Benjamin Lees was one of the senior figures in American music, with a large catalogue of powerful and inventive music to his credit. His piano works span almost sixty years of compositional activity but are unified by a number of consistent stylistic features: a wiry and muscular athleticism with its distant roots in Prokofiev and Bartók, a quasi-Impressionist awareness of piano sonority, a tough, no-nonsense sense of humour and an exhilarating onward drive. Experience Lees' intense and powerful music with a performance of his Fantasia (1954) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

The Portland Chamber Music Festival is a local, community-based organization that has gained an outstanding regional and national reputation since its founding in 1994. The festival brings nationally recognized artists to Portland, Maine to present a wide range of classical chamber music, including the music of living composers. The PCMF has played to a nationwide audience on National Public Radio; twice has been awarded an Aaron Copland grant for performance of American contemporary music; has been recorded and broadcast by WGBH radio in Boston; and has been featured in both local and national press. Performers in recent years have included members of the Vermeer, Mendelssohn, Borromeo, and Brentano String Quartets, world-renowned baritone Sanford Sylvan, and National Symphony Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef. Resident Composers have included Grammy winner Osvaldo Golijov and internationally celebrated composer Earl Kim. PCMF also works to develop excitement for classical music among young people and the greater Portland community, hosting a free children’s concert, a Young Artist Apprentice Program, concerts in Gardiner and at Bates College, and adult chamber music workshops. The festival also conducts an annual Composer’s Competition, culminating in the winning work’s premiere performance . . . . . . it's this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL.

Leonard Rosenman is one of a handful of film composers who have successfully incorporated contemporary compositional techniques into conventional film scoring. Rosenman's use of Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone technique set a standard for the use of various avant-garde, atonal, and serial effects. The first ever twelve-tone score [for a major studio film] was his score for "The Cobweb" (1955). The composer has also demonstrated an ability to employ authentic period music in a number of films dealing with historical subject matter, such as "Barry Lyndon" (1975) and "Bound for Glory" (1976). Hear Rosenman's music in an excerpt from the 1979 eco-thriller Prophecy . . it's this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

Pierre Schaeffer Etude Noire (1948) is an early piece of musique concrete. "Etude Noire" means black study…making this the progenitor of all dark ambient music. Schaeffer is singularly responsible for launching the Musique Concrete movement in the late 1940s and with it, the course of much of the experimental music of the 20th Century. According toe Wikpedia, Schaeffer is generally acknowledged as being the first composer to make music using magnetic tape. "From the contemporary point of view, the importance of Schaeffer's musique concrète is threefold. He developed the concept of including any and all sounds into the vocabulary of music. At first he concentrated on working with sounds other than those produced by traditional musical instruments. Later on, he found it was possible to remove the familiarity of musical instrument sounds and abstract them further by techniques such as removing the attack of the recorded sound. He was among the first musicians to manipulate recorded sound for the purpose of using it in conjunction with other sounds in order to compose a musical piece. Techniques such as tape looping and tape splicing were used in his research, often comparing to sound collage. The advent of Schaeffer's manipulation of recorded sound became possible only with technologies that were developed after World War II had ended in Europe. His work is recognized today as an essential precursor to contemporary sampling practices. Schaeffer was among the first to use recording technology in a creative and specifically musical way, harnessing the power of electronic and experimental instruments in a manner similar to Luigi Russolo, whom he admired and from whose work he drew inspiration"
. . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Considering the singularity of Dmitri Shostakovich’s voice, it is no surprise to find a chamber music work like the Piano Trio No.2, op.67 (1944) clothed in his typical coat of many colors: somberness, simple folkishness, diabolical urgency, satirical stridency, anger. The somberness is particularly appropriate here, for the Trio No. 2 was composed in the summer of 1944 in memory of one of Shostakovich’s closest friends, Ivan Sollertinsky, who had died the February before. The tribute to his friend is not by any means all a maudlin affair, but bereavement is apparent in the first movement’s elegiac introduction, and, particularly, in a bleak third movement. -- from notes to the LA Philharmonic . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Michael Daugherty has created a niche in the music world that is uniquely his own, composing concert music inspired by American popular culture. He first came to international attention in the 1990s with a series of witty, dark-humored, brilliantly-scored pieces inspired by 20th-century American icons such as Superman, Jackie O, Elvis, J. Edgar Hoover, and Rosa Parks, and places such as Route 66, Niagara Falls, and Sunset Strip. With compositional originality and ingenuity to match his subject matter, Daugherty became one of America's most frequently performed and commissioned living composers. The London Times has described Daugherty as "a master icon-maker" and hailed his "maverick imagination, fearless structural sense and meticulous ear". His music has the uncanny knack of speaking everybody’s language at once while retaining the ability to surprise, move, stimulate, inspire and amuse. His idiom bears the stamp of classic modernism, with colliding tonalities and blocks of sound; at the same time, his melodies can be eloquent and stirring. Listen to Michael Daugherty talk about his life and music . . . it's this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

While it’s true that Destination Moon kicked off the burst of sci-fi moviemaking activity that was among the most distinctive pop-cultural features of the 1950’s, that movie wasn’t quite the first one out of the gate. Mind you, it was the first one put into production, but you take certain risks when you make as big a deal of a movie in the works as Eagle-Lion did with Destination Moon - namely, that some rinky-dink independent is going to throw together a low-budget knockoff of your big, prestigious film, and get it out into the theaters while your project is still in post-production. Roger Corman is probably the most famous practitioner of this particular ploy, but he by no means invented it. Some five years before Corman had produced so much as a demo reel, Robert Lippert, the eponymous head of Lippert Studios, stole Destination Moon’s thunder by bringing Rocket Ship X-M to the screen almost before Eagle-Lion even knew what hit them. And if you believe the rumors, Lippert would have stolen more than just his competitor’s thunder; according to the gossip-mongers, the only reason the rocketship of this movie’s title fails to reach the moon as planned is because Eagle-Lion’s lawyers wrote producer/director/screenwriter Kurt Neumann some pissed-off letters. (Scott Ashlin/1000misspenthours.com). Watch Rocket Ship X-M (1950) with a score by Ferde Grofé (composer of the famous Grand Canyon Suite) . . . it's this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

In addition to being one of Hungary's most well known composers, Zoltán Kodály was also a well respected and successful educator in the field of music. His veritable crusade to provide all young people with a sound basic musical education resulted in a great body of work for schools and choirs. He lectured, conducted, taught - often involving his advanced pupils as well. He published, wrote as a critic and laid the foundations for a universal musical education system where singing as a group activity ensures that children become musically literate, learn to co-operate and understand the need for verbal as well as musical communication. The Kodály Method is now his permanent legacy, used and respected world-wide where the value of producing musical literacy among the young is recognized. Kodály was one of this century’s true musical renaissance men. His many-sided interests musical, linguistic, folk and broadly cultural, and educational were all informed by the strong backbone of his ethnic consciousness. Much of his music is imbued with Hungarian folk idioms, though none sacrifices its musical integrity to it. Watch a performance of Kodály's Esti Dal (Evening Song) by the King's Singers . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

"Across his diverse and successful career, Jacques Ibert kept his distance from the many "isms" of the twentieth century, insisting that "all systems are valid, provided one derives music from them." His Flute Concerto, written for Marcel Moyse and premiered in 1934, is one of the classics of its genre, and in it Ibert demonstrates that his idea of "music" is not as easily "derived" as he seems to suggest. The work is a masterful blend of the new and old, exploring the full range of flute technique without indulging in virtuosity for its own sake. Ibert also takes advantage of new compositional possibilities and his exquisite sense for orchestral color, but, again, without indulging in excess, exercising a typically French restraint within delicately balanced forms and textures. Throughout, Ibert creates a nuanced balance between orchestral and virtuosic brilliance." [Raymond Knapp/Santa Monica Symphony] Watch a performance of the final movement of Ibert's Flute Concerto (1934) performed by flutist Jiro Yoshioka . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

According to clarinetist/composer Kinan Azmeh, "The current unrest in the seat of the world’s oldest civilization inspired us to explore the most ancient epic we have in writing today. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a lush story, rich in meaning, in romance, and in humor. Visual artist Kevork Mourad and I have chosen to explore this epic through the art forms of music and painting, using them in tandem as vehicles for story telling. With original composition on the clarinet, (with the use of Max/Msp software as a compositional extension,) inspiring and working off the visual artist’s projected illustration, the world’s oldest known epic will be brought to life in the present: through new musical forms and means, and through a new form of visual art exploring the permanence of lines on paper in the impermanence of projection". Watch an excerpt from The Gilgamesh Project (2006) . . . the second one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

This week the music of Marilyn Shrude, William Albright and Burton Beerman is presented in our FEATURED RECORDING Shadows and Dawning (Albany Records 526). Fanfare Magazine writes, "The disc turns out to be a quite a winner ... with the Beerman work followed by two saxophone pieces by Marilyn Shrude. Her Shadows and Dawning (1982) for saxophone and piano is a one-movement chamber poem depicting the gradual transformation of nature's darkness into light - nighttime to dawning. Moods of mystery and modernistic performance techniques are used: multiphonics, timbral trills, and the like. Eventually the piano begins passagework reminiscent of shimmering - the first traces of light are apparent; the saxophone trills excitedly and the picture is complete". Read more about this disc and hear excerpts from it . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDING.

Maurice Ravel saw his Piano Concerto in G (1931) as being in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saëns, light and brilliant, in contrast to those heavier classical concerti which he felt were written "against" rather than "for" the piano. Ravel wrote, "The music of a concerto, in my opinion, should be light and bright and does not seek depth or dramatic effects". Watch a beautiful performance of the first movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G performed by pianist Martha Argerich . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Delia Derbyshire was a music-maker ahead of her time. She went to Cambridge, getting degrees in both Mathematics and Music. After being turned down for a position at Decca Records because they did not employ women in their recording studios, she eventually landed a position at another studio in London — Boosey & Hawkes music publishers. Derbyshire's move in 1960 to the BBC as a trainee studio manager signaled the beginning of a fruitful partnership with the organization. It was at the BBC that she was given the space and freedom she needed to experiment with sound — creating moods and soundscapes through strictly electronic means. It wasn't long before she'd recorded Ron Grainer's famous theme to the BBC series Doctor Who. On first hearing Derbyshire's version Grainer was tickled pink: "Did I really write this?" he asked. "Most of it," replied Derbyshire. So began, what some call, the "Golden Age" of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. A complete list of Derbyshire's works has yet to be compiled, but among other things she managed to do were: Special works and soundtracks for the Brighton Festival and the City of London Festival; Yoko Ono's "Wrapping Event" of the lions at Trafalgar Square; music for the award winning film Circle of Light, and Peter Hall's film Work is a 4 Letter Word; the White Noise LP An Electric Storm; and special sound and music for plays at the RSC Stratford, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and the Chalk Farm Roundhouse. Late in the 1970s, Derbyshire backed away from electronic music after feeling disillusioned at the direction it was heading in. It wasn't until the mid 1990s that she noticed a change in the genre and joined back in. Shortly before she died in 2001, she wrote: "Working with people like Sonic Boom on pure electronic music has re-invigorated me. He is from a later generation but has always had an affinity with the music of the 60s. One of our first points of contact — the visionary work of Peter Zinovieff, has touched us both, and has been an inspiration. Now without the constraints of doing "applied music", my mind can fly free and pick-up where I left off". Hear Derbyshire's Sea, from "Four Inventions for Radio" (1964), a work she made in collaboration with poet and dramatist Barry Bermange . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Joan Tower is one of the most prominent American composers to emerge in the latter part of the twentieth century. She initially made her mark as a pianist, but began composing in the 1960s. In 1969 she helped found the New York-based Da Capo Chamber Players and served as the group's pianist. Tower wrote a number of successful works for the Da Capo Players over the years, and the group received several awards, including a 1973 Naumberg Award. From 1985-88 she was composer-in-residence with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Beginning with the 1999-2000 season, Tower launched a three-year stint as composer-in-residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. In 2005 she accepted a commission for a work, Made in America, to be played by 65 community orchestras spread across all 50 American states. The piece was played by all the orchestras in their 2005-2006 seasons, and its recording by Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony won three 2008 Grammy awards, in the fields of Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance, and Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Her early music incorporated serial techniques, but in the 1970s, she turned to a more approachable style, writing works with more lyrical melodies, powerful rhythmic drive, and masterfully conceived instrumentation; the rhythmic character of her 1993 ballet Stepping Stones has been compared to that of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In 1990 she became the first woman to win the highly prestigious Grawemeyer Prize. Hear Joan Tower talk about her life and music . . . our Pytheas COMPOSER PORTRAIT this week.

According to Graham Greene, Jean-Luc Godard's short film Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo (Hail, Sarajevo) (1993) is "a two-minute rumination on the once volatile situation during the period of the Bosnian War, presented in the form of a photo-montage with accompanying text. In the film, Godard takes a single photograph and shows us a series of close-up segments that conspire to abstract the overall meaning of the picture, turning the individual elements into mere symbols that are there to be deciphered". Adding to the impact of the film is the music of Arvo Pärt. Watch Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

Elliott Carter writes about his Cello Sonata from 1948 . . . "The Cello Sonata was extremely modern at that time. I could not get it published. And cellist Bernard Greenhouse and his pianist played the first performance at Town Hall, and they were covered with sweat. It was so upsetting and so disturbing — we had hardly anybody in the audience. If they heard what I write now, they would run out of the hall screaming, I suppose." Watch a performance of the 4th movement of Carter's Cello Sonata . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

The All Music Guide writes about Ástor Piazzolla's 6 Études tanguistiques . . . "These six tango etudes are a highly original blending of the classical concert etude and Piazzolla's "new tango" music. They present the player with technical challenges pertaining to given aspect of flute playing, yet are effective concert works. Although the tango rhythm is never very far away in this set, much of the interest of the music lies in how Piazzolla finds new textures and playing techniques for the solo flute. They were composed in 1987 and belong to a group of works from Piazzolla's later career in which he returned to "classical" specification of the musical moment while by no means abandoning his connection to the tango". Watch a performance of Tango Etudes 1 & 3 by flutist Claudio Barile . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Bohuslav Martinů managed to become not only the greatest Czech composer of his generation, but a major international figure, known especially for his concerti and chamber music. The rhythmic vitality and pronounced lyricism of his music recall the styles of both Dvorak and Stravinsky. Martinů began as a follower of Debussy, but after moving to Paris he became part of the avant-garde there. He experimented with jazz, a Bartok-like rhapsodic style, and neoclassic fun-and-games in the manner of Les Six. He came increasingly under the influence of Stravinsky, but unlike many others, moved more and more towards his Czech roots and folk influences via a neoclassic musical view. During World War II, Martinů fled to the United States, and thereafter, his work opened up emotionally, without losing its considerable craft. He became a major 20th-century symphonist, writing six symphonies, as well as contributing major vocal works for the operatic stage, and cantatas for chorus and orchestra. Hear him talk about his life and his music . . . our Pytheas COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) is a non-profit organization, based in Toronto, that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. Included in its productions are: Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, Arts Birthday and SOUNDplay. The objectives of New Adventures in Sound Art are to foster awareness and understanding locally, as well as nationally and internationally, in the cultural vitality of experimental sound art in its myriad forms of expression. This objective is achieved through the exploration of new sound technologies in conjunction with the creation of cultural events and artifacts. Check them out! They're this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC WEBSITE.