Pianist/composer Timothy Andres makes his Nonesuch debut with the release of Shy and Mighty next Tuesday, May 18. Even at 25 years old, says the New Haven Advocate, it's the young composer's "maturity and self-assurance that tell us he comes from a new generation of composers."

On Shy and Mighty, Andres's "indulgence of pianistic virtuosity (he and co-pilot David Kaplan wow upon the ivories) and his undogmatic embrace of varied musical styles are lively and fully committed," says Advocate reviewer Daniel Stephen Johnson.

While such traits may have been received as an act of rebellion 25 years ago, when John Adams was first creating his own brand of accessible music in an era dominated by strict minimalists, for Andres, it comes without consternation. (Indeed, The New Yorker's Alex Ross recently wrote that Andres had achieved with Shy and Mighty "an unhurried grandeur that has rarely been felt in American
music since John Adams came on the scene.") "His nods to vernacular style ... come with an ease his classical forbears could scarcely have dreamed of," Johnson writes, "more like a classical work by an up-to-the-minute jazz pianist than the other way around."

In fact, as Johnson notes, another of Andres's label mates, Brad Mehldau, will be performing selections from Shy and Mighty next March at Carnegie Hall, during his tenure as holder of the Debs Composer's Chair. Andres and Kaplan perform the piece in its entirety at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge this coming Monday, the night before the album's release.

In the end, the Advocate review cites as "Andres’ most interesting achievement" with Shy and Mighty its "incredible listenability," with all its "distinctive, independent movements flowing smoothly into the next."

Read the complete album review at newhavenadvocate.com.

To pre-order the CD now and receive high-quality MP3s of the complete album on release day, visit the Nonesuch Store.