Composer Nils Vigeland to Release New Album PERFECT HAPPINESS On New Focus

Composer, pianist, and pedagogue Nils Vigeland will release a portrait album of his piano works, Perfect Happiness, performed by Chinese-born pianist and Steinway Artist Jing Yang on March 28, 2025 on New Focus Recordings. Vigeland's composition career launched with the premiere of his first orchestral piece with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lukas Foss in 1970. Vigeland taught for 30 years at the Manhattan School of Music, retiring as Chair of the Composition Department in 2013. Vigeland, who turns 75 on January 29, 2025, has premiered more than 30 works by composers including Linda Bouchard, John Cage, Roscoe Mitchell, Chris Newman, Phil Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Leo Smit, and Christian Wolff.

The music in Perfect Happiness, Vigeland says, "is a document of a lifetime spent playing and composing on an acoustic instrument, an instrument that continues to exercise a fascination in its possibilities. It is through the piano, the playing of it as well as its repertoire, that music became essential for me." Perfect Happiness is meant to be a document of a lifetime spent playing and composing on an acoustic instrument, an instrument with many possibilities. "It is through the piano, the playing of it as well as its repertoire, that music became essential for me."

The four works on Perfect Happiness span a period of 29 years. The Piano Sonata, the first movement which was written in 1979, took nearly three decades to arrive at its final form with the addition of the last two movements written in 2008. Its form is classical, not only in the tempo relationships of the three movements but also within the movements.

In 9 Waltzes and an Ecossaise (1987), historical allusions are clearly evident, modeled after the dance collections of Schubert. Vigeland shares, "Two of them, the second and fourth, are actual paraphrases of Schubert waltzes. While it might be possible to dance to a few of them, there is considerable disruption of triple meter as well as of the symmetry of time units necessary for group dancing."

Mnemosyne (1987) was written for Vigeland's graduate school piano teacher and frequent collaborator Yvar Mikhashoff. Vigeland thinks "of this piece as a portrait of him, of what I considered his dual nature. The quiet, static opening suggests the solitariness of his peripatetic travels, while the continuation reflects his public persona, ebullient and extroverted."

Perfect Happiness (2000) was dedicated to Vigeland's mother on her 81st birthday. Vigeland says, "After I gave its first performance, a group of Manhattan School of Music students asked me what the title meant, the implication being that it contradicted their impression of the music. My reply was that happiness has many forms and sources. Their sequence in the piece is elation, tranquility, ecstasy and willfulness."

Vigeland adds, "I would like to thank Jing Yang for her extraordinary performance of these pieces. It is a composer's greatest satisfaction to hear one's music so fully understood and realized."

Perfect Happiness Tracklist

Nils Vigeland (b. 1950) - Piano Sonata (1979/2009)
1. I.- [12:11]
2. II. - III. (attacca) [11:19]
Vigeland - 9 Waltzes and Ecossaise (1987)
3. I. Vivace - II. Zart (attacca) [01:56]
4. III. Giocoso - [00:45]
5. IV. Inutile [00:46]
6. V. Appassionata [01:17]
7. VI. Sardonico [00:38]
8. VII. Capricciosa [00:59]
9. VIII. Ostinato [01:36]
10. IX. Mesto [01:09]
11. Ecossaise [01:28]
12. Vigeland - Mnemosyne (1987) [05:00]
Vigeland - Perfect Happiness (2000)
13. I. [01:26]
14. II. [01:46]
15. III.-IV. (attacca) [06:49]

Total Time: 00:49:09

Jing Yang, piano

Recorded April 22 & June 29, 2024 at Oktaven Studios, Mount Vernon, NY
Produced by Nils Vigeland
Editing, Mixing and Mastering: Ryan Streber
Post-Production Advisor: Daniel Lippel
Created with: HOFA CD-Burn.DDP.Master (App) V2.5.8
FCR435

About Nils Vigeland

Nils Vigeland was born in Buffalo, NY in 1950, the son of musicians. He made his professional debut as a pianist in 1969 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Lukas Foss. He later studied composition with Foss at Harvard College, graduating with a B.A. in 1972. He earned his Ph.D at The University at Buffalo where he studied composition with Morton Feldman and piano with Yvar Mikhashoff. With these mentors he was fortunate in developing long personal and professional associations.

His first orchestral piece was conducted by Foss with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 and Foss gave the first performance of One, Three, Five with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1983. Mikhashoff was instrumental in the commission and performance of many pieces, including the Piano Concerto (1984), premiered by Mikhashoff and the Oslo Radio Orchestra, In Black and White for, piano and chamber orchestra, and False Love/True Love (1992), premiered by the English National Opera at the Almeida Theater, London.

With flutist Eberhard Blum and percussionist Jan Williams, Vigeland toured for eight years with Feldman as "Morton Feldman and Soloists," performing the extended length works for flute, percussion, and piano that Feldman composed for them. They recorded these pieces on hat ART. More recent collaborations include CDs with Jenny Q Chai (Naxos), Daniel Lippel and John Popham (New Focus), and Delia Shand (Apple Music). Most recently his 90-minute solo piano work, Pale Fire, an "opera without words" based on the poem of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov, was given its first performance in November 2023.

For eight years (1980-88) Vigeland directed The Bowery Ensemble, which gave an annual series of concerts in Cooper Union, NYC. The ensemble was strongly associated with the music of the New York School and gave the first performance of over 30 works by composers including Linda Bouchard, John Cage, Roscoe Mitchell, Chris Newman, Phil Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Leo Smit, and Christian Wolff.

Mr. Vigeland taught for 30 years at Manhattan School of Music, retiring as Chair of the Composition Department in 2013. His own work appears on CDs from Mode, EMF, New Focus Recordings, Lovely Music, and Naxos. His choral music is published by Boosey and Hawkes and Hal Leonard. A dual-language (Chinese/English) book, Symmetry and Proportion; Studies in Musical Form, was published by the Central Conservatory, Beijing in 2022. Scores, recordings, and writings are available on nilsvigeland.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.