America/Beautiful Min Kwon

• Samuel Ward
• 1 Ward: America the Beautiful (Arr. for Piano by Samuel Adler) 00:54
• Samuel Adler
• 2 Adler: A Celebration of Our Beautiful Nation 02:07
• Bruce Adolphe
• 3 Adolphe: A Contemplation 02:49
• Leila Adu-Gilmore
• 4 Adu-Gilmore: United Underdog 03:25
• Timo Andres
• 5 Andres: American Coda 03:34
• Anonymous
• 6 Anonymous: TBD 02:17
• Andrew Bambridge
• 7 Bambridge: Oh Beautiful 03:44
• Jonathan Berger
• 8 Berger: But, Wait a Minute… 04:37
• Victoria Bond
• 9 Bond: Sea to Shining Sea 04:12
• Peter Boyer
• 10 Boyer: Still Beautiful 02:41
• Kenji Bunch
• 11 Bunch: Beauty for All (Or for None at All) 02:51
• Theo Chandler
• 12 Chandler: Undimmed by Tears 02:55
• Anthony Cheung
• 13 Cheung: No Longer Stain 04:27
• Charles Coleman
• 14 Coleman: To Be Beautiful 02:56
• Stewart Copeland
• 15 Copeland: America Quite Beautiful 03:56
• Viet Cuong
• 16 Cuong: America the Beautiful: Echo Chamber 02:18
• Sebastian Currier
• 17 Currier: 23 Variations on America 07:27
• Richard Danielpour
• 18 Danielpour: Fantasy Variation (The Visible Enemy) 05:53
• Tyson Gholston Davis
• 19 Davis: American Tableau (Tableau XI for Piano) 04:09
• Justin Dello Joio
• 20 Joio: Playing with Fire 04:14
• Donnacha Dennehy
• 21 Dennehy: New Jersey 03:00
• Jed Distler
• 22 Distler: Ameritango 03:53
• Avner Dorman
• 23 Dorman: American Toccata 02:27
• Reena Esmail
• 24 Esmail: America/Desh 04:02
• Alan Fletcher
• 25 Fletcher: Liberty in Law 05:30
• Michael Gandolfi
• 26 Gandolfi: Of Liberating Strife 04:19
• Michael Gilbertson
• 27 Gilbertson: Grace 03:54
• John Harbison
• 28 Harbison: Getting the Upper Hand on America 01:39
• Stephen Hartke
• 29 Hartke: O genus infelix humanum 04:33
• Jake Heggie
• 30 Heggie: Undiscovered 02:45
• Fred Hersch
• 31 Hersch: Four Windows into America 03:52
• Jonathan Bailey Holland
• 32 Holland: No Man’s Land 02:51
• Huang Ruo
• 33 Ruo: Meditation 05:22
• Vijay Iyer
• 34 Iyer: Crown Thy Good 05:25
• Pierre Jalbert
• 35 Jalbert: Endeavor 04:11
• Kristjan Järvi
• 36 Järvi: Look Up America 05:44
• Gabriel Jenks
• 37 Jenks: Passage 04:10
• Juan Pablo Jofre
• 38 Jofre: Air of America 02:54
• Aaron Jay Kernis
• 39 Kernis: Epilogue: End of the Dream 06:18
• Texu Kim
• 40 Kim: America the Dream 02:09
• 41 Kim: America the Polarized 02:12
• Jiyoung Ko
• 42 Ko: My America 02:19
• Libby Larsen
• 43 Larsen: Amber (Variation) 02:24
• George Lewis
• 44 Lewis: America, the Changing Same 03:19
• Lei Liang
• 45 Liang: America the Beautiful… Devastatingly Quiet… 02:53
• David Serkin Ludwig
• 46 Ludwig: Qaddiš 03:10
• Miya Masaoka
• 47 Masaoka: Praying for a Sign 04:51
• Jessica Meyer
• 48 Meyer: Halcyon Skies 03:35
• Patricio Molina
• 49 Molina: Amrika 03:59
• Paul Moravec
• 50 Moravec: America, the Work in Progress 05:16
• Nico Muhly
• 51 Muhly: Refine 03:42
• John Musto
• 52 Musto: Habanera 01:35
• Qasim Naqvi
• 53 Naqvi: America The 02:47
• Daniel Newman-Lessler
• 54 Newman-Lessler: Kintsugi 02:10
• Scott Ordway
• 55 Ordway: You Are Welcome Here 04:28
• Paola Prestini
• 56 Prestini: Through Eyes That See Quite Clearly… 04:13
• Dave Ragland
• 57 Ragland: A Most Glorious Grace 03:15
• Shulamit Ran
• 58 Ran: America Summer 2020 (The Beautiful) 02:46
• Gity Razaz
• 59 Razaz: Beauty of America 02:26
• Gyan Riley
• 60 Riley: Endure 01:59
• Terry Riley
• 61 Riley: Crown of Brotherhood 07:39
• Daniel Bernard Roumain
• 62 Roumain: America, Never Beautiful 04:33
• Greg Sandow
• 63 Sandow: America Slow Dance 01:42
• 64 Sandow: 12-Tone America 01:33
• David Sanford
• 65 Sanford: Three Places in America (Less than a Mile From Each Other) 04:04
• Paul Schoenfeld
• 66 Schoenfeld: Aramaic Fuel Tube 04:38
• Jeff Scott
• 67 Scott: Purple Mountains 01:53
• Juri Seo
• 68 Seo: America the Beautiful - "Sotto voce" 03:54
• Robert Sirota
• 69 Sirota: Two Variations: …Alabaster Cities… – 02:59
• 70 Sirota: …God Mend Thine Every Flaw… 01:38
• Derrick Skye
• 71 Skye: Woven, Gesture, Flow 04:41
• Augusta Read Thomas
• 72 Thomas: Fusion 03:41
• Christopher Trapani
• 73 Trapani: Thine Every Flaw 02:35
• Liliya Ugay
• 74 Ugay: The Beautiful 04:10
• Melinda Wagner
• 75 Wagner: Swinging in My Yard (An American Reverie) 02:09
• Wang Jie
• 76 Jie: Under the Same Flag 05:44
• Trevor Weston
• 77 Weston: A Fantasy on America 05:33
• Pamela Z
• 78 Z: America America America America America 04:39
• Judith Lang Zaimont
• 79 Zaimont: In Darkness Veiled 04:23
• Patrick Zimmerli
• 80 Zimmerli: Melting! 02:56
• Samuel Zyman
• 81 Zyman: Latin, America Beautiful 02:16
• Samuel Ward
• 82 Ward: America the Beautiful (Arr. for Piano by Min Kwon) 02:54
• Total Runtime 04:53:57

Info for America/Beautiful

America/Beautiful is a project by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, in which she has commissioned a diverse group of more than 70 of today’s leading American composers to each compose a variation on “America the Beautiful.”

Kwon's hope is to paint a sonic picture of her adopted country in all of its sprawling complexity, and ultimately try to find the beauty at the core of the American experiment and its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one).

"This project has been a long time in the making, but its guiding spirit took on more special meaning for me as I worked on it over the past nine months (parallel in so many ways to giving birth!) during this unprecedented moment we are living through together. America has been shaken by concurrent crises across its social, racial, political, economic, cultural, and health sectors. In spite of these many challenges, however, I am grateful for the time that the pandemic has afforded me - to dedicate myself to exploring the sound worlds of so many wonderful American composers, and the profound diversity of backgrounds and styles they represent. I am humbled that they have agreed to contribute to this dream vision of mine and that they have entrusted me to bring their music to life.

The voices of these "United Composers of America" form a powerful chorus, a collective musical snapshot that I'm sure will reverberate far beyond the present moment. I can't wait to share this project with you, and I hope it helps to remind us, in spite of all the difficulties we face, that there is still so much beauty in this country of ours." (Min Kwon)

“…a monumental statement, both about contemporary America and about contemporary music, that will surely establish itself as one of the major works of this century.” (International Piano)

Stephen Costello, tenor
Yoon Kwon Costello, violin
Min Kwon, piano

Min Kwon,
Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon excels in a versatile career that encompasses concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music appearances, while in high demand around the world as pedagogue, arts advocate, and administrator. She has held professional engagements in over 60 countries on seven continents and all 50 U.S. states, and currently is the Professor of Piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University since 2002. Dr. Kwon is also the founder and director of the Center for Musical Excellence (CME), a nonprofit dedicated to mentoring and supporting gifted young musicians, and it is through CME that she has commissioned the composers for America/Beautiful. Min is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she later served as a member of The Juilliard Council, the first alumnus to be invited to do so. Min Kwon is a Steinway Artist.

Booklet for America/Beautiful