Artist description John Joseph Mortensen performs piano music ranging from the Baroque to new music of today, including his own compositions.

Music Style Art Music for the Piano

Musical Influences Horowitz! Hofmann! Rachmaninoff!

Similar Artists I would like to think that I don't sound like anyone else...

Instruments Piano

Albums Mortensen Plays the Moonlight Sonata; The Art of the Piano; Live from the Gallery

Press Reviews From the Fresno Bee, Central California's leading newspaper:PIANIST BRINGS ENERGY AND BRAVURA TO PERFORMANCE By George Warren Special to the Bee (Published February 23, 2000) The Music Department at Fresno Pacific University presented pianist John Joseph Mortensen in recital Friday in the atrium at McDonald Hall. The program featured the premiere of "Sonata No. 2" by Fresno composer and Pacific University Professor of Music Larry Warkentin, and included music by Schumann, Chopin, Heitor Villa-Lobos and J.S. Bach, arranged by Ferruccio Busoni. The atrium seated about 120 people, with the front row surrounding the piano. This intimate setting created the impression that the department invited a group of friends for an evening of music and camaraderie. Mortensen descended the flight of stairs, sidestepped the front row, bowed, then addressed the audience with an introduction to the first selection, Fugue in D Major, by Bach and Busoni. In the opening minutes, Mortensen played in a Baroque style, laboring over the independence of line, bringing out the fugue subject above the counterpoint, and playing in strict time. When the piece changed to the minor mode, the darker harmonies lent an air of passion and the playing became more expressive. With the return of the major mode, the piece broke out of the clouds and rang forth triumphantly. Next, Mortensen performed four movements from Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Mortensen managed these movements with some difficulty, mostly because of the acoustics of the hall, which washed out a good portion of the detail in the dense sections. With the Chopin, Mortensen demonstrated the skill promised by his billing. He brought off all of the tricks successfully and made one understand why pianists like Chopin so well. The first half of the program satisfied the requirements of a serious piano recital. The fun began after the intermission. Warkentin's Sonata consists of four movements, each featuring a different hymn tune employed as a small part of the musical material. The first movement recalled Charles Ives' use of hymn tunes by employing fragments rather than long quotations. The third movement set a melodic line consisting of all twelve notes of the chromatic scale against a comparatively tonal accompaniment. This produced a hauntingly beautiful dissonance. Mortensen played from the score and brought off the piece skillfully, if not to perfection. His best rendering came in the fourth movement. Here, the energy heightened with an extremely fast tempo, and the form provided exactly the right amount of repetition of the main themes. The last pieces on the program, "Festa no Sertao" and "Dansa do Indio Branco" by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, danced and stormed all over the keyboard. The music imitated jungle drums and birds shrieking through the canopy. The pianist brought off every gesture with an abundance of energy and bravura. In the first of three encores, he ripped through Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag," with the accuracy of a player piano. Then he played "Passtime Rag No. 4" by Artie Matthews, and finally, Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm." These final three selections brought the intimate evening to an apt close. Here, one sensed that Mortensen gathered us around the parlor piano to hear him play his favorite music. George Warren, Ph.D. teaches music theory at California State University, Fresno.

Location Cedarville, Ohio - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).