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World Keys

Joel's First Solo album debuted at #3 on Billboard's Classical Chart

The album features five world premiere recordings, ten composers from ten different countries including Peteris Vasks, Dia Succari, Qigang Chen, Adnan Saygun, as well as Prokofiev, Liszt, and Schumann.
"Fan's debut album on Reference, is a survey of musical approaches from Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, reflecting Fan's personal interest in music of many countries, evidently fueled by his touring around the world... it is an entertaining presentation that invites thoughts about music's underlying relationships and shows this pianist as an expressive and intelligent artist, as well as a sophisticated citizen of the world. Reference's sound is clean and transparent, with a resonant luster that is highly effective in the quiet pieces." —Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide (full review)
"You go from one encounter to another, dazzled by this musician, whose sensitivity allows him to give to each piece the color of the country that inspires him... The production of this HDCD recording is superb." —Reine Lessard, Ultra High Fidelity
"Fan plays it all authoritatively with sensitivity to the unique flavor of each work. He leaves the listener hankering for more of everything...There's excellent percussive attack without claustrophobia and a wonderful sense of the body of the instrument." —Andrew Quint, The Absolute Sound
"Unexpected, variety and immediately appealing are probably the best words to describe why I find the selections so enjoyable...As would be expected from the well-known team of Keith Johnson and Tam Henderson the audio quality is supremely enjoyable." —Karl Lozier - Positive Feedback
"He has selected works of great musical interest, and switches from one style to another quite contrasting one with the greatest aplomb. His playing of the 18-minute Schumann Sonata is right up there with the classic keyboardists." —John Sunier, Audiophile Audition (full review)
"Fan plays beautifully, turning all the spice and pizzazz into pure pleasure. He is especially good, though, in bringing out the swagger in Franz Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase. Fan also brings real joy to Prokofiev's third sonata. —Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
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TRACK LISTING: A. Adnan Saygun: Sketch on Aksak Rhythm; Prokofiev: Sonata #3; Dia Succari: La Nuit du Destin; Halim El-Dabh: Sayera; Qigang Chen: Instants d'un opera de Pekin; Liszt: Concert Paraphrase of Verdi's "Rigoletto"; William Bolcom: . . . la belle rouquine; Peter Sculthorpe: Nocturnal; Schumann: Sonata #2 in G Minor; Peteris Vasks: Kantate



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West of the Sun

Joel Fan's second album for Reference Recordings, further solidifies his reputation for innovative programming and dazzling keyboard technique. Drawing on composers from North and South America, Fan makes brilliant work of major sonatas by Ginastera and Barber, along with "entertainments" by Gottschalk, Piazzolla and Villa-Lobos. Of particular interest are two little-known works by Amy Beach and the African-American composer Margaret Bonds. Another highlight is the world premiere recording of a recent suite by William Bolcom! Any piano enthusiast will enjoy this wide-ranging recital, recorded at Skywalker Sound by RR's renowned technical guru, "Prof." Keith O. Johnson.
"Fan is hardly a child prodigy. Despite his youthful looks he is now 40, and he has a lot of playing time behind him. That experience explains his awesome musicianship, but also his natural sensitivity to the emotional side of music, and control of fine nuances... The sound is clearer and more detailed than if one had good seats to a concert." —Gerard Rejskind, Ultra High Fidelity (Canada)
"[Fan] offers nine stunningly brilliant renditions drawn from a wide range of styles and sources... Capping it all off is an arresting interpretation of Samuel Barber's fearsome 1949 Piano Sonata. Wow." —John Terauds, Toronto Star - [Artistic Quality:10, Sound Quality 10] - Complete Review
"Fan is just marvelous... A well-curated, excellently engineered program of this caliber warrants our highest recommendation." —Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com - [Artistic Quality:10, Sound Quality 10] - Complete Review
"Fan's piano textures are worth hearing in themselves, for he is an exceptionally fluent, lyrical player with a fine sense of mystery in the slow movements of the piano sonatas by Ginastera and Barber... The result is a program that alternates very gracefully between simpler and more complicated pieces; the music almost seems to breathe and ruminate on the nature of Americanness... With fine engineering, this is a masterful performance." —All Music Guide - (****1/2 performance/****1/2 sound) - Complete Review (also named "Best Classical Releases of 2009")
"Fan's rendition of Barber's technically challenging sonata, whose knockout last movement was written at the insistence of Vladimir Horowitz, is the performance by which most listeners will judge his achievement. He acquits himself wonderfully, even when compared to Horowitz and speed demon Marc-Andre Hamelin. The adagio is especially touching, and becomes more moving with repeated listening." —Jason Victor Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice - Complete Review
"His playing was the picture of textural clarity... The program's highlight was the New York premiere of William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles, a set of aphoristic, vividly drawn character pieces... Mr. Fan gave it an agile reading, with delicacy and heft carefully balanced." —Allan Kozinn, The New York Times (about the CD release recital, 4/2009)
"He has thus created an album with more programming innovation than most such piano recitals. The composers include Gottschalk, Piazzolla, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Beach, Bolcom and Barber and none of the selections are overplayed "hits" of those composers either...The label's recording engineer Keith O. Johnson used the low-noise-floor Skywalker Sound studio in the Bay Area, and the piano sound is very rich and natural against a silent background. Joel's own program notes in the booklet are interesting reading." —John Sunier, Audiophile Audition - Complete Review - (*****)
Track Listing - Nazareth: Vem cá, Branquinha; Gottschalk: Suis Moi! Caprice; Piazzolla: Flora's Game — Milonga Prelude; Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1; Villa-Lobos: Chôros No. 5, "Alma Brasileira"; Beach: Fire-flies, Op. 15 #4; Bonds: Troubled Water; Bolcom: Nine New Bagatelles; ("...and then what happened?"); (...what happened); (...a bird comments–to another bird?) 0:55 14 (...Lord Lovell's trunk); (...a little story); (...take no prisoners); (...valse oubliable); (...benediction); (...pavane for the dead/hope's feathers; Barber: Piano Sonata, Op. 26