A 2CD collection of piano works by postminimalist composer Elodie Lauten – most of which is available for the first time ever on CD. The albums Piano Works (1983) and Concerto for Piano and Orchestral Memory (1984), both reissued here in their entirety with remastered sound, incorporate found and prerecorded sounds into lyrical, minimalist piano works in a highly personal, even baroque, style. They are deeply meditative and expansive but do not require the epic lengths enjoyed by Glass, Reich, Riley. Pop-song length seems to be the standard on these albums, and yet the deep sensitivity of the work is never betrayed by brevity. Contemporary luminaries Arthur Russell and Peter Zummo contribute to the Concerto.

Also included in this set is Lauten’s performance of her later masterpiece Variations on the Orange Cycle (1991), which was included in Chamber Music America’s Century List, and other previously unreleased tracks.

“I was sitting somewhere in a dangerous world, wondering what would happen to the girl at the piano… She changed my mind with mantras that shifted slowly from one troubled mood to the next, the new one only slightly — but subtly — different from the last.” – Gregory Sandow, Village Voice