William Bland built up an impressive pedigree in the avant-garde; he studied at Peabody, and the roster of professors under whom he tutored includes Ernst Krenek and Earle Brown. He taught in New York and performed in new music circles until one day Bland dropped out and returned to his native West Virginia, working as a musician in his local community. He returned to composition with a renewed vigor late in the twentieth century, with an idiom that takes a little bit of his new music heritage into a context that he truly loves -- the music current at the turn of the twentieth century. Since 1998, Bland has embarked on a cycle of 24 piano sonatas, of which 17 are complete at the time of the 2007 issue of this “Bridge” release, William Bland; they are rich with ragtime, romantic flourishes, nostalgia, and, best of all, are original and striking creations. This disc features Bland, who as a pianist is far more capable than composers tend to be, in his Sonata No.4 in E flat, Goodbye Concert Rags, his Sonata No.14 in B flat, and a selection of shorter pieces. All of these pieces are highly engaging and entertaining, brimming with a flavoring of Americana, yet also informed by European music as well, just that of Massenet and Chaminade rather than Schoenberg or Stravinsky. Once in awhile the music exhibits clashing harmonies or bursts into tone clusters, usually in the service of some dramatic purpose -- Bland hasn't altogether abandoned lessons learned from new music. But what Bland is doing is quite different from, say, what William Albright once did -- rather than taking ragtime figures into a contemporary work and therefore rendering the rag-derived elements somewhat arcane, with Bland it is the ragtime that is the main focus and the new music elements that are rendered arcane. It is certainly an intriguing twist on developments in contemporary music, and those who follow such currents closely will find Bland's music at least intriguing, if not astounding, which it is sometimes. (Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide)