The usual insipid international politics have figured heavily into the career of pianist, composer, teacher, and musicologist Andres Alén. He learned piano from his father, Osvaldo Alén, himself a performer and instructor in New York City between 1955 and 1961. At that point, Osvaldo Alén moved his family back to Cuba and the dreaded fear of Communism started clouding the picture. The talented son published his first composition for solo piano as a teenager, but was totally denied access to the American market. His career then followed an admirable if predictable pattern for t...