ROSS LEE FINNEY, PIANO WORKS : REVIEWS/QUOTES

Ross Lee Finney (1906 - 1997), composer and educator, was a member of a classical trio at the age of 12 and of a jazz group at 21. After early studies at the University of Minnesota with Donald Ferguson and at Carleton College - where he also taught cello and history - he was appointed professor of music and composer-in-residence at the University of Michigan. Finney also studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and in Vienna with Alban Berg. Following a year at Harvard in 1928, he joined the faculty of Smith College where he began a series of scholarly publications of baroque works. Finney's many honors include a Rome Prize (1960), the Brandeis Medal (1968), and numerous commissions, among them those from the Coolidge and Koussevitzky foundations and from Yehudi Menuhin for the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.

"Martha Braden gives excellent performances of all four works, and her affection for them is obvious."
- AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

"... I warmly recommend this disc of piano music for any collection that has piano, American, or contemporary music in it."
- FANFARE MAGAZINE

"... Braden grasps both intuitively and technically the essential pith of these works: the performances are clean and full of genuine musical rigor. This recording is a real gift to all of us."
- AMERICAN MUSIC JOURNAL

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