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88+12
Scott Pender composer
New England String Trio | Julia Okrusko violin; Lilit Muradyan viola; Ming-Hui Lin cello;
Peter Sulski violin, viola; Geoffrey Burleson piano;
David Russell cello
With a distinctly contemporary compositional signature that draws on minimalism and popular music of the late 20th century, and also recalls the 19th-century Romantic tradition, composer and pianist Scott Pender explores the expressive natures of four instruments – piano, violin, viola, and cello – on his debut solo release on Navona Records, 88+12.
Pender presents three piano and string duos: Rhapsody, Elegy, and Finale for Violin and Piano is a study in contrasting mood and texture, featuring virtuosic writing for the violin, while the deeply lyrical Sonata for Cello and Piano is a work of sweeping dramatic gesture. Sonata for Viola and Piano, subtitled “From Old Notebooks,” uses material that Pender sketched while living in London during the mid-1980s to create a work of rhythmic pulse and intensity. The string trio Veil of Ignorance, which takes its title from the writing of the 20th-century philosopher John Rawls, provides three differing approaches to the same thematic material.
Scott Pender holds degrees from Georgetown University and the Peabody Conservatory and received a Fulbright Fellowship to study in the United Kingdom with English composer Gavin Bryars. He has been commissioned by numerous groups including the North Georgia Chamber Symphony, the Powell Quartet, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Annapolis Brass Quintet as well as the late virtuoso pianist Yvar Mikhashoff.
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Artist Information
Scott Pender
Scott Pender (b. 1959) has called the phonograph his first music teacher. He cites his parents’ “extensive, eclectic record collection” as a primary early influence. As a child, he began making up tunes at the piano and taught himself to read music. Formal study in piano and theory as a teenager led to his enrollment at Peabody Conservatory, where he began composition studies with Jean Ivey. He holds degrees in philosophy from Georgetown University and music composition from Peabody Conservatory.
