Teaching Associate in Music Myron Silberstein released a new CD, Myron Silberstein: Piano Music, 2016-22, on March 26. The album features five piano sonatas, several cycles of short pieces, and some single-movement works. This marks the first time Silberstein has released a recording consisting solely of his own compositions.
Silberstein said this project is different from his previous work. “Though I have released five previous recordings of music by other composers, including several world premieres, this is the first recording dedicated to my own compositions,” he said.
The CD includes a range of musical styles and moods over more than an hour of music. Instead of traditional tempo markings such as Allegro or Lento for his sonatas, Silberstein uses descriptive words like Quiet or Tumultuous to indicate the character at the start of each piece. “They’re not actually titles,” Silberstein said. “[They describe] at least [what] is heard in the first few measures. A lengthier piece will have changes of tempo and changes of character.”
Professor Don Meyer commented on the style and technical skill present in the recording. “It sounds a lot like music that was written in the first half of the 20th century, which I think is a compliment,” he said. “I hear traces of Erik Satie, but it sounds more mid-century modernist. It has just an appealing amount of dissonance; it’s never boring, it’s always moving, it’s sort of restless.” Meyer also described Silberstein as “highly proficient” and praised his careful construction and meticulousness.
A highlight for Silberstein is Four Impromptus at the beginning of the album. “I was focusing on rhythm as a driving force [and] as a guiding factor,” he said. “I called them ‘impromptus’ because, even though I put a great deal of thought and construction into writing them, they just sound spontaneous.”
The final tracks include individual pieces such as Jortunioca that Meyer described as metrically sophisticated with shifting rhythms that surprise listeners: “It surprises you, so it’s full of inventiveness.”
Silberstein hopes listeners find something meaningful in his work regardless of their musical background: “I hope that they find something in the music that moved them,” he said.
Myron Silberstein: Piano Music, 2016-22 was released on Toccata Classics on March 6 and is available for purchase or streaming online.
