allen sapp

We are excited to announce the release of Allen Sapp: Live Piano Works on Navona Records (NV6728), which includes recordings of Sapp’s Piano Sonatas II–VIII, Suite for Piano, and Fantasy III: Homage to Mendelssohn performed by the composer and by his wife, Norma Bertolami Sapp.

Piano Sonatas II, III, and IV are published in Allen Sapp: Piano Sonatas I–IV, edited by Alan Green, Recent Researches in American Music, vol. 90 (Middleton, Wis.: A-R Editions, Inc., 2021). The Suite for Piano and Fantasy III: Homage to Mendelssohn will be published in Allen Sapp: Selected Works for Piano, edited by Alan Green, Recent Researches in American Music (Middleton, Wis.: A-R Editions, Inc., forthcoming).

For more information, and to purchase or stream the album, please visit its page on the Navona Records website.

Learn more about the piano sonatas of Allen Sapp in this blog post.

By Alan Green

This year we celebrate the centennial year of American composer Allen Sapp (1922–99). I first heard Sapp’s music when I came to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) for my undergraduate studies. His Third Piano Sonata was performed at a faculty composer recital in 1985, and on first listening, it made a very powerful impression on me. I decided to take the time to study it carefully. This first took the form of repeated listening, as I had made a tape recording of the recital from a broadcast of the recital on the local NPR radio station, WGUC. The performance was preceded by an interview with the composer, speaking about the work, and his reasons for writing it. Piano Sonatas II, III, and IV were all written in 1956–57 while Sapp was on sabbatical leave from Harvard, living in Rome. A few excerpts from this interview will give you an idea of why I became interested in studying Sapp’s music.