New York City native Tobias Picker was described by the "Wall Street Journal" as "our finest composer for the lyric stage" and by BBC Music Magazine as "displaying a distinctively soulful style that is one of the glories of the current musical scene." The new WERGO recording with pianist Ursula Oppens traces an evolution in the composer's writing for piano from the virtuosic challenges of his "Four Etudes for Ursula" and the jazzy, urbane landscape of "Keys to the City" to the lyrical simplicity of "Old and Lost Rivers", "... when soft voices die...", or "The Blue Hula". Listeners will also have a rare opportunity to hear the composer performing in the two piano version of "Keys to the City". This CD with mostly first recordings will make an invaluable contribution to the discography of contemporary American music.