What do you do after winning a gold medal? In classical music, pianists who win prestigious piano competitions plunge into concert tours and then record music by the usual suspects—Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin. You get the idea. Yet pianist Stephen Beus, who recently won gold medals at competitions in Lisbon and Salt Lake City, ventures a different approach: “If someone wants to hear the meat and potatoes of the piano repertory, there are plenty of choices, from Horowitz to Argerich and so on. I think there’s something exciting about recording repertory that hasn’t been widely recorded.” He’s right; his winning new CD, Excursions: Piano Music of Barber and Bauer (Endeavour Classics/Allegro Music), not only contains a commanding performance of the Sonata in E-Flat Major op. 26 by Samuel Barber (1910—1981), but convincingly advocates for Walla Walla—born composer Marion Bauer (1882—1955), whose moody, impressionistic pieces “The Tide,” “Druids,” and “Vision” are delightful.
Beus, a native of Othello, Washington, has a busy schedule this weekend. First, he tackles the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Bellevue Philharmonic (Saturday, September 30, Theatre at Meydenbauer Center, 11100 Northeast Sixth Street, Bellevue, 325-6500, 7:30 p.m., $12.25—$34; also Sunday, October 1, 2:00 p.m.). Then, Beus plays a benefit solo recital for the South King County Music Teachers Association (Tuesday, October 3, John Knox Presbyterian Church, 109 Southwest Normandy Road, 444-8296, 7:30 p.m., $5/$10, seating is limited, so call ahead for tickets). Beus plans to continue recording atypical repertory; he tells me his next disc will focus on music by one of Horowitz’s favorite composers, Alexander Scriabin (1872—1915), and the almost-forgotten Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884—1920), another American exponent of impressionism.
Trombonist Chris Stover also does double duty this week. A core member of the chamber group Quake, Stover and company open their season in an unusual venue (i.e., not Benaroya) with John Zorn’s most famous game piece, Cobra, and the seminal work of minimalism, Terry Riley’s In C (Monday, October 2, Lo_Fi, 429B Eastlake Avenue East, 254-2824, 8:00 p.m., $8). Quake has mustered an expanded lineup with Korby Sears of Seattle School, violinist/composer Tom Swafford, and two Cobra veterans, Stuart McLeod and Carl Farrow from the SIL2K Ensemble. In addition, Stover’s jazz quintet More Zero celebrate the release of their eponymous disc, which simmers with brainy arrangements rooted in minimal techno, out-jazz, and funk (Wednesday, October 4, ToST, 513 North 36th Street, 547-0240, 9:00 p.m., free).
Finally, I bid a reluctant farewell to improvising drummer Matt Crane. Chiefly known for anchoring the drum chair of B**F, Crane is a drumming hurricane of the best kind, one who sweeps up his fellow musicians onstage with a keen ear for tempo, collective volume, and group polyphony. Last week, he joined a wagon train of first-rate improvisers—saxophonist Gregory Reynolds, Adam Diller, and Swafford—who have recently or will soon decamp Seattle for New York. Crane will be missed. 
