Archive for Marilyn Nonken

Announcing a New Album of Piano Music of Scott Joplin from pianist Marilyn Nonken

Divine Art Records is delighted to announce the forthcoming release of an album of piano music by Scott Joplin and his collaborators.  Largely avoiding the well-known rags which have been recorded so many times, on this new album American pianist Marilyn Nonken explores the music and influence of Scott Joplin, on a unique recording that features rags, concert waltzes, and novelties, as well as Joplin’s collaborations with Louis Chauvin, Joseph Lamb, Scott Hayden, and Arthur Marshall.

Acclaimed for her interpretations of works by early twentieth-century composers such as Arnold Schönberg and Charles Ives, Nonken turns her attention to their contemporary, Joplin, whose music – often mischaracterized as a simply American vernacular – reveals his close ties to opera and vocal genres. In Joplin’s works and those of his students and colleagues, one recognizes a heretofore underappreciated worldliness, elegance, and virtuosity. Taken together, these compositions celebrate the lively artistic community of which Joplin was the central figure, highlighting the underappreciated lyrical and dramatic range of ragtime itself.

Marilyn Nonken
Marilyn Nonken © Ventriko

Pianist and musicologist Marilyn Nonken has been heralded as “a determined protector of important music” (New York Times) and “one of the greatest interpreters of new music” (American Record Guide). Writes Fanfare: “Her virtuosity is equalled only by the insight and passion with which every piece is imbued.” Since 2006, she has been Director of Piano Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School.

A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, she is the author of The Spectral Piano (Cambridge, 2015) and Identity and Diversity in New Music (Routledge, 2019). She has recorded more than 30 discs, and has published widely on various topics in 20th-century music. Her two albums of spectral piano music for Divine Art’s Métier label have received superb reviews and her recording of the piano music of Tristan Murail is Métier’s best-selling title.

A Steinway artist, Dr. Nonken lives on New York’s historic Lower East Side with her husband, two children, four cats, and a tortoise. 

The new collection which is titled ‘Syncopated Musings’ is to be recorded in New York in April and is scheduled for release around October 2021.

Album Details

Title:  Syncopated Musings
Label: Divine Art
Catalog number:  DDA 25220
Artist: Marilyn Nonken (piano)

Works

  • Heliotrope Bouquet: A Slow Drag Two Step.( Scott Joplin/Louis Chauvin, 1907)
  • Sensation. (Charles Lamb, arr. Joplin, 1908)
  • Stoptime Rag. (Joplin, 1910)
  • Eugenia. (Joplin, 1906)
  • Magnetic Rag. (Joplin, 1914)
  • Reflection Rag: Syncopated Musings. (Joplin, 1917)
  • Binks’ Waltz. (Joplin, 1905)
  • Pleasant Moments: Ragtime Waltz. (Joplin, 1909)
  • Bethena: A Concert Waltz. (Joplin, 1905)
  • Something Doing: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1903)
  • Sun Flower Slow Drag: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1901)
  • Felicity Rag: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1911)
  • Kismet Rag. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1913)
  • Lily Queen: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Arthur Marshall, 1907)
  • Swipesy: Cake Walk. (Joplin/Arthur Marshall, 1900)
  • Antoinette: March and Two-Step. (Joplin, 1906)
  • Solace: A Mexican Serenade. (Joplin, 1909)

Spectralism on Métier

Spectral music fits right in with the Métier label’s focus of contemporary music, leaning more towards the adventurous side. Marilyn Nonken is one of the most celebrated champions of modern piano music in the USA and Joshua Fineberg is a leading light in the younger generation of spectral composers. Their album, ‘Voix Voilées’, (which also includes a major work from Hugues Dufourt) received much praise from Fanfare with four reviews from the magazine and equal praise from International Piano.

“There is not a pianist playing today who can bring more subtlety and energy to the music of Fineberg and Dufourt than does Marilyn Nonken. This is an absolutely essential piano disc…” – Marc Medwin (Fanfare)
“Dense, mercilessly virtuosic writing … Nonken handles the incremental tension superbly.” – Graham Lock (International Piano)

Marilyn’s previous album of spectal music by Tristan Murail also received commendations. Peter Burwasser (Fanfare) called it “a spectacular introduction to this tantalizing world.” It’s also Métier’s best selling title worldwide.

For those interested in spectral music, and especially if you are a fan of Joshua Fineberg, his most recent album ‘Sonic Fictions’ is his new compositional philosophy and technique arising out of the spectral compositional style and it too is already being recognized by critics.