Peter Maxwell Davies' chamber opera The Lighthouse (1979) is based on a real incident in 1900 when three keepers of an Outer Hebrides lighthouse disappeared in unexplained, Marie Celeste-like circumstances. The opera's exploration of the inter-personal tensions and paranoia of the three men is one possible version of what may have happened. A prologue moves between a court of enquiry into the incident and flashbacks to the arrival of the relief boat. The boat's three officers answer questions posed by a solo horn, with small discrepancies emerging in their three stories. Watch an excerpt of Maxwell Davies The Lighthouse from a performance featuring Andrew Slater, Paul Carey Jones and Sean Clayton . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Composer Alice Shields talks about her electronic piece The Transformation of Ani (1970): "The text of 'The Transformation of Ani' is taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, as translated into English by E. A. Budge. Most sounds in the piece were made from my own voice, speaking and singing the words of the text. Each letter of the English translation was assigned a pitch, and each hieroglyph of the Egyptian was given a particular sound or short phrase, of mostly indefinite pitch. Each series, the one derived from the English translation, and the one derived from the original hieroglyphs, was then improvised upon to create material I thought appropriate to the way in which I wanted to develop the meaning of the text, which I divided into three sections. Listen to Alice Shields' The Transformation of Ani . . . it's our SOUND ART for the week.
New York based composer David T. Little wrote his piece Spalding Gray (2008) in memory of the writer Spalding Gray, and it was premiered December 9th, 2008 by the NOW Ensemble at Princeton University. The music of American composer David T. Little has been described as "dramatically wild ... rustling, raunchy and eclectic, and "showing "real imagination" by New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini. Little’s highly theatrical, often political work draws upon his experience as a rock drummer, and fuses classical and popular idioms to dramatic effect. His music has been performed throughout the world - including in Dresden, London, Edinburgh, LA, Montreal, and at the Tanglewood, Aspen, MATA and Cabrillo Festivals - by such performers as the London Sinfonietta, eighth blackbird, So Percussion, ensemble courage, Dither, NOW nsemble, PRISM Quartet, the New World Symphony, American Opera Projects, the New York City Opera, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony. Little has taught music in New York City through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program, served as the inaugural Digital Composer-in- Residence for the UK-based DilettanteMusic.com, and is currently the Executive Director of New York’s MATA Festival. Listen to a performance of David T. Little's Spalding Gray (2008) played by the NOW Ensemble . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFUL for the week.
Philadelphia born composer Vincent Persichetti was the recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships and grants from the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His Night Dances, written in 1970, was commissioned by the New York State School of Music Association and was introduced during that organization’s meeting at Kiamesha Lake, New York, on December 9, 1970, by the All-State Orchestra under Frederick Fennell. Persichetti has said of this work (which he considered a companion piece to his Symphony No. 9): "Lines of poetry, floating about in my head, seemed to suggest a kind of music that flourished in the fertile climate of the Symphony. I believe these two companion pieces are linked spiritually, but subconsciously. As in my three volumes of Poems for Piano (1939), each of the seven sections of this work reflects, or parallels, the mood of a single line recalled from a poem. After the last page of music in the score, I have listed the titles of the seven poems from which these lines came, but the music is a parallel of these specific lines only, and has nothing necessarily to do with the respective poems in their entirety (though my choice of title may have been influenced by that of the Sylvia Plath poem quoted in the penultimate section). These Night Dances do have to do with what we all dream in a different reality from that of our waking thoughts. In dreams things appear, bidden or unbidden, as an underside of something made of a fabric that will hold together because it is part fantasy. These seven pieces form a crystal created by a melodic pair of dewdrops." [notes from "Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc."] Listen to a performance of Persichetti's Night Dances, op. 114 (1970) played by the Juilliard Orchestra, James DePriest conductor . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Join the Portland Chamber Music Festival for their final concert of the 2011 season, featuring Osvaldo Golijov's "Lullaby and Doina" and Schubert's great masterpiece, the Octet in F major for Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, and Strings. Held at the Abromson Center at the University of Southern Maine, The festival's five-concert series has been broadcast on National Public Radio and WGBH in Boston and has been awarded two grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Join in the excitement this Saturday, August 20th at 8pm. Check it all out at the Portland Chamber Music Festival's website http://www.pcmf.org/
Stephen Cohn is internationally recognized for his music for the concert stage, as well as his scores for feature films and television. His concert works have been performed and recorded by the world's finest chamber music ensembles in the United States and Europe, such as the Kansas City Symphony, Arditti Quartet, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chroma String Quartet. He has been Composer-in-Residence at The International Encounters of Catalonia in the south of France, and his commissions have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brussels, France, and Prague. He has received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Music", and his scores have been part of many award winning productions featuring such stars as Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward, Kathleen Quinlan, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner and Wallace Shawn. Watch the premiere performance of Stephen Cohn's chamber piece "Sea Change" (2011) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Insyn (Insight) is a dancefilm by choreographer Klara Elenius and composer Stefan Klaverdal where choreography and music creates a unique synergy, inspired by the Nordic mentality. The basic concept of the film is to create rifts in our perception of what is real and what is not. Do the characters in the film really live as we do, or are they caught in some kind of flux between dream and reality? The main characters live in a very still and unmoving house. They seem to have a somewhat strict relationship to each other. Everything just about normal, but everywhere seem to hold some abstract components that shifts the perception and creates a reality of its own. The music reflects on the quasi-normal view of reality using vocal samples somewhat transformed, gliding between recognizable patterns and more abstract sonic landscapes. The music was the winner in the 35th IMEB composition for electroacoustic music in Bourges 2008. The movie has also been awarded as a whole in the international competitions for short films in 2007 Cozmic Zoom Copenhagen (2 prizes) Cinedans Amsterdam Dancescreen the Haague. Watch the Elenius/Klaverdal dancefilm "Insyn" . . . it's our DANSES PYTHEUSES for the week.
Todd Goodman has been described as "one of America's promising young composers." Born in Bedford, Penn., he received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition at the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Masters of Music degree in composition at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His works have been played by principle members of the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Singapore and Seattle Symphonies. Goodman has received commissions from a wide variety of players and ensembles across the United States. With many performances in the United States his works have also been performed in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Goodman currently serves as the resident composer for the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. He feels that the audience connection and participation in his music is vital to its success. He wants people to leave a concert feeling that they experienced a work rather than just observing. Goodman has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for his work with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, the American Music Center, as well as grants from the University of Colorado Entrepreneurship Center. Goodman is the founder and artistic director of the innovative contemporary art ensemble, Ensemble Immersion, which combines music, dance, literature, film, visual arts, drama, set design, and creative audience interaction to create artistic experiences unlike any other. Listen to a performance of Todd Goodman's "River of Sorrows" (2006) with the Duquesne University Wind Ensemble . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Stefan Weisman was born and raised in New Jersey, and now lives in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Anthony Tommasini (New York Times) has called his music "personal, moody and skillfully wrought." His works include chamber, orchestral and choral pieces, as well as music for theater, video and dance. He is a recipient of a 2006 Bang on a Can "People’s Commission." Among his other commissions are works for Sequitur, the Minimum Security Composers Collective, the Empire City Men's Chorus with the Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Battell Chapel Choir, and the Oregon Bach Festival Composers’ Symposium, which commissioned a piece in honor of George Crumb on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Other groups who have performed his work include the Miro String Quartet, So Percussion, the Locrian Chamber Players, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Third Angle Ensemble, the Yesaroun' Duo, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Luna Nova, pianist Lisa Moore, flautist Patti Monson, mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, male soprano Anthony Roth Costanzo, Newspeak, the NOW Ensemble, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony. He is a recipient of awards from Meet the Composer, SCI, ASCAP, and the American Music Center. Listen to a Stefan Weisman's cello and percussion piece SuperSoft (2007) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Stephen Cohn is internationally recognized for his music for the concert stage, as well as his scores for feature films and television. His concert works have been performed and recorded by the world's finest chamber music ensembles in the United States and Europe, such as the Kansas City Symphony, Arditti Quartet, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chroma String Quartet. He has been Composer-in-Residence at The International Encounters of Catalonia in the south of France, and his commissions have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brussels, France, and Prague. He has received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Music", and his scores have been part of many award winning productions featuring such stars as Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward, Kathleen Quinlan, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner and Wallace Shawn. Watch the premiere performance of Stephen Cohn's chamber piece "Sea Change" (2011) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Insyn (Insight) is a dancefilm by choreographer Klara Elenius and composer Stefan Klaverdal where choreography and music creates a unique synergy, inspired by the Nordic mentality. The basic concept of the film is to create rifts in our perception of what is real and what is not. Do the characters in the film really live as we do, or are they caught in some kind of flux between dream and reality? The main characters live in a very still and unmoving house. They seem to have a somewhat strict relationship to each other. Everything just about normal, but everywhere seem to hold some abstract components that shifts the perception and creates a reality of its own. The music reflects on the quasi-normal view of reality using vocal samples somewhat transformed, gliding between recognizable patterns and more abstract sonic landscapes. The music was the winner in the 35th IMEB composition for electroacoustic music in Bourges 2008. The movie has also been awarded as a whole in the international competitions for short films in 2007 Cozmic Zoom Copenhagen (2 prizes) Cinedans Amsterdam Dancescreen the Haague. Watch the Elenius/Klaverdal dancefilm "Insyn" . . . it's our DANSES PYTHEUSES for the week.
Todd Goodman has been described as "one of America's promising young composers." Born in Bedford, Penn., he received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition at the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Masters of Music degree in composition at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His works have been played by principle members of the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Singapore and Seattle Symphonies. Goodman has received commissions from a wide variety of players and ensembles across the United States. With many performances in the United States his works have also been performed in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Goodman currently serves as the resident composer for the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. He feels that the audience connection and participation in his music is vital to its success. He wants people to leave a concert feeling that they experienced a work rather than just observing. Goodman has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for his work with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, the American Music Center, as well as grants from the University of Colorado Entrepreneurship Center. Goodman is the founder and artistic director of the innovative contemporary art ensemble, Ensemble Immersion, which combines music, dance, literature, film, visual arts, drama, set design, and creative audience interaction to create artistic experiences unlike any other. Listen to a performance of Todd Goodman's "River of Sorrows" (2006) with the Duquesne University Wind Ensemble . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Stefan Weisman was born and raised in New Jersey, and now lives in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Anthony Tommasini (New York Times) has called his music "personal, moody and skillfully wrought." His works include chamber, orchestral and choral pieces, as well as music for theater, video and dance. He is a recipient of a 2006 Bang on a Can "People’s Commission." Among his other commissions are works for Sequitur, the Minimum Security Composers Collective, the Empire City Men's Chorus with the Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Battell Chapel Choir, and the Oregon Bach Festival Composers’ Symposium, which commissioned a piece in honor of George Crumb on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Other groups who have performed his work include the Miro String Quartet, So Percussion, the Locrian Chamber Players, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Third Angle Ensemble, the Yesaroun' Duo, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Luna Nova, pianist Lisa Moore, flautist Patti Monson, mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, male soprano Anthony Roth Costanzo, Newspeak, the NOW Ensemble, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony. He is a recipient of awards from Meet the Composer, SCI, ASCAP, and the American Music Center. Listen to a Stefan Weisman's cello and percussion piece SuperSoft (2007) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Portland Chamber Music Festival will kick off its 2011 season with a program entitled "Leclair, Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn", and Maine Public Radio will be providing its listeners with a front row seat to the start of this critically-acclaimed series. Held at the Abromson Center at the University of Southern Maine, the Portland Chamber Music Festival program will feature Jean-Marie Leclair's Sonata in C major, Op. 3 No. 3, Ralph Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge and Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat major, Op. 20, This program will feature famed tenor John McVeigh. A Maine resident, Mr. McVeigh has performed with the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. The PCMF has garnered nationwide attention since its inception in 1994. The festival's five-concert series has been broadcast on National Public Radio and WGBH in Boston and has been awarded two grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Join in the excitement Thursday, August 11th at 8pm - either live (at Abromson Center at the University of Southern Maine in Portland) or over the airwaves and online at MPBN Radio or online at MPBN.net. Check it all out at the Portland Chamber Music Festival's website.
The acclaimed Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo is the man most responsible for popularising the guitar as a classical concert instrument. His most famous composition is his 1939 Concierto de Aranjuez, the first orchestral work composed specifically for guitar. This ground-breaking composition was prompted by a meeting between Rodrigo and Spanish guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza, in Paris. De la Maza performed the Aranjuez for the first time in 1940 with the Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, the work has been recorded innumerable times and is the most well-known and influential piece of 20th century Spanish music. Rodrigo's compositions developed from his blending of Baroque compositions for the vihuela (a lute-like instrument that pre-dates the guitar) with the folk traditions of flamenco music and his own classical training. Before he began producing compositions for guitar the only classical work available to master guitarists, such as Andres Segovia and others, were piano transcriptions of Bach and other classical composers (John Martinez, wsws.org). Watch a performance of Rodrigo's Invocacion y Danza (1961) by guitarist Denis Azabagic . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Dubbed a five time "Classical Music Pick" by the Boston Globe, Juventas New Music Ensemble voices the musical culture of the present. From lyrical melodies to recorded sounds from outer space, their performances are a tour de force, showcasing the most engaging music of today's generation. Juventas offers new music - ranging from a world premiere Kung Fu opera to a wintry-inspired holiday concert. They offer fresh repertoire - featuring the eclectic sounds of over 90 young composers from around the globe. With over 60 exhilarating concerts under their belt, the 2011-2012 season will bring more high energy performances including a collaboration with Intermezzo Opera and Schola Cantorum of Boston, a fully-staged world premiere of Ketty Nez's opera The Fiddler and the Old Woman of Rumelia and their first ever performance in Providence, Rhode Island. As an ensemble-in-residence at the Boston Conservatory and Middlebury College (Vermont), Juventas is excited to continue theirr educational work and reach out to new, young talents . . . it's our FEATURED ENSEMBLE for the week.
In 2003 violinist Ittai Shapira made a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St Luke's performing the world premier of a violin concerto written for him by his Israeli compatriot Shulamit Ran. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music and composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony, Ran's music blends high-energy, dense compositional thought, with a penchant for long-spun melismatic melodies. The Albany Records recording of Ran's Violin Concerto has become part of a compilation of her works performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Charles Hazlewood, and Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hear the second movement of Shulamit Ran's Violin Concerto with violinist Ittai Shapira . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
The acclaimed Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo is the man most responsible for popularising the guitar as a classical concert instrument. His most famous composition is his 1939 Concierto de Aranjuez, the first orchestral work composed specifically for guitar. This ground-breaking composition was prompted by a meeting between Rodrigo and Spanish guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza, in Paris. De la Maza performed the Aranjuez for the first time in 1940 with the Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, the work has been recorded innumerable times and is the most well-known and influential piece of 20th century Spanish music. Rodrigo's compositions developed from his blending of Baroque compositions for the vihuela (a lute-like instrument that pre-dates the guitar) with the folk traditions of flamenco music and his own classical training. Before he began producing compositions for guitar the only classical work available to master guitarists, such as Andres Segovia and others, were piano transcriptions of Bach and other classical composers (John Martinez, wsws.org). Watch a performance of Rodrigo's Invocacion y Danza (1961) by guitarist Denis Azabagic . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Dubbed a five time "Classical Music Pick" by the Boston Globe, Juventas New Music Ensemble voices the musical culture of the present. From lyrical melodies to recorded sounds from outer space, their performances are a tour de force, showcasing the most engaging music of today's generation. Juventas offers new music - ranging from a world premiere Kung Fu opera to a wintry-inspired holiday concert. They offer fresh repertoire - featuring the eclectic sounds of over 90 young composers from around the globe. With over 60 exhilarating concerts under their belt, the 2011-2012 season will bring more high energy performances including a collaboration with Intermezzo Opera and Schola Cantorum of Boston, a fully-staged world premiere of Ketty Nez's opera The Fiddler and the Old Woman of Rumelia and their first ever performance in Providence, Rhode Island. As an ensemble-in-residence at the Boston Conservatory and Middlebury College (Vermont), Juventas is excited to continue theirr educational work and reach out to new, young talents . . . it's our FEATURED ENSEMBLE for the week.
In 2003 violinist Ittai Shapira made a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St Luke's performing the world premier of a violin concerto written for him by his Israeli compatriot Shulamit Ran. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music and composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony, Ran's music blends high-energy, dense compositional thought, with a penchant for long-spun melismatic melodies. The Albany Records recording of Ran's Violin Concerto has become part of a compilation of her works performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Charles Hazlewood, and Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hear the second movement of Shulamit Ran's Violin Concerto with violinist Ittai Shapira . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Portland Chamber Music Festival will kick off its 2011 season with a program entitled "Leclair, Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn", and Maine Public Radio will be providing its listeners with a front row seat to the start of this critically-acclaimed series. Held at the Abromson Center at the University of Southern Maine, the Portland Chamber Music Festival program will feature Jean-Marie Leclair's Sonata in C major, Op. 3 No. 3, Ralph Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge and Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat major, Op. 20, This program will feature famed tenor John McVeigh. A Maine resident, Mr. McVeigh has performed with the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. The PCMF has garnered nationwide attention since its inception in 1994. The festival's five-concert series has been broadcast on National Public Radio and WGBH in Boston and has been awarded two grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Join in the excitement Thursday, August 11th at 8pm - either live (at Abromson Center at the University of Southern Maine in Portland) or over the airwaves and online at MPBN Radio or online at MPBN.net. Check it all out at the Portland Chamber Music Festival's website.
Discussing the genesis of Peter Maxwell Davies' guitar piece "Hill Runes", Julian Bream, who commisioned the work in 1981 has said, ". . . somehow I never felt his musical language would fit naturally onto the guitar. Composers of astringent yet complex textures, like Max Davies, often find the colour of the instrument too personal, too exotic, and not abstract enough for their musical language. But having heard some of Max’s more recent works, I felt he was in a musical period in his life when he was writing music that might be suitable and indeed even work well on the guitar." Known to his friends simply as Max, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the most prolific and frequently performed of British composers. His several hundred compositions draw from an eclectic array of influences, from Indian music to serialism to Renaissance polyphony. Davies has also worked tirelessly in the area of music education and as an environmental activist. Watch a performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' "Hill Runes" (1981) played by guitarist Giacomo Fiore . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Karl Korte is a scrupulous composer of music that’s of high quality and not easily categorized. These three works are the fruit of his ongoing recent collaboration with Duo46 (Matt Gould, guitar, and Beth-Ilana Schneider-Gould, violin). Korte has a gift for writing music that’s fluid (it always has an idea and knows how to develop it), focused on clear and memorable motives, and harmonically rich but neither chromatically clotted nor too tonally predictable. He has a naturally sophisticated rhythmic sense. Check out Duo46's recording "The Guitar Music Of Karl Korte" (Centaur 3059) . . . it's our FEATURED RECORDING for the week.
Elliott Jungyoung Bark's works have been performed/read by many orchestras, ensembles and musicians, including the New York Youth Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra musicians, Indiana University Orchestra & New Music Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Zzyzx Saxophone Quartet, Indiana University Saxophone Ensemble, Kuttner String Quartet, Luna Nova Chamber Ensemble, duo parnas, conductor Kevin Noe, violinists Liana Gourdgia and Michelle Lie, countertenor Daniel Bubeck and saxophonist Zach Shemon. His works have also been presented at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Festival of New Music at Florida State University, Midwest Composers Symposiums at Universities of Indiana (‘07), Iowa (‘08) and Michigan (‘09), North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium and 2010 GAMMA at University of Texas at Austin. Here a performance of Elliott Bark's "Neutral Tones" (2008) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Francis Poulenc loved Paris, poetry, and the human voice. He fused those three loves into his melodies, crafting those French art songs into works for which he is best known. Poulenc was born and raised near the city of his heart and his earliest memories center on the popular tunes he heard in cultural institutions such as the cabaret, music hall, and circus. It is not surprising, then, that the composer infused his music with that popular flavour. In doing so, Poulenc paid homage to his Parisian musical roots, intentionally keeping his music "French." In addition, by utilizing the popular elements he heard all around him when he was young, Poulenc lends a nostalgic air to his music (Karen Jee-Hae McCann). Hear a performance of Poulenc's Les Chemins de l’Amour (1940) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Discussing the genesis of Peter Maxwell Davies' guitar piece "Hill Runes", Julian Bream, who commisioned the work in 1981 has said, ". . . somehow I never felt his musical language would fit naturally onto the guitar. Composers of astringent yet complex textures, like Max Davies, often find the colour of the instrument too personal, too exotic, and not abstract enough for their musical language. But having heard some of Max’s more recent works, I felt he was in a musical period in his life when he was writing music that might be suitable and indeed even work well on the guitar." Known to his friends simply as Max, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the most prolific and frequently performed of British composers. His several hundred compositions draw from an eclectic array of influences, from Indian music to serialism to Renaissance polyphony. Davies has also worked tirelessly in the area of music education and as an environmental activist. Watch a performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' "Hill Runes" (1981) played by guitarist Giacomo Fiore . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Karl Korte is a scrupulous composer of music that’s of high quality and not easily categorized. These three works are the fruit of his ongoing recent collaboration with Duo46 (Matt Gould, guitar, and Beth-Ilana Schneider-Gould, violin). Korte has a gift for writing music that’s fluid (it always has an idea and knows how to develop it), focused on clear and memorable motives, and harmonically rich but neither chromatically clotted nor too tonally predictable. He has a naturally sophisticated rhythmic sense. Check out Duo46's recording "The Guitar Music Of Karl Korte" (Centaur 3059) . . . it's our FEATURED RECORDING for the week.
Elliott Jungyoung Bark's works have been performed/read by many orchestras, ensembles and musicians, including the New York Youth Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra musicians, Indiana University Orchestra & New Music Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Zzyzx Saxophone Quartet, Indiana University Saxophone Ensemble, Kuttner String Quartet, Luna Nova Chamber Ensemble, duo parnas, conductor Kevin Noe, violinists Liana Gourdgia and Michelle Lie, countertenor Daniel Bubeck and saxophonist Zach Shemon. His works have also been presented at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Festival of New Music at Florida State University, Midwest Composers Symposiums at Universities of Indiana (‘07), Iowa (‘08) and Michigan (‘09), North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium and 2010 GAMMA at University of Texas at Austin. Here a performance of Elliott Bark's "Neutral Tones" (2008) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Francis Poulenc loved Paris, poetry, and the human voice. He fused those three loves into his melodies, crafting those French art songs into works for which he is best known. Poulenc was born and raised near the city of his heart and his earliest memories center on the popular tunes he heard in cultural institutions such as the cabaret, music hall, and circus. It is not surprising, then, that the composer infused his music with that popular flavour. In doing so, Poulenc paid homage to his Parisian musical roots, intentionally keeping his music "French." In addition, by utilizing the popular elements he heard all around him when he was young, Poulenc lends a nostalgic air to his music (Karen Jee-Hae McCann). Hear a performance of Poulenc's Les Chemins de l’Amour (1940) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
A classical composer and orchestral conductor based in Santa Monica, David Avshalomov is also an accomplished solo bass vocalist. As a composer, he writes in an accessible modern neo-tonal style that balances a lyric gift with a characteristic rhythmic vitality. His influences include the great 20th-century European and American tonal composers (plus his father and paternal grandfather, Aaron Avshalomoff). He has composed music for a wide variety of forces from solo instruments to full orchestra, band, and choir, in forms ranging in scale from songs and incidental pieces to full-length oratorio. Recently he has been writing much vocal music, with an increasing number of regional commissions, and serving as resident composer with several Los Angeles area choruses. Avshalomov's music has been performed professionally across the US and in Europe and Russia, and has been recorded on the Albany and Naxos labels. Has sung professionally as a chorister and soloist for 45 years. He earned his B.A in Music at Harvard and a D.M.A. in conducting and composition from the University of Washington, studied at Aspen and Tanglewood, has been music director of a number of US orchestras and choruses including several in the LA area, has guest conducted widely here and toured in Europe and the Far East, and recorded orchestral music by his grandfather Aaron Avshalomoff in Moscow. His conducting work garnered listings in Who's Who in Music and Who's Who in the West. David Avshalomov Diversion ("Terwilliger") (1966) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Patricia Sonego made her operatic debut in New York City in the world premiere of American composer Jack Beeson's Sorry, Wrong Number with the Center for Contemporary Opera under the baton of Richard Marshall, for which she received an enthusiastic review from Robert Prag of Opera News. A champion of contemporary, avant garde, improvisational, and electroacoustic music, Sonego is in demand to premier new works, many of which have been composed for her. In a new arrangement dedicated to her by the composer, she recently gave the world premier of Prologue & Messages for Raoul Wallenberg by award winning American composer Terry Winter Owens at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, with the Alaria Chamber Ensemble. Sonego is co-founder and Artistic Director of Reizen Ensemble, a new music group dedicated to the performance of new compositions, particularly for voice with instruments or electronics. Patricia Sonego - coloratura soprano . . . it's our FEATURED PERFORMER/ENSEMBLE for the week.
“Inscape,” a word that throws off rich and mysterious resonances, is the lovely coinage of the nineteenth-century English poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. In a brief preface to the score, Copland writes that Hopkins invented the word “to suggest ‘a quasi-mystical illumination, a sudden perception of that deeper pattern, order, and unity which gives meaning to external forms.’ This description, it seems to me, applies more truly to the creation of music than to any of the other arts.” For Hopkins, the opposite of “inscape” was “instress,” which refers to perception as opposed to intrinsic, essential quality. Discussing Inscape, Copland’s biographer Howard Pollock writes that “the composer uses sounds as an ‘instress’ that communicates a deeper inner essence, an ‘inscape.’” Copland’s idea was to write music that “seemed to be moving inward upon itself.” (Michael Steinberg/Los Angeles Philharmonic). Aaron Copland Inscape (1967) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Edward Wright was born in Buckinghamshire, England 1980. He is currently studying for a PhD in music with Andrew Lewis at Bangor University, where he has been a Parry Williams scholar and teaches music technology. His work is mainly focused toward the electro-acoustic end of the musical spectrum, although he writes for and plays real instruments as well. He performs on violin, viola and voice, as well as laptop: and works with a number of school/student groups promoting performance of both older and more modern music. Recent highlights include a mention in the 2008 Prix Bourges for his piece Con-chords, a number of commissions, a London premiere with his piece Polarities, a two day sound installation piece in Conwy castle, airplay on BBC Radio 1 and S4C television, and signing to a record label. Wright lives in North Wales (U.K.) with Emma, their daughter Alena (18 months old and the time of writing) Ben the dog and Bess the cat. Edward Wright Twr (2009) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Patricia Sonego made her operatic debut in New York City in the world premiere of American composer Jack Beeson's Sorry, Wrong Number with the Center for Contemporary Opera under the baton of Richard Marshall, for which she received an enthusiastic review from Robert Prag of Opera News. A champion of contemporary, avant garde, improvisational, and electroacoustic music, Sonego is in demand to premier new works, many of which have been composed for her. In a new arrangement dedicated to her by the composer, she recently gave the world premier of Prologue & Messages for Raoul Wallenberg by award winning American composer Terry Winter Owens at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, with the Alaria Chamber Ensemble. Sonego is co-founder and Artistic Director of Reizen Ensemble, a new music group dedicated to the performance of new compositions, particularly for voice with instruments or electronics. Patricia Sonego - coloratura soprano . . . it's our FEATURED PERFORMER/ENSEMBLE for the week.
“Inscape,” a word that throws off rich and mysterious resonances, is the lovely coinage of the nineteenth-century English poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. In a brief preface to the score, Copland writes that Hopkins invented the word “to suggest ‘a quasi-mystical illumination, a sudden perception of that deeper pattern, order, and unity which gives meaning to external forms.’ This description, it seems to me, applies more truly to the creation of music than to any of the other arts.” For Hopkins, the opposite of “inscape” was “instress,” which refers to perception as opposed to intrinsic, essential quality. Discussing Inscape, Copland’s biographer Howard Pollock writes that “the composer uses sounds as an ‘instress’ that communicates a deeper inner essence, an ‘inscape.’” Copland’s idea was to write music that “seemed to be moving inward upon itself.” (Michael Steinberg/Los Angeles Philharmonic). Aaron Copland Inscape (1967) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Edward Wright was born in Buckinghamshire, England 1980. He is currently studying for a PhD in music with Andrew Lewis at Bangor University, where he has been a Parry Williams scholar and teaches music technology. His work is mainly focused toward the electro-acoustic end of the musical spectrum, although he writes for and plays real instruments as well. He performs on violin, viola and voice, as well as laptop: and works with a number of school/student groups promoting performance of both older and more modern music. Recent highlights include a mention in the 2008 Prix Bourges for his piece Con-chords, a number of commissions, a London premiere with his piece Polarities, a two day sound installation piece in Conwy castle, airplay on BBC Radio 1 and S4C television, and signing to a record label. Wright lives in North Wales (U.K.) with Emma, their daughter Alena (18 months old and the time of writing) Ben the dog and Bess the cat. Edward Wright Twr (2009) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
While on a weekend excursion, composer Benjamin Britten read poems by the nineteenth century Frenchman Arthur Rimbaud, and stated, "I must put them to music." Whereas many others - even the notoriously nationalistic French - had passed over Rimbaud's works, considering them too thorny for lyrical settings, Britten was deeply affected by them and felt a strong affinity with the author; especially familiar to Britten was Rimbaud's sense of cynicism, and a longing for the innocence of childhood. In writing "Les Illuminations" (1939) - a song cycle written for high voice and string orchestra - he not only embraced the French language, but also distinctly French elements of style; this marks the beginnings of his move away from certain identifiable "Britishisms", and toward a more cosmopolitan and personal style (All Music Guide). Watch a performance of Britten's "Les Illuminations" with soprano Laura Aikin and The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner conducting . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed, and recorded composers on the American concert music scene today. His music is rich with cultural allusions and bears the stamp of classic modernism, with colliding tonalities and blocks of sound; at the same time, his melodies can be eloquent and stirring. Daugherty has been hailed by The Times (London) as "a master icon maker" with a "maverick imagination, fearless structural sense and meticulous ear." Daugherty first came to international attention when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Zinman, performed his "Metropolis Symphony" at Carnegie Hall in 1994. Since that time, Daugherty’s music has entered the orchestral, band and chamber music repertory and made him, according to the League of American Orchestras, one of the ten most performed living American composers. Listen to and watch Michael Daugherty in conversation with Frank J. Oteri of NewMusicBox . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.
Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer who resides in the beautiful town of Lugano, located in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and studied there at the State Music School and Conservatoire. In 1968 he moved to Switzerland, continuing his studies at both the Conservatories of Zurich and Milan. Koukl is the prizewinner of many international music competitions including those of Ciudad Ibague (Colombia), Tolosa (Spain), Viotti (Italy), the H.Rahn competition (Switzerland) and the Alienor Competition (Washington DC). A truly international performer and composer, Koukl has given many recitals and concerto performances, and his compositions have received first performances in many major European cities, in Asia, and in the United States. Frequently broadcast both as soloist and a composer, Koukl has collaborated in all his capacities with such organizations as the BBC London, RTSI Lugano, SRG Zurich, SSR Geneve, SFB Berlin, SWF Baden-Baden, WDR Köln, RTHK Hong-Kong, CR Prague, Radio Malta, Radio Vatican, ORF Vienna, NRC Oslo and SF Stuttgart. Listen to a performance of Giorgio Koukl's "Five Miniatures" (1976) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
French director Georges Franju's "Les Yeux sans visage" (Eyes Without a Face) (1960) is an unsettling, sometimes poetic, horror film. Pierre Brasseur plays a brilliant plastic surgeon (Prof. Genessier), who has vowed to restore the face of his daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob), who was mutilated in an automobile accident. With the help of his assistant (Alida Valli), he kidnaps young women, surgically removes their facial features, and attempts to graft their beauty onto his daughter's hideous countenance. Franju's haunting, muted handling of basic horror material is what lifts "Les Yeux sans visage" out of the ordinary and into the realm of near-classic. Often cited as one of the most poetic horror films ever committed to celluloid, "Les Yeux sans visage" has a lingering effect that conjures more melancholy malaise than outright fright. Franju opts for a deliberate pacing that perfectly compliments the somber tone of his dark tale, and cinematographer Eugen Schufftan's moody nighttime photography provides the ideal visual representation of the inner turmoil experienced by both the father who longs to make up for past indiscretions (regardless of the pain he inflicts to achieve his goal) and the daughter whose horrendous appearance serves as a constant reminder of the mistake that will haunt him to the grave. French composer Maurice Jarre created an equally haunting score for the film (AMG Review). Watch an excerpt from Les Yeux sans visage . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed, and recorded composers on the American concert music scene today. His music is rich with cultural allusions and bears the stamp of classic modernism, with colliding tonalities and blocks of sound; at the same time, his melodies can be eloquent and stirring. Daugherty has been hailed by The Times (London) as "a master icon maker" with a "maverick imagination, fearless structural sense and meticulous ear." Daugherty first came to international attention when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Zinman, performed his "Metropolis Symphony" at Carnegie Hall in 1994. Since that time, Daugherty’s music has entered the orchestral, band and chamber music repertory and made him, according to the League of American Orchestras, one of the ten most performed living American composers. Listen to and watch Michael Daugherty in conversation with Frank J. Oteri of NewMusicBox . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.
Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer who resides in the beautiful town of Lugano, located in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and studied there at the State Music School and Conservatoire. In 1968 he moved to Switzerland, continuing his studies at both the Conservatories of Zurich and Milan. Koukl is the prizewinner of many international music competitions including those of Ciudad Ibague (Colombia), Tolosa (Spain), Viotti (Italy), the H.Rahn competition (Switzerland) and the Alienor Competition (Washington DC). A truly international performer and composer, Koukl has given many recitals and concerto performances, and his compositions have received first performances in many major European cities, in Asia, and in the United States. Frequently broadcast both as soloist and a composer, Koukl has collaborated in all his capacities with such organizations as the BBC London, RTSI Lugano, SRG Zurich, SSR Geneve, SFB Berlin, SWF Baden-Baden, WDR Köln, RTHK Hong-Kong, CR Prague, Radio Malta, Radio Vatican, ORF Vienna, NRC Oslo and SF Stuttgart. Listen to a performance of Giorgio Koukl's "Five Miniatures" (1976) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
French director Georges Franju's "Les Yeux sans visage" (Eyes Without a Face) (1960) is an unsettling, sometimes poetic, horror film. Pierre Brasseur plays a brilliant plastic surgeon (Prof. Genessier), who has vowed to restore the face of his daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob), who was mutilated in an automobile accident. With the help of his assistant (Alida Valli), he kidnaps young women, surgically removes their facial features, and attempts to graft their beauty onto his daughter's hideous countenance. Franju's haunting, muted handling of basic horror material is what lifts "Les Yeux sans visage" out of the ordinary and into the realm of near-classic. Often cited as one of the most poetic horror films ever committed to celluloid, "Les Yeux sans visage" has a lingering effect that conjures more melancholy malaise than outright fright. Franju opts for a deliberate pacing that perfectly compliments the somber tone of his dark tale, and cinematographer Eugen Schufftan's moody nighttime photography provides the ideal visual representation of the inner turmoil experienced by both the father who longs to make up for past indiscretions (regardless of the pain he inflicts to achieve his goal) and the daughter whose horrendous appearance serves as a constant reminder of the mistake that will haunt him to the grave. French composer Maurice Jarre created an equally haunting score for the film (AMG Review). Watch an excerpt from Les Yeux sans visage . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
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