves herself to be a composer of vivid imagination and skill …. Twenty first-century music enthusiasts won’t want to miss this one."

-- David Canfield, FANFARE MAGAZINE

"The highlights...include ‘The Lyre’, which the violinist plucks out while simultaneously bowing a timeless lullaby against Lee Dionne’s lovely piano surreally doubling the tune. By contrast, Kander’s study of Apollo, another god of music, is raptly serene. [Solo Sonata​ for violin-viola-violin] is eloquent, impersonal and...wrenchingly powerful."

--Laurence Vittes, GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE

MSR Classics has just released this album featuring three wonderful musicians: Jacob Ashworth, violin; Lee Dionne, piano, and Jessica Petrus, soprano. I am immensely honored to have worked with these extraordinary artists.

The title work, commissioned by Jacob Ashworth for violin and piano, is a 30-minute dramatic cycle based on the multi-faceted Greek god Hermes. Solo Sonata for violin-viola-violin was my first commission immediately following 9/11/2001; structured as a “feast-famine-feast” cycle, it features virtuosic outer movements for solo violin with a deeply felt Lament between them. A Garden’s Time Piece is a brief cycle for violin and soprano setting poems of Leslie Laskey.

Available wherever you buy or download music.  MSR Classics  |  Amazon

Program Notes  Hermestanze  |  Solo Sonata  |  A Garden's Time Piece

Sample the Album