Thomas Lanners

Performing soloist on Ned Rorem: Piano Works, Volume 2

November 4, 2015

Thomas Lanners, professor of piano at OSU, has appeared as a solo and collaborative pianist throughout the U.S. and abroad, presenting his New York solo debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2004. His performances have been broadcast nationally and internationally on programs such as National Public Radio's Performance Today and RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Miscellany in Ireland, among many others. Lanners received his master's and doctoral degrees in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, after earning his Bachelor of Music degree at Florida State University. His recordings of piano music by American composers, released worldwide on the Centaur label, have garnered much critical praise. Of his recording of the complete piano works of Leonard Bernstein, critic Jed Distler wrote for ClassicsToday.com: "Thomas Lanners totally understands this music, pointing up the jazzy qualities to idiomatic perfection as well as projecting Bernstein's lyrical generosity without milking it...All told, Lanners' loving mastery easily holds its own in any company. Warmly recommended." Of his CD of Ned Rorem's piano sonatas, Mark Lehman of American Record Guide wrote: "Anyone who cares about mainstream 20th Century piano music should seek out this superlative recording."

Lanners' latest recording, Ned Rorem: Piano Works, Volume 2, was released worldwide by Centaur Records in 2009. The disc has received much critical praise, including the following from respected critic Donald Rosenberg's review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "The piano pieces on this fine recording attest to Rorem's penchant for lyrical and dramatic contrast...Thomas Lanners brings exceptional detail and urgency to the repertoire, taking as much care with inner voices as he does with arching statements. Grade: A." Thomas' previous CD, Ned Rorem: The Three Piano Sonatas, was released in 2007. Robert Schulslaper wrote recently, in a Fanfare magazine review of both Rorem volumes: "Lanners plays [all the virtuoso pieces] to the hilt...and he's also a sensitive musician who communicates the essence of Rorem's varied moods. Additionally, his album notes are so 'spot on' that I felt obliged to quote him throughout my review. Recommended." The first pianist to ever record Rorem's complete solo piano output, Thomas was awarded a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording in New York to record the sonatas of this Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2010-honorees/thomas-lanners

Last Updated: 14 January 2022