Following Jenny Lin's much acclaimed recording of Glass’s Complete Piano Etudes, this album features the core of Glass’s best known works for piano.

Very few pianists have the insight of having toured extensively with Philip Glass. Since 2014 that’s exactly what Jenny Lin has done.

On June 5, 2020 Steinway & Sons releases Philip Glass: Piano Works (STNS 30127) from pianist Jenny Lin. The album begins with “Opening” from Glassworks, the composer’s first album on CBS in 1982. In the five movement Metamorphosis Glass reused some of his music from the film The Thin Blue Line. Mad Rush (1979) is perhaps Glass’s most popular piece of piano music. Distant Figure - Passacaglia for Solo Piano (2017) is his most recent piece for solo piano.

Jenny Lin has come to inhabit the soul and best performance practices in Glass’s music. Her result, as you can hear on this recording, is a performance of mystery and humanity. 

“The playing throughout the album, unsurprisingly, is exquisite. Lin's performance is virtuosic and poetic in equal parts, flawlessly blazing across the keyboard while retaining a soulful touch.”

PopMatters.com

 

“Lin is sensitive to the development of Glass' musical language, seemingly entering into the composer's mind as he pushed and pulled at his basic minimalist arpeggiations.”   

AllMusic Guide

 

“This is an important compilation of the solo piano music of a modern American musical master. The production values from Steinway & Sons are, as usual, first-rate.”

Fanfare

 

 

"Lin shows a deep understanding and love for Glass’s music as well as the willingness to do new things with it."

American Record Guide

 

Album Credits

Philip Glass: Piano Works / Jenny Lin • STNS 30127

Release Date: 06/05/2020

Recorded 2018–2019 at Steinway Hall, New York City.
Producer: Jon Feidner
Engineer: Lauren Sclafani
Assistant Engineer: Melody Nieun Hwang
Editing: Renée Oakford
Production Assistant: Renée Oakford
Mixing and Mastering: Daniel Shores

Executive Producers: Eric Feidner, Jon Feidner
Art Direction: Jackie Fugere
Design: Cover to Cover Design, Anilda Carrasquillo
Piano Technician: Lauren Sclafani
Piano: Steinway Model D # 607799 (New York)

About the Artist

Jenny Lin is one of the most respected young pianists today, admired for her adventurous programming and charismatic stage presence. She has been acclaimed for her “remarkable technical command” and “a gift for melodic flow” by The New York Times. The Washington Post praises “Lin’s confident fingers…spectacular technique…,” “…surely one of the most interesting pianists in America right now…” and Gramophone Magazine has hailed her as “an exceptionally sensitive pianist.” Her orchestral engagements have included the American Symphony Orchestra, NDR and SWR German Radio orchestras, and Orchestra Sinfonica Nationale della RAI. Her concerts have taken her to Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers, SF Jazz, MoMA, Stanford LIVE, and the National Gallery of Art. She has appeared at Festivals such as Mostly Mozart, BAM’s Next Wave, Spoleto USA, Kings Place London, Chopin Festival Austria, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Germany.

Since 2000, Jenny’s discography includes more than 30 recordings on Steinway & Sons, Hänssler Classic, eOne, BIS, New World, and Albany Records. She is also the central figure in Cooking for Jenny by Elemental Films, a musical documentary portraying her journey to Spain. Other media appearances include CBS Sunday Morning, NPR Performance Today, and Speaking for Myself, a film about Manhattan as seen through the eyes of eight contemporary artists by filmmaker Bert Shapiro. Born in Taiwan and raised in Austria, Jenny studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the Fondazione Internazionale per il pianoforte in Como, Italy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in German literature from The Johns Hopkins University.

In 2019 Jenny released the complete piano music of Artur Schnabel on Steinway & Sons. Since 2014, she has joined Philip Glass in his ongoing world tour of his Etudes. Jenny is a Steinway Artist.  

About Steinway & Sons label

The STEINWAY & SONS music label produces exceptional albums of solo piano music across all genres. The label — a division of STEINWAY & SONS, maker of the world’s finest pianos — is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.