Peter Nelson-King: Daring modern American works for the piano

Dane Rudhyar — Granites
Nicholas Thorne — Three Love Songs
Peter Nelson-King — The Mothstone Path
Stephen Jaffe — Impromptu
David Diamond — The Tomb of Melville
Hugo Weisgall — Sine Nomine
John Downey — Eastlake Terrace
James Woodard — Nocturne

Dane Rudhyar – Granites
Nicholas Thorne – Three Love Songs
Peter Nelson-King – Selections from The Mothstone Path
Stephen Jaffe – Impromptu
David Diamond – The Tomb of Melville
Hugo Weisgall – Sine Nomine
John Downey – Eastlake Terrace
James Woodard – Nocturne

Peter Nelson-King, multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer, presents a unique concert of daring modern American works for the piano. Far from a typical piano recital, the works presented each push the boundaries of the instrument and explore the mysteries and far horizons of emotional expression. Each work was chosen because it places inner exploration over shallow display, though many of the pieces are anything but anodyne. A featured work is Granites by Dane Rudhyar, a French emigre who treated the piano like a "symphony of gongs", and whose works were more religious ritual than concert-piece, dynamic communions with the cosmos. Another major work is the Three Love Songs by Nicholas Thorne, once a promising composer in his day but who suddenly and mysteriously cut ties with the music world and stopped composing altogether. His works all express a deep sense of loss and longing that betray a troubled personality, and they are among the most hauntingly beautiful works of the latter half of the 20th century. Also featured are selections from The Mothstone Path, a projected large set by Mr. Nelson-King himself depicting a surreal journey through the pathways of the night.

Peter Nelson-King is a native of the Northwest and is active as a trumpet player, pianist, singer, and writer. Since May of 2016 he has run the chamber group Cursive, dedicated to performing brilliant works that have unjustly fallen into obscurity. He has spent the past decade searching for hidden gems of modern classical music and is dedicated to reviving them through performance and research. As a trumpet player he is a regular member of Brass Band Northwest, the Ensign Symphony, and the Lake Washington Symphony, was formerly a regular member of the New England Brass Band and the Jazz Night School Big Band, and has performed as a guest with groups such as the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Seattle, Washington Wind Symphony, Puget Brass, and the New England Philharmonic. He has helped premiere dozens of works, including pieces by Gunther Schuller, Joshua Fineberg, Carson Cooman, and others, and will be premiering works by Kurt Leland and Samantha Boshnack in 2018 with Cursive.

About Peter Nelson-King

Peter Nelson-King is an active performer and teacher on trumpet and piano, and plays regularly with multiple orchestras and large ensembles in the Seattle area. A King County native, they earned degrees from University of Puget Sound and Boston University, returning to the Seattle area after freelancing in the Northeast. They are a longtime member of Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra and Brass Band Northwest, and a frequent recurring member of the experimental jazz group Scrambler. As a solo and chamber performer, they specialize in promoting works by composers who have unjustly fallen into neglect, and have revived major works by dozens of these composers for Seattle audiences.

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