Michael Summers’ music has harmonic richness, rhythmic flair, and a gift for melody.
His works include lyrical string quartet movements, sexy 17th-century song settings and funk-inflected piano pieces. His organ piece Variations on an English Folksong, released by Navona in 2011, was described as ‘urgently dramatic’ by Gramophone and ‘striking and ingenious’ by Allmusic.com. Other keyboard works include Modus operandi for piano, which was first performed in 2010. One critic noted its ‘subtle and complex rhythms and its impressionist language’ and likened the style to Bartok and Debussy.
More recent works include Out of the Loop, a five-movement suite for solo alto flute, and Quercus, a further exploration of the sonorities of the organ.
Albums
Heavy Pedal
Release Date: July 1, 2011
Catalog Number: NV5853
Catalog Number: NV5853
21st Century
Solo Instrumental
Organ
Piano
HEAVY PEDAL is an all-organ disc featuring the compositions of Tadd Russo, Curt Cacioppo, Ron Nagorcka, Wilhelm Middleschulte, and Michael Summers performed by organists Michael Kraft, Robert Gallagher, David Scott Hamnes, Brink Bush, and Karel Martinek. As the title implies, the pieces on this disc are on the heavier side of classical music, reaching climaxes with real stopping power.
