Edward Gold (July 25, 1936 – March 2, 2022) was an American pianist and composer.

Early life and education

Gold was born and raised in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and lived most of his adult life in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Gold attended public schools and majored in music at

CCNY The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 18 ...

(today part of the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

). He received his masters from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

School of Music where he studied with Ellsworth Grumman,

Mel Powell Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein) (February 12, 1923 – April 24, 1998) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, and the founding dean of the music department at the California Institute of the Arts. He served as a music educator for over ...

and H. Leroy Baumgartner. Edward also studied with Nadia Reisenberg at the

Mannes College of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a Music school, music con ...

Career

After completing his studies, Gold worked as a pianist and toured internationally. The recording of ''Gottschalk Piano Music'' (1973) on which he performed was named a "Recording of Special Merit" by ''Stereo Review''. His recordings were also noted by ''The American Record Guide'' and ''

The Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including C ...

''. Early on, Edward's music was in the style of

atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...

(mostly

Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-century classical music, ...

), but with a traditional structural style using atonal and

twelve-tone The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...

techniques crossed with some

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

. But he largely turned away from these styles after leaving Yale. Over the course of his career, Gold's work was both eclectic and independent. He composed most often for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, chamber ensemble or various

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

s with or without accompaniment. He was a member of the tonality-based

Delian Society The Delian Society was an international community of composers, performers, academics, independent scholars, recording engineers, music publishers, and amateurs dedicated to revitalizing and promoting tonality in contemporary art music. The socie ...

but also composed at times in a structurally based atonal style.

Death

Gold died from an undetermined form of dementia on March 2, 2022, at the age of 85.

Works

Selected works include: * ''Piano Variations'' (1959) * ''Mass of John the Baptist'' (for three-part men's voices and organ, 1972) * ''Sonatina for Flute and Piano'' (c. 1985) * ''Schratlieder'' (settings for bass-baritone and piano of poems by Reinhard Paul Becker (1986) * ''Carillon for Choir, Tuned Percussion, and Strings'' (c. 1996) * ''Five Memorials'' (for various ensembles, 1996–97) * ''Wind Quartet'' (2004) * ''Symphonies on Ancient Tunes'' * ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (for piano, four hands, 2006) * ''Central Park Suite'' (orchestral version)

Discography

Gold's performances have been recorded and issued on media, including: * ''Gottschalk Piano Music'' (1973) * ''Piano Music of J.L. Dussek'' (1974) * ''Romantic Cello Encores'' with Albert Catell (1971) * ''Music by Israeli Composers'' (1973)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Edward 1936 births 2022 deaths Musicians from Brooklyn American male composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians