Album Notes

..is in the classical tradition. This music is for people that love the piano. It was composed to "make the piano sound beautiful, powerful and sensitive". 'Opus One' was recorded in 1979 at Wilshire United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, California, with the assistance of recording engineer Les Remsen.

Romance and Waltz in C# minor
5:17 © 1979

Prelude and Rhapsody in B-flat minor
10:20 © 1979

Autumn in Aspen
6:20 © 1979

Mom's Love (Waltz in G-flat major)
5:25 © 1979

Piano Sonata & Waltz in C minor (Opus1, No.1)
25:30 © 1979

BIOGRAPHY

Born 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, American composer John William Burrows writes for solo piano.

Music and sports were and are of equal importance in his life. While he had the ability and interest to spend long hours at the piano as a youngster, he was equally drawn to stick ball and roller hockey on the streets of Brooklyn. His musical talent, thanks to the encouragement of his mother, also a pianist, led to his being a student organist at the age of ten at St. Ephrem's Grammar School. At the age of fourteen, his love of ice hockey in the PAL program took him to competition out of state. His Irish Catholic parents had hopes of his joining the priesthood and sent him to Cathedral High School, where he continued his musical studies. After graduation he took time off, applying his typing skills to a job. Within that year, he joined the army and was sent to Ulm, Germany, where he served as a Chaplain's Assistant. After serving in the army, he was accepted at the Crane School of Music, State University of New York, Potsdam. While in college, he continued playing ice hockey on the weekends, along with long hours of practice at the piano. With graduation came the Senior Recital Award and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education.

After ten years of teaching music to children from elementary age through high school, he began his second career of playing piano in resorts, skiing, traveling and composing pieces at the piano. He also continues to give recitals of his works.

Mr. Burrows is a member of ASCAP.

REVIEW

The influences of Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt are everywhere evident in Burrows' music, and the towering climaxes, vertiginous runs, thundering bass lines, and diaphanous tremolos in the "Romance and Waltz in C sharp minor", "Prelude and Rhapsody in B flat minor", and "Piano Sonata and Waltz in C minor" hearken back to another era of pianistic showmanship. In these works, Burrows seems to have stepped directly out of the nineteenth century, with his heart on his sleeve ...

Review by Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

AND..

Thank you, CD Baby, for including 'Opus One' as an Editor's Pick!