New recording by pianist Evan Mitchell captures works of 20th century composers in their early years
Music by Vítězslava Kaprálová, Gideon Klein, Samuel Barber, Alban Berg, and Elliott Carter
Released October 30 on First Hand Records
Pianist Evan Mitchell's new album of 20th century solo piano works features music by Vítězslava Kaprálová, Gideon Klein, Samuel Barber, Alban Berg, and Elliott Carter, each written in the composers' early years. "a light exists" is released on First Hand Records on October 30, 2026 (FHR195).
The album title takes inspiration from the Emily Dickinson poem "A Light Exists in Spring." "What is the ‘light’ in question?," writes Mitchell in the liner notes. "Youth, perhaps – ‘It passes and we stay’ – or possibility. Dickinson’s elusive spring light inspires this album. While three of the composers went on to lengthy and eminent careers, two died tragically young, their light a mere glimmer on the horizon."
Although Carter's piano sonata was written when he was 37, that was relatively early for the composer who would continue writing music past his 100th birthday. In contrast, Czech composer Gideon Klein's piano sonata, like many of his works, was written at the Terezín concentration camp, a year before his death at the hands of the Nazis at age 25.
"Barber's Interlude I, is arguably the work on this album most clearly written by a young composer," says Mitchell. "Not quite a modernist and never an adherent of avant-garde ideals, he cut a very different artistic figure than others of his generation. His compositional voice was at once innovative and yet solidly post-Romantic."
The album also features "April Preludes" by Kaprálová (who died of typhoid at age 25), and Berg's single-movement Piano Sonata in B minor.
Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD of "a light exists" by pianist Evan Mitchell. Links to the digital album are below.