Julius Reubke: The Keyboard Works (Hybrid SACD) John Owings & H. Joseph Butler

Pianist John Owings consistently wins enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics for his exciting pianism and sensitive artistry. “Real spiritual elation” was how the London Daily Telegraph described his playing of the Elliott Carter Piano Sonata. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called his playing a “fine blend of technical brilliance with expressivity,” and the Houston Post, reviewing his performance of the Ravel G Major Concerto, said, “the audience was spellbound.” Gold medalist of the 1975 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition, he has performed in recitals and with orchestras in major cities throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Far East. Since 1998 he has performed seven times at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. His compact disc recordings for Koch International Classics as well as his newly released CD of solo piano music by Robert Casadesus on the Opus Millesime label have received outstanding reviews. Following his early musical training in his native Texas, John Owings studied at the Royal College of Music in London as a Fulbright Scholar. Later, his studies took him to Switzerland, Italy, and the Juilliard School, where he ­received his master’s degree. His teachers have included Dalies Frantz, Rosina Lhevinne, Martin Canin, Karl Leifheit, Géza Anda, and Wilhelm Kempff. Since 1990 he has been a member of the faculty of Texas Christian University where he holds the Herndon Professorship of Music. In 1993, the University conferred upon him its highest honor—the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity—for his performances of the thirty-two Beethoven Piano Sonatas. A CD with six of the sonatas from these live performances is available. —–

H. Joseph Butler is Professor of Music and University Organist at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he also serves as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts. He holds a DMA and Performer’s Certificate in organ from the Eastman School of Music, an MM in organ from the New England Conservatory, and a BA magna cum laude in music from Bowdoin College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has ­studied organ with Russell Saunders, Yuko Hayashi, and Marion R. Anderson, and harpsichord with Colin Tilney and Arthur Haas. Dr. Butler has performed widely in the United States and England, including conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, and the cathedrals of Canterbury, Liverpool, Leeds, Ripon, and Chester. He has recorded for Pro Organo Records and has been heard on the NPR syndicated ­program Pipedreams. His research focus is Baroque keyboard music with ­emphasis on colonial America; he has published articles and reviews in The New Grove Dictionary, Organ Yearbook, The American Organist, The Tracker, Choir and Organ, American Music Teacher, Bach, and Early Keyboard Journal. His book, The Peter Pelham Manuscript of 1744: An Early American Keyboard Tutor has recently been published by Wayne Leupold Editions.