Karl Miller:

>There has been a long tradition of composer pianists in the history of
>music.  One need only to mention Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff,
>Prokofiev, Medtner, Casella, Bartok, and even some relatively recent
>Russians like Ovchinnikov (for me a pretty good conservative composer),
>Khrennikov, et al.  But when I think about recent times very few names
>come to mind.
>...
>In short...and I hate to say it, but is Nanes the last in the long line
>of composer/pianists?

Not at all.  Lowell Liebermann, for one, is a piano virtuoso (although
I don't always care for the music he writes).  There's also a young
Russian perhaps-genius whose name escapes me (I confuse her with Tatiana
Rankovich).  She's not only a piano firebrand and a very interesting
composer, but she's apparently a fine Russian poet.  And who could forget,
once heard, Aubrey Fitch?  Rzewski also comes to mind.  Would you also
consider Earl Wild, or is he a mere composing dabbler?

In short, I don't think the breed is yet extinct, although it does seem
a lot rarer than it once was.

Steve Schwartz