Roberta Rust Interview: New Recording & LWB Piano Selections
Esteemed Piano Performance Musician Roberta Rust reflects on her years of excellent interpretation of the Ballard material and outstanding recordings on Navona and Parma Records.
In May of 2022 — A City of Silver & A City of Fire recording was released on Parma’s Navona Records. It features a live premiere of the Ballard compositions as performed by, yourself, Roberta Rust, in Carnegie Recital Hall. What was your inspiration for this recording — material & setting?
The performances on this recording are historic as Louis stated that it was the first time works of a Native American composer were performed by a Native American pianist at Carnegie Hall. The concert took place October 12, 1984 at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City and marked the world premiere of the Ballard Concert Fantasy for Piano “A City of Fire”(1984) and the New York premiere of the Concert Fantasy “A City of Silver” (1981).
I wanted to share this occasion with a wider public and have it serve as a discographic document for posterity, so was thrilled that Parma Records released it on its Navona label in 2022. Here is a link to the recording: https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6429/
For how many years have you been performing Ballard works and what are some of your favorites in your repertoire?
I have been performing piano music of Louis Ballard since 1984 and works included have been the Two Concert Fantasies (A City of Silver and A City of Fire), the Four American Indian Preludes (1963) and variations from his ballet The Four Moons, specifically the Shawnee Variation, Choctaw Variation, Osage Variation, and Cherokee Variation. There is excellent contrast and content in these piano compositions and they show the evolution in Ballard’s compositional style from 1963–1984.
In March 2023 you delivered a lecture-performance over Ballard’s legacy at the 2023 MTNA National Conference in Reno, NV. What pieces were performed and what were some highlighted points of the lecture?
I performed the Four American Indian Preludes (1963) and excerpts from the Two Concert Fantasies for Piano, A City of Silver and A City of Fire, at the MTNA National Conference in Reno, Nevada in 2023. This was a lecture-performance session that incorporated biographical information about Louis and description of his musical style and artistic achievements.
You are a fan of playing and performing Mozart — what do you think are the challenges and opportunities of performing the great European classics and how does the effort compare to performing Ballard works?
I am by training a classical concert pianist with foundation in music of the greatest composers who ever lived, so I feel well-equipped to investigate, interpret, and perform newer music, including works such as Ballard’s. He too, was trained via classical music and its compositional traditions, and was well-versed in 20th century compositional techniques emanating from the European classical tradition. So, I could quickly identify and relate to his musical language and process.
Playing the classics presents different challenges from playing newer music, as there is a well-established tradition of performance and formidable expectations for each generation of new interpreters. With newer music, the challenge is presenting it for listeners for the first time. It is music they are not familiar with, so the interpreter has to be especially persuasive, as the listener often has never heard the piece and/or the composer who wrote it. But, there is an immediacy in this endeavor which is exciting and a creative process that should be kept in mind when performing the classics as well.
How does your Lakota heritage impact your approach towards piano performance and selection of music?
In the 1980s I first heard about Louis Ballard — via a radio performance in New York and reading reviews of his work, so I became interested in trying to contact him to find out if he had written any piano music. My Lakota heritage was a natural avenue of connection, as we shared Native backgrounds, in addition to following musical paths that crossed. How this heritage may impact my piano performances is best determined by listeners. In recent years I became acquainted with the music of Navajo composer, Connor Chee, and also got to know him. And again, our shared Native background served as a conduit for artistic collaboration.
What is important for younger Native artists trying to break into the fine and performing arts to demonstrate and why?
Younger Native artists, as well as young artists everywhere, need to develop their craft to the highest degree possible and remain open to the influences and inspiration of their zeitgeist and community in order to identify the art works that emanate from the time and place in which they live. With well-honed craft, they must use their creativity and imagination to forge a unique artistic path.
A new recording “ FEMALE RAIN: Indigenous American Piano Music, Roberta Rust Piano “ is being released this summer, also on Parma Records. How did you approach the piano preludes for this recording?
My new recording on the Navona label of Parma Records is entitled FEMALE RAIN: Indigenous American Piano Music, Roberta Rust Piano and will include music of Ballard and Chee. Its formal release date is July 10, 2026. A few years before Louis died, he sent me all the scores of his piano music, which included his arrangement of his ballet The Four Moons, as well as a copy of his Four American Indian Preludes, with the hopes I would record this piano music in the future. I was attracted to all the works he sent and on this recording decided to include four variations from The Four Moons that were inspired by four Indigenous ballerinas: Moscelyne Larkin (Shawnee), Rosella Hightower (Choctaw), Marjorie Tallchief (Osage) and Yvonne Chouteau (Cherokee).
Also included are The Four American Indian Preludes, which are striking pieces in every way — captivating and dynamic. Louis captured Indigenous material in a highly effective compositional manner, reflective of the musical era in which he lived. I approached the Preludes on this recording as the gems they are and hope I met the pianistic and compositional challenges inherent in them as well as revealed their special expressive quality.
Hear more from Roberta Rust in a recent “Piano Inspires” podcast here:
