Commissioned by Piano & Keyboard magazine, Amlin's Eight Variations is a charming 5-minute piece designed to be within reach of intermediate pianists. The work begins with a fascinating chorale in true Amlin style--a study in major-seventh chords in varied inversions and everchanging harmony. The result is a theme that is at once beautiful, fresh, and always moving forward. Seven characteristic variations follow, subjecting the original chord progression through the guises of a Habanera, a Bach-style invention, and further treats.

Five concert-level solos for advanced pianists, music characterized by pungent tonality and high rhythmic energy. Variations, Elegy, Aria, A Birthday Greeting, South End Rag.

Martin AmlinÂ's Kennel is a suite of seven movements, each inspired by one of the seven groups of dog breeds defined by the American Kennel Club. KennelÂ's music has all the charm suggested by its warm imagery, as well as the excitement and energy that drives AmlinÂ's rhythmically-infused concert music. For advanced players. Dur.: 13Â'

Magic Maze is the perfect title for this 8-minute adventure for viola and piano. Cycling through a form loosely inspired by numerical "magic squares," the work is a chain of variations on a 12-note series built of perfect fourths and minor thirds. Miniature versions of various characters Â-- march, canon, barcarolle, toccata, bolero, and sarabande Â-- weave their way through the continuous labyrinth, all based on symmetrical patterns of pitch and rhythm that continually develop and return.

Composer Martin Amlin is also an outstanding pianist, and his pianistic writing shows idiomatic flair and flash honed into remarkable form and expression. Piano Sonata No. 6 has no barlines or movement divisions. Opening with the tempo marking "Bold, " the sonata wears its formal mantel as hard as granite, yet interwoven with tenderness and with expressive lyricism in relief to an unmetered flow not unlike what Ives described as "prose" within his own musical poetry.