A post-reunion dinner party with high school friends last night turned out to be quite the fun gathering. Spouses were invited and the conversation moved easily beyond the "What ever happened to…?" level to the more nclusive "So what do you do?"

I’ve never run anything about John Musto, the highly esteemed classical composer, born and bred in Brooklyn. He’s the husband of my  high school best friend. So here goes. His album, which garnered terrific reviews, is available on Amazon (see below).

His grandly jazzy Passacaglia for large orchestra (2003) sounds like Bach rediscovered by Krazy Kat. His Five Piano Rags (1995) cast the smoky nonchalance of Scott Joplin in a Rachmaninoff glow. His opera Volpone, which had an acclaimed premiere at the Wolf Trap Festival last March, employs everything from Broadway to bel canto in a ferociously clever musical adaptation of Ben Jonson’s play. Like Bernstein, Mr. Musto is not afraid to entertain."        — Charles Michener, The New York Observer

"Musto spins flaxen pop into golden art, with an intuitive sense of how to make each instrument fill the others’ gaps. The energetic coda at the end of the first movement prompted a burst of audience applause."
— Ken Smith, New York Newsday

"Mr. Musto’s pianism was exquisite and exploratory.”
— Paul Griffiths, The New York Times

"If there is a finer composer of song with piano alive and working in the world today, I would very much like to know his or her name." — Graham Johnson
Koch International Classics

   Order from Amazon

Premiere Recordings
        Clarinet Sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet
              Piano Trio for piano, violin and cello
              Divertimento for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, piano, and percussion
      

Music From Copland House
            Derek Bermel, clarinet
            Michael Boriskin, piano
            Paul Lustig Dunkel, flute
            Nicholas Kitchen, violin
            Wilhelmina Smith, cello
            Leslie Tomkins, viola
          Jim Baker, percussion