Renowned pianist Andrew Rangell, one of the world’s most distinguished interpreters of the music of J.S. Bach, presents a performance with commentary of Bach’s "The Art of Fugue." Rangell’s UW appearance is in support of his new CD recording, “The Art of Fugue,” on the Steinway and Sons label.

Praise for Andrew Rangell

"[Andrew Rangell’s] free-spirited Bach is distinguished by its powerful drive and intensity and a remarkable articulation that illuminates contrapuntal intricacies with microscopic clarity...His playing captures every mood in the psychological spectrum.“ – New York Times

“He brings us precipitously close to the act of creation; the music seems to be evolving as he plays." – The Washington Post

ARTIST BIO

Pianist Andrew Rangell has recorded 25 albums on the Dorian, Bridge and Steinway & Sons labels. Some two decades ago, Mr. Rangell’s recording debut featured performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, F-sharp minor Toccata and the two Ricercares from The Musical Offering. More recently, the pianist’s superlative recordings of The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, Italian Concerto, Partitas, French Suites and other works have established him among today’s most distinguished interpreters of Bach. His many other recordings reveal Mr. Rangell to be an artist of exceptional scope and affinity. These discs range from composers such as Sweelinck, Gibbons, Tisdale and Froberger across several centuries to Stravinsky, Enescu, Schoenberg, Ives, Nielsen, Fartein Valen and Christian Wolff. Recently, Mr. Rangell has created a new album for future release, featuring folk-influenced masterworks by Bartók, Kodály and Janáček.

Mr. Rangell made his New York debut as winner of the Malraux Award of the Concert Artists’ Guild, and he has since performed and lectured throughout the United States and in Europe and Israel. He has also taught on the faculties of Dartmouth College, Middlebury College and Tufts University. In the 1980s, already recognized as a distinctive recitalist and collaborative artist, Mr. Rangell gained national attention – and the award of an Avery Fisher Career Grant – for his vivid, probing traversal of the complete Beethoven sonata cycle on stage in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Rochester, Denver and other U.S. cities. A hand injury sustained in 1991 forced Mr. Rangell to gradually alter the trajectory of his career, and he eventually placed his highest priority on recording. In recent years, he has created several DVDs for children, integrating his special talents as author, illustrator, narrator and pianist.