Feeling that my Yamaha console piano was limiting my progress as a pianist, I purchased a new seven foot Bosendorfer piano after half a year of research. Despite my guilt regarding the excessive price of this instrument at the time, no purchase since has pleased me as much. This recording and all the following ones were done on this piano.

Discovering that I lacked the ability to exploit the potential of my new instrument, I sought instruction. I searched for a month before I found a teacher that I really liked: Peter Mack of the Cornish College of Music in Seattle. Peter, a jolly yet stern fellow, began our first lesson with a demonstration of how to shape a Scriabin phrase with the left hand. I knew I had found the right teacher for me. 

This recording is the first fruit of his tutelage.

Recorded on 21 September 2002 in my home.

On a cold Seattle day in February of 2002, I went to a small studio to record this piece. It was my first serious recording effort and the beginning of a continuing journey of learning to perform. Today, while I feel that the performance has serious flaws, it has a special place in my heart. This marks the first of many occasions that I fully committed myself to find the limit of my musical abilities.

Under Peter's guidance, I began to learn how to sustain and project a melody line above a busy left hand accompaniment. Here Debussy demonstrates that he can not only invent beautiful pianistic coloring, but also write an unabashedly lovely melody. The piece builds gradually from a lilting melody to orchestral textures before returning to a transformed version of the original melody.

Recorded on 18 October 2002 in my home. 

The Allegretto is easy to play, the tempo slow, and is short. How Schubert manages to achieve such haunting profundity with so little escapes me, but I think he does. In any case, I love this piece.

I'd like to relate a story that goes with this piece to give encouragement to other artists in times of self-doubt.

Recorded on 22 January 2003 in my home. 

This piece caused me great tribulation technically, artistically, and psychologically. By the time I recorded this piece, I had obsessed over every phrase, dynamic marking, and rubato for several months. I am still dissatisfied with the recording, but it was the best I could do.

Recorded on 10 March 2003 in my home in Seattle. 

Moving to Boston gave me my first chance to play chamber music. 

Recorded in July 2004 in my home in Boston. Performed by Anna Anderson on violin and me on piano.