Composer Nils Vigeland releases Perfect Happiness, a compilation of solo piano works that chronicle his intimate relationship writing for and performing on the instrument over the last six decades. Vigeland's work centers on subtleties of resonance and register, two parameters that are uniquely facilitated by the specific characteristics of the piano, with its expansive range and its nuanced pedaling. Perfect Happiness features award winning pianist Jing Yang who has been a long time collaborator of Vigeland's and brings a sophisticated understanding to interpretations of his works.
| # | Audio | Title/Composer(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Time | 49:09 | ||
Piano Sonata |
|||
| 01 | 1. | 1. | 12:10 |
| 02 | 2 – 3. (attacca) | 2 – 3. (attacca) | 11:20 |
9 Waltzes and an Ecossaise |
|||
| 03 | 1. Vivace–2. Zart (attacca) | 1. Vivace–2. Zart (attacca) | 1:56 |
| 04 | 3. Giocoso | 3. Giocoso | 0:46 |
| 05 | 4. Inutile | 4. Inutile | 0:46 |
| 06 | 5. Appassionata | 5. Appassionata | 1:17 |
| 07 | 6. Sardonico | 6. Sardonico | 0:38 |
| 08 | 7. Capricciosa | 7. Capricciosa | 1:00 |
| 09 | 8. Ostinato | 8. Ostinato | 1:36 |
| 10 | 9. Mesto | 9. Mesto | 1:10 |
| 11 | Ecossaise | Ecossaise | 1:29 |
| 12 | Mnemosyne | Mnemosyne | 5:01 |
Perfect Happiness |
|||
| 13 | 1. | 1. | 1:26 |
| 14 | 2. | 2. | 1:46 |
| 15 | 3 – 4. (attacca) | 3 – 4. (attacca) | 6:48 |
On Perfect Happiness, Nils Vigeland focuses his attention on an instrument that has been the center of his musical life for decades, the piano. His childhood immersion in the canonic repertoire led to exploration, improvisation, and eventually his calling to become a composer. Vigeland’s approach to the piano is equally informed by this grounding as it is by his conception of the instrument as a sui generis mechanism, one particularly suited for shaping resonant sonorities. The pieces contained on this album all draw us into the very personal and characteristic sound world that Nils Vigeland has cultivated in his piano works, played with virtuosity and sensitivity by Jing Yang.
Vigeland describes the trial and error process underlying the act of composing as being inextricably linked with “physical contact with sound.” His finely calibrated voicing, registration, and figuration owes itself to this methodical process of auditioning imagined sonorities on the physical instrument. The opening of the first movement of his Piano Sonata (1979-2008) is regal and orchestral, immediately staking out a broad imprint within which to work. Contrasting textures follow shortly afterward, staccatos that activate the instrument sympathetic resonances, octave tremolando flourishes that accentuate the percussive quality of repeated notes on the keyboard, and torrents of cascading pitches excavating the extreme registers of the instrument. Even as the movement unfolds in conventional sonata form, subversive episodes seem to be driven as much by sonic prerogatives as pre-compositional structural strategies. As one listens, one can hear Vigeland solving puzzles at the keyboard, injecting a living practice into the composition.
The more lyrical second movement is organized in a ternary form with a truncated return. Block chords outline the contour of a poignant melody before the relationship between right and left hand voices becomes increasingly disjunct rhythmically, accumulating to a rousing climax. The arrival of the third movement is announced by clarion calls spanning several octaves and subsequent trills, echoing the tremolando figure from the opening movement. The freely articulated trills transform themselves from a textural element to a key rhythmic component as Vigeland locks into the undulating chordal alternation that drives the movement.
Schubert’s dance collections serve as the model for 9 Waltzes and Ecossaise (1987). Vigeland adheres to the dance reference throughout, tweaking and teasing it with subtle abstractions. In the opening movement, vigorous opening chords are complemented with light footed scalar passages whose pitch content unsettles the balletic gesture. The format allows Vigeland to mold with familiar material; rhythmic and melodic tropes from the salon tradition are recast with wry wit. Heard after the expansive sonata, this set explores the opposite compositional impulse, the compression of imposed restraints of duration and expectation engender creative solutions that participate in a contained dialogue around style.
Mnemosyne (1987) was written for Vigeland’s mentor and graduate school piano teacher Yvar Mikhashoff. Contrasting sections capture Mikhashoff’s dual nature. A spare, introspective opening encapsulates a thoughtful, solitary disposition, while brilliant, virtuosic material evokes his ebullient, extroverted public persona. Regardless of density, we hear Vigeland’s penchant for using broad registration as a tool for delineation of voices and timbres, marshaling diverse textures that are calibrated to maximize the instrument’s resonance.
The four movement work, Perfect Happiness (2000), was written for Vigeland’s mother Ruth, and is expressive of some of the many faces of happiness: elation, tranquility, ecstasy, and willfulness. The opening movement functions as an exuberant prelude, unleashing a wave of energetic scalar fragments and tolling chords at its opening before focusing on the resultant resonances as it progresses. The second movement employs a similar textural approach to the middle movement of the Sonata, with somber block chords outlining a melodic shape. The last two movements are heard attacca on one track — the third opening with a angular sequence of chords over a thundering bass texture, and followed by a series of towering sonorities and cathartic splashes of painted sound. The transition to the final movement is marked by a quick shift to staccato articulations that reveal lingering resonances in their wake.
Among the many striking aspects of Nils Vigeland’s style is the relationship between style, expression, and content. Vigeland has a unique capacity to be able to present material that is framed by elements ordinarily associated with one character realm that in his hands become expressive of something else entirely. Consonant sonorities take on a violent hue because of register and articulation; dissonant collections are presented with lightness due to their rhythm and dynamic presentation. Because of his innate sensitivity to timbre, texture, resonance, and register, Vigeland is not bound by the typical associations of specific harmonic or pitch material. For this reason, his music finds a rarefied voice, dense and multi-layered without succumbing to expectations surrounding the relationship between pitch material, harmony, and expression. Hearing his expert ear for these sonic details play out in his keyboard music underscores this quality all the more concretely. This collection is an excellent window into Nils Vigeland’s style precisely because it is articulated on an instrument whole timbral nuances he knows so intimately.
- Dan Lippel
Recorded April 22 & June 29, 2024 at Oktaven Studios, Mount Vernon, NY
Produced by Nils Vigeland
Editing, mixing and mastering: Ryan Streber
Post-production advisor: Daniel Lippel
Cover photo: Nils Vigeland
Jing Yang photo: Alice Huang
Nils Vigeland photo: Maddy Burke-Vigeland
Design & layout: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com
Nils Vigeland was born in Buffalo, NY in 1950, the son of musicians. He made his professional debut as a pianist in 1969 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Lukas Foss, conductor. He later studied composition with Foss at Harvard College, graduating with a B.A. in 1972. He earned his Ph.D at The University at Buffalo where he studied composition with Morton Feldman and piano with Yvar Mikhashoff. With these mentors he was fortunate in developing long personal and professional associations.
His first orchestral piece was conducted by Foss with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 and Foss gave the first performance of One, Three, Five with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1983. Mikhashoff was instrumental in the commission and performance of many pieces, including the Piano Concerto (1984), premiered by Mikhashoff and the Oslo Radio Orchestra, In Black and White for piano and chamber orchestra and False Love/True Love (1992), premiered by the English National Opera at the Almeida Theater, London. With Eberhard Blum, flute and Jan Williams, percussion, Vigeland toured for eight years with Feldman as “Morton Feldman and Soloists”, performing the extended length works for flute, percussion and piano that Feldman composed for them. They recorded these pieces on hat ART.
More recent collaborations include CDs with Jenny Q Chai (Naxos), Daniel Lippel and John Popham (New Focus) and Delia Shand (Apple Music). Most recently his 90 minute solo piano work, Pale Fire, an “opera without words” based on the poem of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov, was given its first performance in November 2023.
For eight years (1980-88) Mr. Vigeland directed The Bowery Ensemble which gave an annual series of concerts in Cooper Union, NYC. The ensemble was strongly associated with the music of the New York School and gave the first performance of over thirty works by composers including Linda Bouchard, John Cage, Roscoe Mitchell, Chris Newman, Phil Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Leo Smit and Christian Wolff.
Mr. Vigeland taught for thirty years at Manhattan School of Music, retiring as Chair of the Composition Department in 2013. His own work appears on CDs from Mode, EMF, New Focus Recordings, Lovely Music, and Naxos. His choral music is published by Boosey and Hawkes and Hal Leonard. A dual language (Chinese/English) book, Symmetry and Proportion; Studies in Musical Form, was published by the Central Conservatory, Beijing in 2022.
https://www.nilsvigeland.com/Chinese-born pianist Jing Yang has been recognized as a soloist, chamber musician and ensemble player by audiences worldwide. She has given solo recitals in China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and the United States. In her native China, her recital tours have brought her to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang. She has appeared as a soloist with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony in Japan, and DePaul Symphony Orchestra in Chicago. In 2014, Ms. Yang appeared as the soloist for the Opening Ceremony of Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, representing the Americas.
As a chamber musician she has performed extensively in venues including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. She is a frequent advocate of new music, working collaboratively with composers and new music ensembles from China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and the United States. She has recorded the music of Reiko Füting on New Focus (FCR405).
A participant in multiple international piano competitions, Ms. Yang won first prize at the Munz Scholarship Competition in New York, second prize at the Eastman International Piano Competition, and third prize in both the Beijing Piano Competition for Young Artists and the Chopin International Piano Competition in Taipei. She won the special prize in the St. Petersburg International Piano Competition. Ms. Yang holds a bachelor’s degree and a doctoral degree of musical arts from Manhattan School of Music as well as a master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Ms. Yang currently teaches at the Extension Division of Mason Gross School at Rutgers University, and Manhattan School of Music Distance Learning Program. She became staff pianist and chamber coach for the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music in 2017 and has served as piano faculty and chamber music faculty for the Young Artist Program at National Arts Center in Ottawa, Canada. She has been a Steinway Artist since 2010.
Perfect Happiness and House Music What better way to celebrate the 75th birthday of this fine American composer than with these two releases? The first collects his solo piano music, played with verve and virtuosity by Jing Yang, with a sonata, waltzes, and other structures offering several varieties of delight. While unquestionably modern, it’s not hard to imagine Schumann resonating with Vigeland’s song-like melodies and sure architecture. House Music is a tart yet mellow piece for solo guitar, given a masterful performance by Dan Lippel, whose work as a Vigeland interpreter landed him on the Top 25 in 2018.
— Jeremy Shatan, 3.29.2025
A sonata is also the longest work on a New Focus Recordings CD of the solo-piano music of Nils Vigeland (born 1950). This sonata, begun in 1979 but not put into final form until 2008, retains roots and some structural elements from the past while using harmonic language and pianistic approaches that mark it clearly as a contemporary work. The first movement, which really is in sonata form, emphasizes the piano as a percussion instrument, as so many modern compositions do; the second offers elements of lyricism within a largely dissonant soundscape; and the third and last is notable for its extensive use of trills – not as ornaments, the way F.X. Mozart and many others use them, but as an integral part of the movement’s rhythmic structure. The sonata, which Jing Yang plays with fervor and commitment, takes up nearly half the length of this short (49-minute) CD, but is less engaging than the shorter works on the disc. The single-movement Mnemosyne (1987) offers an effective contrast between quieter inward-looking material and exuberant outward-focused music that is made with a strongly percussive orientation. The four short movements of Perfect Happiness (2000) do a surprisingly good job of expressing forms of joy: ebullience in the first movement, quiet peacefulness in the second, and a mixture of outward and inward feelings in the third and fourth (which Yang performs as a single track). The most-interesting work on the CD, though, is 9 Waltzes and an Ecossaise (1987), whose combinatorial title is reminiscent of F.X. Mozart’s for his fantasy/krakowiak. Interestingly, Vigeland’s piece harks back to F.X. Mozart’s time, although its specific compositional referent is Schubert. Yang does an especially good job of drawing attention to the underlying dance rhythms of the movements, which are often almost athematic but which require (and, here, receive) careful attention to the complementary material for the two hands. Three of the movements last less than a minute, and only one reaches minute-and-a-half length, but there is an impressive wealth of feeling communicated in the aptly named Appassionata and its immediate successor, Sardonico, while other movements clearly reflect such titles as Ostinato and Mesto – this last being the final one before the Ecossaise, which brightens matters considerably and retains a pleasantly dancelike feeling with some elfin touches in the keyboard’s higher reaches. Like Markham’s disc, Yang’s is at its best in the less-portentous pieces that, in the case of Vigeland’s music, showcase clear familiarity with the exigencies of piano performance (Vigeland is, like F.X. Mozart, a pianist/composer) while drawing on forms and approaches of the past and casting them in a more-modern aural idiom.
— Mark Estren, 4.03.2025
Composer Nils Vigeland wrote a piece in 2000 for his mother’s 81st birthday. That piece is what gives this album of his piano music its title. Pianist Jing Yang gives the music life in this recording of 49 minutes of solo piano works.
The album opens with his Piano Sonata which he composed in 1979, but didn’t finalize the work until 2008. 9 Waltzes and Ecossaise from 1987 follows along with another work from the same year, Mnemosyne. The album closes with Perfect Happiness.
Though Vigeland has had his work performed since 1970, this was my first introduction to him. The music here is delicate and complicated – sometimes at the same time.
The Piano Sonata and Mnemosyne are the standouts on this fine recording. I do hope that even though Vigeland turned 75 earlier this year, there might be more recordings of his music to explore.
— Craig Byrd, 4.04.2025
https://www.wwfm.org/show/cadenza-with-david-osenberg/2025-04-18/nils-vigeland-composer
— David Osenberg, 4.18.2025
With the release of Perfect Happiness, composer Nils Vigeland celebrates his seventy-fifth year on the planet and adds one more noteworthy achievement to an already illustrious career. While the fifty-minute set features solo piano pieces performed by Steinway Artist Jing Yang, Vigeland's output encompasses orchestral works, chamber material, and concertos extending from his first orchestral piece conducted by Lukas Foss and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 to his ninety-minute solo piano work, Pale Fire, based, of course, on the Nabokov work, which received its first performance in November 2023.
Born in Buffalo in 1950, Vigeland actually made his professional debut as a pianist the year before that 1970 concert, though again it was with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Foss, with whom he also studied composition at Harvard College. Vigeland earned his doctorate at The University at Buffalo where his teachers included Morton Feldman and Yvar Mikhashoff and subsequently taught at the Manhattan School of Music for three decades before retiring in 2013. Over the years, Vigeland had a hand in premiering and performing works by pivotal figures such as Linda Bouchard, John Cage, Roscoe Mitchell, Phil Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, and Christian Wolff. He also participated in a number of fascinating projects, as the pianist in a trio that toured with Feldman as “Morton Feldman and Soloists” to perform his works for flute, percussion, and piano and as the director of The Bowery Ensemble, whose annual concerts helped promote music by composers associated with the New York School. The Chinese-born pianist Yang, herself a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School and a soloist and chamber musician who's performed throughout the world, shows herself to be a superb Vigeland interpreter on this portrait album, recorded in April and June 2024 at Mount Vernon's Oktaven Studios.
While Vigeland has created music for ensembles of many sizes, the acoustic piano holds a special place in his heart and has never ceased being a boundless outlet for his imagination. The resonance the instrument offers and the richness of a note's decay and sustain are for him endless sources of fascination. Being so sensitive to the acoustic properties of the piano, it's no surprise that a typical Vigeland piece is as much about the physical character of the sound as its melodic content and overall form. Each piece, as different as it is from the others, unfolds as an exploration of developmental possibilities and as a meditation upon them.
Such qualities are exemplified in the four pieces performed by Yang on this fine portrait album and that span almost thirty years. They're witnessed in Piano Sonata, whose first part was written in 1979 but whose closing two were completed in 2008. The opening part of the twelve-minute first movement, prosaically titled “I.,” strikes these ears as faintly reminiscent of Mussorgsky and Prokofiev, but beyond that registers as a full Vigeland statement. Like much of the material on the release, the music emerges in a fluid flow and with a sense of inevitability, no matter how unpredictable the route undertaken. The composer clarifies that the first movement includes two primary theme groups that develop and recapitulate, but the elements are so thoroughly interwoven it plays like a stream-of-consciousness improvisation. Rollicking and subdued expressions sit comfortably side-by-side, each segueing into the other, and playfulness and seriousness are both present. Equaling the first in duration, the conjoined second and third movements advance from the former's ABA design to the latter's two-part structure and coda. Again development occurs in accordance with an inexorable logic, the music progressing seamlessly from ponderous introspection to percussive dynamism and expressive rapture. The animated chordal oscillations that appear during one passage might hint at minimalism, but Vigeland's music is far too cagey to be tied to any one genre.
He used the dance collections of Schubert as his model for the animated vignettes composing 9 Waltzes and Ecossaise (1987), and its second and fourth parts are actual paraphrases of Schubert waltzes. After opening with a springy “Vivace,” the music settles into a relaxed dance in “Zart (attacca)” before the energy heats up in “Giocoso.” Like dancers taking a break to catch their breath, Vigeland's work does the same in working a less frenetic episode ("Inutile”) in amongst a livelier one (“Appassionata”). A spidery “Capricciosa” and creeping “Ostinato” also appear until the nimble-footed “Ecossaise” caps the engaging piece. Written for Mikhashoff, Mnemosyne (1987) is Vigeland's attempt to distill his one-time teacher's dual nature into compositional form, with the pensive first part intended to suggest his private, solitary side and the exuberant second the ebullience and extroversion of his public persona. Dedicated to his mother on the occasion of her eighty-first birthday, the four-part Perfect Happiness (2000) appeared to mystify some of Vigeland's Manhattan School of Music students when he gave its first performance. To their comment that the title of the piece “contradicted their impression of the music,” the composer replied that “happiness has many forms and sources.” Its sparkling opening movement is certainly radiant enough; its second, on the other hand, is noticeably more solemn, and the conjoined third and fourth unfold as a series of dramatic declamatory chords and jagged percussive flourishes—unusual evocations of happiness, to be sure.
Regardless, one visualizes Vigeland listening to the finished product for the first time and being delighted by Yang's inspired performances and proud of the material he created for the project—not boastfully proud but pleased by the artfulness of the result and the superb artistry of his interpreter. This is a recording that flatters both Yang and Vigeland, if in different ways and for different reasons.
— Textura, 4.30.2025
Artist Name: Nils Vigeland
Release Name (Song/Album): Perfect Happiness
Nils Vigeland is a distinguished composer and pianist whose career has been deeply intertwined with the piano. Former Chair of the Composition Department at Manhattan School of Music, he retired in 2013 after three decades of teaching. His latest album, Perfect Happiness, showcases 29 years of his piano compositions, offering listeners a glimpse into the innovative sound worlds he has crafted over the decades.
Vigeland’s musical journey has been heavily influenced by iconic figures such as Debussy, Ives, Schönberg, and Stravinsky. His latest work melds their eclectic styles with his own distinct voice. As he notes in the liner notes, the piano’s unique tonal qualities serve as a foundation for these intricate compositions, establishing a musical discourse that reflects both his influences and his original concepts.
Vigeland offers insightful observations about the piano’s role in music history—particularly how the distortion of harmonic boundaries is creatively expressed through the piano’s acoustic properties. The instrument’s natural decay, coupled with the nuanced use of the pedals, allows Vigeland to craft soundscapes that might not achieve the same resonance in orchestral arrangements.
The collection opens with Vigeland’s much-anticipated Piano Sonata, which took nearly three decades to complete. The first movement, composed in 1979, features a four-note theme loaded with chromaticism and surprising rhythmic shifts. The playful references—evoking Debussy and even a nod to the simplicity of “Chopsticks”—enhance the emotional depth, making it accessible and engaging.
The beautifully layered second and third movements, added in 2008, oscillate between pastoral elegance and fiery intensity. The final movement evokes a glockenspiel’s sound thanks to Yang’s sensitive playing and Vigeland’s mastery over textural variation.
Perfect Happiness also features a set of nine waltzes and an ecossaise, each encapsulating a unique mood and energy. Drawing inspiration from Schubert, these brief yet rich compositions blend humor with gravitas, demonstrating Vigeland’s deft hand in piano writing where every note has meaning.
“Mnemosyne,” a heartfelt tribute to his former mentor Yvar Mikhashoff, masterfully navigates between contemplation and exuberance, incorporating French stylistic nuances and a touch of jazz.
In his recent interview, Vigeland emphasized the essence of musical transitions as vital elements, transcending mere tonal material. This perspective shines through in the album’s closing title piece, “Perfect Happiness,” where a rich tapestry of emotional gradients leads listeners through a series of reflective passages.
Vigeland’s collaboration with pianist Jing Yang on this album showcases not just intricate compositions, but also a profound blend of tradition and innovativeness. Conversely, it serves as a reminder of the celebratory nature of contemporary classical music in recognizing and interpreting the works of seminal composers.
Perfect Happiness: Piano Music of Nils Vigeland is available now on New Focus Recordings, promising both inspiration and discovery for listeners eager to explore Vigeland’s remarkable musical landscape.
Composer Nils Vigeland has maintained a profound connection with the piano throughout his artistic journey. After three decades of teaching, he retired from his position as Chair of the Composition Department at Manhattan School of Music in 2013. A new album on New Focus Recordings, titled Perfect Happiness, encapsulates nearly three decades (29 years) of Vigeland’s piano compositions.
In the liner notes, the composer shares that it was his exploration of Debussy, Ives, Schönberg, and Stravinsky that inspired his path toward composition. Their timeless influences resonate through his unique works.
Reflecting on the era of these predecessors, Vigeland notes: “While the blurring of boundaries between harmonic and non-harmonic tones in the early twentieth century springs from various sources, the piano’s role in this shift is significant.” This insight, previously unconsidered, underscores the instrument’s unique qualities, especially regarding the natural decay of each note and the influence of the pedals.
In these compositions, elegantly performed by Jing Yang, Vigeland skillfully utilizes the piano’s acoustic properties to craft soundscapes that orchestral instruments could not replicate.
The collection opens with his Piano Sonata, a project that unfolded over 29 years. The first movement, composed in 1979, presents a four-note motif rooted in the major scale. As it progresses, chromatic passages and non-diatonic intervals emerge. Despite its rhythmic and harmonic surprises, characterized by clusters and dissonances, the music remains accessible to any attentive listener, incorporating suggestive and even humorous elements—such as nods to Debussy and a playful reference to “Chopsticks.”
Listeners should observe the use of the sostenuto pedal past the eighth minute: Vigeland demonstrates exceptional mastery of the piano’s mechanics. Beyond the technical aspects, the piece radiates joy; it’s one I could enjoy repeatedly.
The second and third movements were added in 2008. The slow central movement has a pastoral quality infused with an intense B section. Though initial rhythms seem wandering, the composition promptly establishes a coherent structure.
Haunting repeated high notes introduce the final movement, which evokes a glockenspiel-like sound through the pedal effects and Yang’s astute playing. The harmonic elements evoke Debussy while maintaining a notable melodic style, and the rapid, repeated tones and motifs impart a dreamy aura reminiscent of Ravel. The result is both beautiful and impactful.
A series of nine waltzes and one ecossaise, inspired by Schubert’s dance collections, each capture distinct energy and mood. Many are under a minute long, showcasing titles like “Appassionata,” “Capricciosa,” and the curious “Inutile.” They are charming, often playful, yet crafted with precision and artistry, containing no superfluous notes. Their historical contexts lend them depth.
“Mnemosyne,” a dualistic representation of Vigeland’s former mentor and piano teacher Yvar Mikhashoff, transitions within five evocative minutes from contemplative to dynamic, infused with French influences and touches of jazz.
As the composer mentioned in a recent interview, “What differentiates music is not the tonal material, but the art of transition.”
The album wraps up with “Perfect Happiness,” consisting of four brief movements that convey a spectrum of emotions. The final movement presents an intriguing array of chords and tone clusters that oscillate between harmony and dissonance in irregular rhythms, reminiscent of the Sonata’s second movement. This fluctuating energy culminates with the arrival of the sustain pedal, bringing a sense of serene resolution.
Jing Yang’s artistry radiates throughout this album. As Vigeland, an accomplished concert pianist, noted in the aforementioned interview, he was delighted to collaborate with Yang, recognizing that he could not perform this music as adeptly as she does today.
Nonetheless, pianists have been interpreting his works for decades—Mikhashoff early in Vigeland’s career, Jenny Q Chai on the 2014 album Life Sketches—not merely as favors to the composer, but because his music is essential, engaging, and immensely enjoyable.
Perfect Happiness: Piano Music of Nils Vigeland is available now on New Focus Recordings.
Note: In the earlier interview, Vigeland expressed disappointment over the lack of recognition for Charles Ives’ 150th birth anniversary last year. If Vigeland happens to read this, I would like to point out a celebration hosted by Bard College and The Orchestra Now. While it wasn’t the New York Philharmonic, it did appear in New York City to a very appreciative audience.
— Tony Clifton, 4.26.2025
New Focus Recordings is an artist-led collective label featuring releases in contemporary creative music of many stripes, as well as new approaches to older repertoire. The label was founded by guitarist Dan Lippel, composer Peter Gilbert in 2004, and composer/engineer Ryan Streber in 2004, formed …Read More …
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