Release Date: 06/09/23

Rock 'n' Roll, with its unrelenting pubescent energy, unabashed irreverence and insouciance. To deny its effect is to deny my youth and romanticism.

Rock 'n' Roll, with its unrelenting pubescent energy, unabashed irreverence and insouciance, has left an indelible mark on me. To deny its effect is to deny my youth and romanticism.

I had finished PIANO CONCERTO #1 (The Rock 'n' Roll) mid May knowing the next work on my desk was to be a cello concerto. My wife and I readied ourselves for the birth of our son, who arrived June 15, 1995. Three days later, on Father's Day, my mother had a massive stroke and passed away two days later. She never saw her grandson.

Needless to say, the flood of emotions was and still is very strong and deep.

My mother was a staggeringly beautiful woman of great intelligence, sense of wit, selflessness and love of life. I grew up in a very happy nurturing environment. In fact, during the first thirty-eight years of my life, there was never really any major emotional family trauma to speak of. Then during the next eight years she seemed to slowly unravel, growing more insecure about her self-image to the extent that the latter person didn't resemble the former. Most likely, this devolution was organically caused by the massive aneurysm that subsequently ruptured in her brain killing her.

CELLO CONCERTO #1 is an abstract portrait of her many complexities.