Steven Lubin
Encyclopedia
Steven Lubin is an American pianist and musical scholar. He is best known for his performances on the fortepiano
, the early version of the piano.
, Seymour Lipkin, Rosina Lhévinne
and Beveridge Webster
, and viola with Florence Nicolaides. He attended New York's Music & Art High School
; graduated from Harvard College
, majoring in philosophy; he earned a masters degree in piano at the Juilliard School
; and he completed his Ph.D. in musicology at New York University
, where he wrote a dissertation entitled "Techniques for the Analysis of Development in Middle-Period Beethoven."
, Haydn
, Beethoven
and Schubert
) on replicas of the historic instruments actually used by the composers. Such instruments are often generically called fortepianos.
In the 1960s, Lubin frequented the New Hampshire
workshop of Philip Belt, a pioneering American builder of fortepiano replicas, and became curious how Mozart's piano concertos would have sounded on these instruments in their original performances. In the mid 70's, he built a fortepiano replica of his own, with the help of a piano technician friend, Lee Morton, who had served as Belt's apprentice. At his debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall
in 1977, Lubin performed Mozart works on his fortepiano, along with a large-scale Chopin work on the modern grand. (More recently, he uses instruments by expert builders, particularly those of Rodney Regier of Freeport, ME.)
Subsequently he organized a period-instrument Mozart orchestra, The Mozartean Players, and presented, throughout the 80's, a series of period performances of Mozart piano concertos in major New York halls. At these performances Lubin conducted and played the solo parts. The Arabesque label recorded a series these works, and a new release from among the performances of this era has appeared in 2006 on the Classical Soundings label.
Lubin has made concert tours in North America, Europe and Australia.
In 1987, Decca Records in London engaged Lubin to record and perform the cycle of Beethoven piano concertos on period instruments, in collaboration with The Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood
. These recordings have been reissued by Decca in 2006. In addition to other recordings for Decca, Lubin has made CDs for Harmonia Mundi USA of the complete trios and piano quartets of Mozart, and of Schubert's trios. These recordings were issued by The Mozartean Players in trio format, where Lubin was joined by Stanley Ritchie, violin, and Myron Lutzke, cello. Anca Nicolau is currently the violinist of the trio.
On the modern piano in recent years Lubin has appeared both as a solo recitalist and concerto soloist.
) that existed independently of individual works; (2) that the internal features of this space underwent evolutionary change in the course of the 18th century; (3) that a graphic depiction of this space could be used as a map to trace the various routes composers used to navigate about in their cosmos, and that their designs for these routes constitute an important aspect of the effect and beauty of their large-scale works; and (4) that in the later 18th century, for reasons arising out of the geometry of key-relations employed by composers, their abstract background space took the form of a torus (donut). A fertile sub-field of music theory has recently elaborated a complex of ideas related to these. Among the leading American proponents acknowledging Lubin's contribution in this area are Richard Cohn
, Fred Lerdahl
and Edward Gollin.
, Vassar College
, Cornell University
(where he was head of the theory program) and at Purchase College SUNY), where he is currently a distinguished professor.
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
, the early version of the piano.
Studies
Lubin studied piano with Lisa Grad, Nadia ReisenbergNadia Reisenberg
Nadia Reisenberg was an American pianist of Lithuanian birth.-Life and career:Born in Vilnius, Reisenberg studied under Leonid Nikolayev at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Due to the upheavals of the October Revolution, she and her family came back to Vilnius, then travelled to Warsaw and...
, Seymour Lipkin, Rosina Lhévinne
Rosina Lhévinne
Rosina Bessie Lhévinne was a Russian American pianist and famed pedagogue....
and Beveridge Webster
Beveridge Webster
Beveridge Webster was an American pianist and educator.Beveridge Webster studied with his father, initially, and in 1921, at age 14, he began five years of study in Europe, first at the American Academy at Fontainebleau, then at the Paris Conservatory with Isidor Philipp and Nadia Boulanger...
, and viola with Florence Nicolaides. He attended New York's Music & Art High School
The High School of Music & Art
The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art", was a public alternative high school at 443-465 West 135th Street, New York, New York, USA that existed from 1936 through 1984, and then merged into the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing...
; graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, majoring in philosophy; he earned a masters degree in piano at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
; and he completed his Ph.D. in musicology at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he wrote a dissertation entitled "Techniques for the Analysis of Development in Middle-Period Beethoven."
Period performance
A subspecialty of Lubin's is his approach to performing the keyboard works of the Viennese Classical composers (MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
and Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
) on replicas of the historic instruments actually used by the composers. Such instruments are often generically called fortepianos.
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
In the 1960s, Lubin frequented the New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
workshop of Philip Belt, a pioneering American builder of fortepiano replicas, and became curious how Mozart's piano concertos would have sounded on these instruments in their original performances. In the mid 70's, he built a fortepiano replica of his own, with the help of a piano technician friend, Lee Morton, who had served as Belt's apprentice. At his debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in 1977, Lubin performed Mozart works on his fortepiano, along with a large-scale Chopin work on the modern grand. (More recently, he uses instruments by expert builders, particularly those of Rodney Regier of Freeport, ME.)
Subsequently he organized a period-instrument Mozart orchestra, The Mozartean Players, and presented, throughout the 80's, a series of period performances of Mozart piano concertos in major New York halls. At these performances Lubin conducted and played the solo parts. The Arabesque label recorded a series these works, and a new release from among the performances of this era has appeared in 2006 on the Classical Soundings label.
Lubin has made concert tours in North America, Europe and Australia.
Recordings
As a recording artist Lubin has made 20 CDs for Decca, Harmonia Mundi USA, Arabesque and Classical Soundings.In 1987, Decca Records in London engaged Lubin to record and perform the cycle of Beethoven piano concertos on period instruments, in collaboration with The Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
. These recordings have been reissued by Decca in 2006. In addition to other recordings for Decca, Lubin has made CDs for Harmonia Mundi USA of the complete trios and piano quartets of Mozart, and of Schubert's trios. These recordings were issued by The Mozartean Players in trio format, where Lubin was joined by Stanley Ritchie, violin, and Myron Lutzke, cello. Anca Nicolau is currently the violinist of the trio.
On the modern piano in recent years Lubin has appeared both as a solo recitalist and concerto soloist.
Writings
Lubin writes frequently on musical subjects. In his Ph.D. dissertation (1974), he pointed out that (1) a fruitful way of understanding 18th-century European music follows from the recognition that the composers of that era inhabited a special, abstract, communally shared harmonic space (nowadays sometimes called modulatory spaceModulatory space
The spaces described in this article are pitch class spaces which model the relationships between pitch classes in some musical system. These models are often graphs, groups or lattices...
) that existed independently of individual works; (2) that the internal features of this space underwent evolutionary change in the course of the 18th century; (3) that a graphic depiction of this space could be used as a map to trace the various routes composers used to navigate about in their cosmos, and that their designs for these routes constitute an important aspect of the effect and beauty of their large-scale works; and (4) that in the later 18th century, for reasons arising out of the geometry of key-relations employed by composers, their abstract background space took the form of a torus (donut). A fertile sub-field of music theory has recently elaborated a complex of ideas related to these. Among the leading American proponents acknowledging Lubin's contribution in this area are Richard Cohn
Richard Cohn
Richard Cohn is a music theorist and Battell Professor of Music Theory at Yale. Early in his career, he specialized in the music of Béla Bartók, but more recently has written about Neo-Riemannian theory as well as metric dissonance.-External links:*...
, Fred Lerdahl
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
and Edward Gollin.
Teaching
Lubin has taught at the Juilliard SchoolJuilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(where he was head of the theory program) and at Purchase College SUNY), where he is currently a distinguished professor.