John Luther Adams is a composer whose music embodies the landscapes of Alaska, his home since 1978. Adams attended Cal Arts as an undergraduate in the early 1970s, and after graduating began work in environmental protection. This work first brought him to Alaska in 1975. His deep love for the location led to his permanent migration there in 1978 and it continues to be the driving force in his music to this day. Adams' compositions span many genres and media. His frequent use of static textures and subtle changes show his obvious affinities with minimalism, and his tendencies toward extended, meditative, and intuitive structures belie his true love of the music of Morton Feldman. Adams has written: "My music has always been profoundly influenced by the natural world and a strong sense of place. Through sustained listening to the subtle resonances of the northern soundscape, I hope to explore the territory of 'sonic geography', that region between place and culture . . . between environment and imagination". Watch a performance of John Luther Adams' The Farthest Place (2001) performed by Lydia Kabalen (violin), Brian Archinal and Andy Bliss (vibraphone), Satoru Tagawa (bass), and Clint Davis (piano)  . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

The celebrated French composer Pierre Henry was among the pivotal forces behind the development of musique concrete, becoming the first formally educated musician to devote his energies to the electronic medium. Born in Paris, he began training at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of ten, studying piano and percussion, while also attending the classes of Olivier Messiaen. Still, Henry had little regard for traditional musical instruments, preferring instead to experiment privately with non-musical sound sources; over time, he grew fascinated with the notion of incorporating noise into the compositional process. In 1949, Henry joined the staff of the RTF electronic studio, founded by Pierre Schaeffer five years earlier; he soon immersed himself completely in electronic music, heading the Groupe de Research de Musique Concrete throughout the greater part of the 1950s. In 1958, Henry left the RTF, and in 1960 he teamed with Jean Baronnet to found the Apsone-Cabasse Studio, the first private electronic music workshop in France; concurrent was his realization that for musique concrete to evolve, it would need to begin incorporating the electronic aesthetics pioneered in other areas of the world. Throughout the decade to follow his music adopted increasingly spiritual and meditative qualities. In 1969, he premiered Ceremony, which included music by the pop band Spooky Tooth. By the 1970s, his primary interest was large-scale works, complete with elaborate lighting effects. Henry has continued to work regularly on into the 21st century in a vast range of musical contexts -- even collaborating with the American alternative rock trio Violent Femmes. Watch and listen to composer Pierre Henry talk about his life and music in Pierre Henry - The Art of Sounds . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

At the request of Yo-Yo Ma, who had played the 1992 premiere of American composer Peter Lieberson's King Gesar, Lieberson conceived a concerto for amplifihttp://www.pytheasmusic.org/honegger.htmled cello and orchestra, entitled The Six Realms, that outlines a key Buddhist teaching: that differing states of mind and emotions color our view of the world and shape human experience. This philosophy is reflected in the piece's formal structure; each of the concerto's six continuous sections represents a different state of being. The work's fifth movement The Human Realm deals with Passion: the desire for something better, and a lessening of self-absorption, allowing for the possibility of our becoming dignified humans who long for liberation from these six realms of existence. It is only from this realm that we are able to move on to achieve Enlightenment: the right way to view, and interact with, the world. Put simply, Buddhists believe that humans cycle back and forth, endlessly, through these six states, experiencing the concomitant afflictions that attach themselves to each level. In Lieberson's Six Realms, the cello soloist acts as emotional protagonist and the orchestra's "guide" — a cousin to the Romantic concerto's "hero" — leading all of us from realm to realm until we finally are able to liberate ourselves from this misery-inducing cycle. Although not programmatic, the piece's subtle use of musical imagery allows the listener without any previous knowledge of Buddhist tenets to grasp its depiction of universal human experiences. Listen to a performance The Human Realm from Peter Lieberson's The Six Realms (2000) with cellist Michaela Fukacova and the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Justin Brown conductiong . . . one of this week's PYTHEAS EARFULS.

Arthur Honegger's Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1924) is in reality a ten-minute neo-classical "piano-concerto-in-two-movements", sporting severe "wrong note" harmonies and complex counterpoint within what is actually a rigid framework. The two movements further subdivide into four, and the effect is a full-scale, but tiny, piano concerto. Overall, the work is a sort of miniature jewel of a concerto which displays  Honegger's gift in full maturity and shows both the extent to which he departed from the Impressionism of some of his countrymen, and the effectiveness with which he managed the neo-classical form. As one of his mature works, the piece is somewhat complex and demanding, especially in its rhythmic shifts and contrasts. As just plain music, the work is fun and satisfying (- from the All Music Guide). Watch an smart and inventively filmed performance of Honegger's Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with pianist Ilana Vered and the Swiss Radio Symphony Orchestra, Matthias Bamert conducting . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.