Biss Pairs New Works With Schubert Sonatas

Pianist Jonathan Biss releases an album pairing three newly commissioned solo piano works with Schubert's sonatas.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Classical

Gouache-painted editorial illustration of a piano keyboard with ruled staff lines unfurling across the lid beside a blank open page, in warm earthy tones. — Pianist Jonathan Biss released the album Jonathan Biss Plays New Piano Works, pairing three newly commissioned solo piano pieces with his ongoing exploration of Schubert's sonatas. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Pianist Jonathan Biss has released the album Jonathan Biss Plays New Piano Works on the Orchid Classics label. The album presents three solo piano pieces by composers Tyson Gholston Davis, Alvin Singleton, and Tyshawn Sorey.

Why it matters

The album extends Biss's exploration of Schubert's piano music, which began during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and led him to pair each of Schubert's three sonatas with a newly commissioned work. For U.S. classical listeners, it offers a recent example of contemporary composers writing in dialogue with the established piano repertoire.

The release consists of three solo piano works, each paired one-to-one with a Schubert sonata in the project's design. The stub does not report sales, streaming figures, or critical reception for the album.

The players

Jonathan Biss

A pianist and writer who serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music Festival and authored the book Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven.

Orchid Classics

A classical music record label that released the album Jonathan Biss Plays New Piano Works.

Alvin Singleton

A composer whose single-movement Bed-Stuy Sonata is one of the three new works on the album.

Tyshawn Sorey

A composer whose For Anthony Braxton is one of the three new works on the album.

Tyson Gholston Davis

A composer whose Expansions of Light, inspired by a Helen Frankenthaler painting, is one of the three new works on the album.

The details

Each of the three works is accompanied by an essay written by Biss responding to and commenting on the piece. Davis's Expansions of Light draws on a Helen Frankenthaler painting, Singleton's single-movement Bed-Stuy Sonata portrays the Brooklyn neighborhood of his childhood, and Sorey's For Anthony Braxton explores the relationship between sound and silence.

2020: Biss began exploring Schubert's piano music during the Covid-19 pandemic, the same year his book Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven was named one of Audible's top audiobooks of the year.
2022: Biss decided to pair each of Schubert's three sonatas with a newly commissioned work.
November 6, 2026: The album release was reported.

Big Picture

The project places newly commissioned works beside Schubert's three late piano sonatas, a model of pairing contemporary composition with canonical repertoire. Biss's approach extends his earlier work on Beethoven, which he discussed in his 2020 book Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven.

Listeners can access the album through the Orchid Classics release, which presents each new work alongside an essay by Biss. The album pairs each contemporary piece with a Schubert sonata, giving listeners a direct way to hear the works in relation to the canonical repertoire.

The takeaway

Pairing new commissions with canonical repertoire can make both easier to hear in a fresh light. Listeners exploring contemporary piano music may find it useful to listen to a Schubert sonata alongside its newly written counterpart.