Stephen Eddins writes (at AllMusic.com), "Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, who for much of his career worked under the constraints of the Soviet system, sees composition as a political act and hopes that his music might be a vehicle for national healing. He has written, 'I have always dreamed that my music would be heard in the places where unhappy people are gathered.' Much of Vasks' work is soulfully meditative, as are most of the movements of his string quartets. Many have the mournful tone and the static sense of time being suspended that is characteristic of the Eastern European mysticism of composers like Pärt and Górecki. The feeling of time being displaced or being cyclical is most striking in the first movement of the Second Quartet, which begins almost exactly like the last movement of the Third Quartet (1995), with a distinctive, hushed, almost pitchless murmuring in the upper strings." Watch a performance of the last movement of Vasks' String Quartet No. 3 performed by the Navarra String Quartet . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
The film world recently morned the loss of one of its greatest composers, John Barry, who died of a heart attack on January 30, 2011, at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. As Jon Burlingame of FilmMusicSociety.com put it, "John Barry was one of a kind. He invented a new style of action-adventure music for the movies — that much is certain — but he was equally adept at quiet dramas, historical epics and contemporary thrillers. And what's more, he could write music appropriate to all of these kinds of movies and still sound like nobody else. Barry's death marks the passing of an era. Yes, some of our musical icons from the 1960s, '70s and '80s are still around, still writing, still conducting... but the loss of John Barry is keenly felt simply because there was no one quite like him." Some of his most famous film scores include From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Born Free, and Dances With Wolves. Watch the opening of another John Barry classic, Out of Africa (1985), which stars Meryl Streep and Robert Redford . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.
Composer Michael Colgrass' Winds of Nagual for wind ensemble draws its programmatic inspiration from the writings of Carlos Castaneda who has become somewhat of a cult icon. Castaneda's writings center on his work for fourteen years in Mesoamerican shamanism with Don Juan Matus. According to the composer, "[Although] the score is laced with programmatic indications, the listener need not have read Castaneda's books to enjoy the work, and I don't expect anyone to follow any exact scenario. My object is to capture the mood and atmosphere created by the books and to convey a feeling of the relationship that develops as a man of ancient wisdom tries to cultivate heart in an analytical young man of the technological age." Hear a performance of the first section of Winds of Nagual (1985), entitled The Desert . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
Shulamit Ran, winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in composition, has been awarded most major honors given to composers in the U.S., including two fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, grants and commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation, Chamber Music America, the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters, first prize in the Kennedy Center-Friedheim Awards competition for orchestral music, and many more. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Ran has never forgotten that a vital essence of composition is communication." This sort of reaction is by no means unusual. Around the country, from Seattle to Baltimore to Houston, commentary on her music typically runs thus: "gloriously human," and "compelling not only for its white-hot emotional content but for its intelligence and compositional clarity; Ran is a magnificent composer." Watch a performance of the second movement of Ran's Sonatina for 2 Flutes (1961) by the Blithe Duo . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Lawrence Dillon has produced an extensive body of work, characterized by a keen sensitivity to color, a mastery of form, and what the Louisville Courier-Journal has called a "compelling, innate soulfulness." Increasingly in demand, Dillon has received commissions in the past year from the Emerson String Quartet, the Ravinia Festival, the Cassatt String Quartet, the Mansfield Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Salt Lake City Symphony, the Daedalus String Quartet, the University of Utah and the Idyllwild Symphony Orchestra. Although he lost 50% of his hearing in a childhood illness, he began composing as soon as he started piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1985, he became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at The Juilliard School, and was shortly thereafter appointed to the Juilliard faculty. Dillon is now Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he has served as Music Director of the Contemporary Ensemble, Assistant Dean of Performance, and Interim Dean of the School of Music. Watch a performance of his Bacchus Chaconne (1991) performed by violinist Danielle Belen and violist Juan Miguel Hernandez . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Stephen Cohn's concert works have been performed and recorded by the world's finest orchestras and chamber music ensembles, including the Arditti String Quartet, the Kansas City Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic and the Chroma String Quartet. He has been Composer-in-Residence at The International Encounters of Catalonia in France and has been commissioned to compose new works which have been performed in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Brussels, Ceret, 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 and films featuring such stars as Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward, Kathleen Quinlan, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner, and Wallace Shawn. He has also received a Parents' Choice Gold Award for his CD release, "Two Together, An American Folk Music Suite". Watch and listen to Stephen Cohn talk about his life and his music in an interview with Inner World View . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
Greg Bartholomew's music has been performed across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. His works have been preformed by the the Ars Brunensis Chorus, The Esoterics, the William & Mary Choir, the American University Chamber Singers, the Third Angle ensemble, the odeonquartet and the Alaska Brass of the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific. According to James R. Maclean, "Greg Bartholomew understands the nature of instruments . . . and manages to capture the complexity of the setting in a way that is fresh, portraying a sense of sorrow and a soaring sense of hope that is somehow fitting and certainly fulfilling." His 2008 work Conversation in Orange & Brown is a duet scored for either tuba & horn/tuba & euphonium/Two horns/or cello & double bass. It has been described as a "work exploring a range of colors and textures. The contrasting musical ideas are effective, and the use of solos, question and answer, and unified rhythms help to maintain interest for players and audiences alike." Listen to Greg Bartholomew's Conversation in Orange & Brown . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
Hawaii (1966) is an epic saga based on James A. Michener's over 1,000-page novel of the same name. George Roy Hill's lavish 189-minute production stars Julie Andrews, Max Von Sydow, Richard Harris and Gene Hackman in a sweeping cinematic telling of Michener's sprawling, multi-generational adventure. Von Sydow plays Abner Hale, a Yale student who, on the day after receiving his diploma (in 1819), hears Hawaiian Keoki Kanakoa (Manu Tupau) speak to a group of fellow brothers who have been studying for their ministries at the University. Kanakoa makes a plea for the group to supply missionaries to bring Christianity to the islands and save the souls of his people. When Abner and his friend John Whipple (Hackman) later volunteer themselves for such service, Hale learns that he must first find a wife before he can be accepted into the program. The University's Reverend Thorn arranges for Abner to meet his sister's daughter. The 22-year-old girl, Jerusha Bromley (Andrews), is thusly courted and married in short order and Abner Hale, now accompanied by his new, young wife soon leaves Boston for the remote, mystical, almost mythical, land of Hawaii. To score his immense new production, Hill called on Elmer Bernstein, who had just scored his The World of Henry Orient, and who would go on to score the director's following next picture, Thoroughly Modern Millie, which would earn the composer an Academy Award. Bernstein's vast musical panorama for Hawaii, displays a near ecstatic degree of energy and enthusiasm. It's a jubilant and rapturous work which makes frequent visits to Bernstein's well of melodic invention. The score is, without question, one of the composer's most, magnificent opuses. Watch the opening of this historic saga, Hawaii . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Stephen Cohn's concert works have been performed and recorded by the world's finest orchestras and chamber music ensembles, including the Arditti String Quartet, the Kansas City Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic and the Chroma String Quartet. He has been Composer-in-Residence at The International Encounters of Catalonia in France and has been commissioned to compose new works which have been performed in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Brussels, Ceret, 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 and films featuring such stars as Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward, Kathleen Quinlan, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner, and Wallace Shawn. He has also received a Parents' Choice Gold Award for his CD release, "Two Together, An American Folk Music Suite". Watch and listen to Stephen Cohn talk about his life and his music in an interview with Inner World View . . . this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
Greg Bartholomew's music has been performed across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. His works have been preformed by the the Ars Brunensis Chorus, The Esoterics, the William & Mary Choir, the American University Chamber Singers, the Third Angle ensemble, the odeonquartet and the Alaska Brass of the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific. According to James R. Maclean, "Greg Bartholomew understands the nature of instruments . . . and manages to capture the complexity of the setting in a way that is fresh, portraying a sense of sorrow and a soaring sense of hope that is somehow fitting and certainly fulfilling." His 2008 work Conversation in Orange & Brown is a duet scored for either tuba & horn/tuba & euphonium/Two horns/or cello & double bass. It has been described as a "work exploring a range of colors and textures. The contrasting musical ideas are effective, and the use of solos, question and answer, and unified rhythms help to maintain interest for players and audiences alike." Listen to Greg Bartholomew's Conversation in Orange & Brown . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
Hawaii (1966) is an epic saga based on James A. Michener's over 1,000-page novel of the same name. George Roy Hill's lavish 189-minute production stars Julie Andrews, Max Von Sydow, Richard Harris and Gene Hackman in a sweeping cinematic telling of Michener's sprawling, multi-generational adventure. Von Sydow plays Abner Hale, a Yale student who, on the day after receiving his diploma (in 1819), hears Hawaiian Keoki Kanakoa (Manu Tupau) speak to a group of fellow brothers who have been studying for their ministries at the University. Kanakoa makes a plea for the group to supply missionaries to bring Christianity to the islands and save the souls of his people. When Abner and his friend John Whipple (Hackman) later volunteer themselves for such service, Hale learns that he must first find a wife before he can be accepted into the program. The University's Reverend Thorn arranges for Abner to meet his sister's daughter. The 22-year-old girl, Jerusha Bromley (Andrews), is thusly courted and married in short order and Abner Hale, now accompanied by his new, young wife soon leaves Boston for the remote, mystical, almost mythical, land of Hawaii. To score his immense new production, Hill called on Elmer Bernstein, who had just scored his The World of Henry Orient, and who would go on to score the director's following next picture, Thoroughly Modern Millie, which would earn the composer an Academy Award. Bernstein's vast musical panorama for Hawaii, displays a near ecstatic degree of energy and enthusiasm. It's a jubilant and rapturous work which makes frequent visits to Bernstein's well of melodic invention. The score is, without question, one of the composer's most, magnificent opuses. Watch the opening of this historic saga, Hawaii . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Monday, February 7, 2011
David Gillingham has an international reputation for the works he has written for band and percussion. Many of these works are now considered standards in the repertoire. His works are regularly performed by nationally recognized ensembles including the Prague Radio Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble, North Texas University Wind Ensemble, Michigan State University Wind Ensemble, University of Illinois Symphonic Band, and many others. Gillingham is a professor of music at Central Michigan University and the recipient of an Excellence in Teaching Award (1990), a Summer Fellowship (1991), and a Research Professorship (1995). His Symphony No. 2, "Genesis" (2007) is a programmatic piece based on the first nine chapters of Genesis. Watch it performed by the J.B. Castle H.S. Symphonic Wind Ensemble, with Arnold A. Alconcel conducting . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Augusta Read Thomas’ deeply personal music is guided by her particular sense of musical form, rhythm, timbre and harmony. She was the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from May 1997 through June 2006, a residency that encompassed nine world premieres, culminating in the premiere of her concerto for violin, flute and orchestra entitled "Astral Canticle" - one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Her 2001 work for string ensemble Murmurs in the Mist of Memory is a 4-movement piece that possesses a wide spectrum of nuance, at times lyrical, abstract, passionate, subtle, vivid, aggressive, colorful, floating, rhythmic, elegant, clean, or light. Each movement features a different attribute of the string soloists' phenomenal technique — individual and collective — left hand as well as bow arm. The aim is to capture, concisely, a specific "universe" or "mood" in each movement, such that the musicians can escort the listener through a mini suite of diverse expeditions into remembrances. Each of the movements is inspired by a poem of Emily Dickinson, with each poem revealing impressions of light. Hear a performance of Murmurs in the Mist of Memory by the Sejong Soloists, Great Mountains Music Festival, South Korea . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
David Lang writes about his piece Face So Pale (1992), "At the top of the fifteenth-century charts was Guillaume Dufay’s ballade 'Se la face ay pale' (If my face is pale). My piece 'Face So Pale' takes Dufay’s famous love song, subjects it to numerous pulling and stretching procedures, and divides the original three parts among six pianos. The result is a bizarre equilibrium between the spaciousness of the actual music and the stuttering mechanism by which it is made." Watch a performace of Face So Pale arranged for 6 marimbas by Brad Meyer and the UKPG . . this week's NEW MUSIC FOR PERCUSSION.
Composer Elena Ruehr grew up in Michigan’s isolated and beautiful Upper Peninsula. Her musical training began at home, where she learned folk songs from her mother, who sang and played guitar. Her father, a mathematician, played jazz piano and listened to the Beethoven and Bartok string quartets while solving equations. Her older brothers brought home recordings of Morton Sobotnik and Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and Paul Simon. Ruehr started playing the piano and composing at age four. As a teenager, Ruehr worked as a church organist, rock-band keyboardist/singer and musical director of the local university’s theater troupe. She studied at the University of Michigan and Juilliard, and now is a professor in the MIT music department. Her song cycle lullabies and spring songs (1998) is based on the poetry of Langston Hughes. Hear a performance of Stars, from lullabies and spring songs (1998) by baritone Stephen Salters and pianist David Zobel . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Augusta Read Thomas’ deeply personal music is guided by her particular sense of musical form, rhythm, timbre and harmony. She was the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from May 1997 through June 2006, a residency that encompassed nine world premieres, culminating in the premiere of her concerto for violin, flute and orchestra entitled "Astral Canticle" - one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Her 2001 work for string ensemble Murmurs in the Mist of Memory is a 4-movement piece that possesses a wide spectrum of nuance, at times lyrical, abstract, passionate, subtle, vivid, aggressive, colorful, floating, rhythmic, elegant, clean, or light. Each movement features a different attribute of the string soloists' phenomenal technique — individual and collective — left hand as well as bow arm. The aim is to capture, concisely, a specific "universe" or "mood" in each movement, such that the musicians can escort the listener through a mini suite of diverse expeditions into remembrances. Each of the movements is inspired by a poem of Emily Dickinson, with each poem revealing impressions of light. Hear a performance of Murmurs in the Mist of Memory by the Sejong Soloists, Great Mountains Music Festival, South Korea . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
David Lang writes about his piece Face So Pale (1992), "At the top of the fifteenth-century charts was Guillaume Dufay’s ballade 'Se la face ay pale' (If my face is pale). My piece 'Face So Pale' takes Dufay’s famous love song, subjects it to numerous pulling and stretching procedures, and divides the original three parts among six pianos. The result is a bizarre equilibrium between the spaciousness of the actual music and the stuttering mechanism by which it is made." Watch a performace of Face So Pale arranged for 6 marimbas by Brad Meyer and the UKPG . . this week's NEW MUSIC FOR PERCUSSION.
Composer Elena Ruehr grew up in Michigan’s isolated and beautiful Upper Peninsula. Her musical training began at home, where she learned folk songs from her mother, who sang and played guitar. Her father, a mathematician, played jazz piano and listened to the Beethoven and Bartok string quartets while solving equations. Her older brothers brought home recordings of Morton Sobotnik and Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and Paul Simon. Ruehr started playing the piano and composing at age four. As a teenager, Ruehr worked as a church organist, rock-band keyboardist/singer and musical director of the local university’s theater troupe. She studied at the University of Michigan and Juilliard, and now is a professor in the MIT music department. Her song cycle lullabies and spring songs (1998) is based on the poetry of Langston Hughes. Hear a performance of Stars, from lullabies and spring songs (1998) by baritone Stephen Salters and pianist David Zobel . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
This week the Pytheas Center honors American composer Milton Babbitt, who died this week at the age of 94. Read about Babbitt's life and music in Allan Kozinn's obituary from The New York Times.
Then hear Milton Babbitt himself talk about his life and electronic music in this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
And listen to two featured works by Babbitt. His Composition for 12 Instruments (1948/54) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
And Philomel (1964), composed for soprano and electonically synthesized sound . . . our FEATURED SOUND ART.
Aulis Sallinen is one of the most prominent figures in Finnish music, and his music often focuses on figures from Finnish history. While his lyric writing shows a strong Sibelius influence, there is also a certain acerbic touch in both his subject matter and his music that is strongly reminiscent of Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Weill. His opera The Red Line (1978), in particular, has a sardonic, slightly bitter tone that strongly resembles Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. And like Kurt Weill, he also used jazz elements, as in the ironic song in in the opera Kullervo (1988) in which Kullervo learns that he has slept with his own sister. Hear a performance of Sallinen's Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March (1981), a work for string orchestra derived from his String Quartet No. 3 . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
The instrumental and electroacoustic music of composer Alexandra Gardner combines explorations into the rich details of acoustic sound with a visceral percussive energy to create dynamic sonic landscapes. Drawing inspiration from sources ranging from mythology and contemporary poetry, to her training as a percussionist, Gardner is building new audiences for contemporary music with an expressive sound and a flair for the imaginative and unexpected. A native of Washington, DC, Gardner's compositions have been featured at festivals and venues throughout the U.S. and internationally. Watch a performance of her Bloom (2009) performed by cellist Joshua Roman . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Then hear Milton Babbitt himself talk about his life and electronic music in this week's COMPOSER PORTRAIT.
And listen to two featured works by Babbitt. His Composition for 12 Instruments (1948/54) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
And Philomel (1964), composed for soprano and electonically synthesized sound . . . our FEATURED SOUND ART.
Aulis Sallinen is one of the most prominent figures in Finnish music, and his music often focuses on figures from Finnish history. While his lyric writing shows a strong Sibelius influence, there is also a certain acerbic touch in both his subject matter and his music that is strongly reminiscent of Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Weill. His opera The Red Line (1978), in particular, has a sardonic, slightly bitter tone that strongly resembles Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. And like Kurt Weill, he also used jazz elements, as in the ironic song in in the opera Kullervo (1988) in which Kullervo learns that he has slept with his own sister. Hear a performance of Sallinen's Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March (1981), a work for string orchestra derived from his String Quartet No. 3 . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.
The instrumental and electroacoustic music of composer Alexandra Gardner combines explorations into the rich details of acoustic sound with a visceral percussive energy to create dynamic sonic landscapes. Drawing inspiration from sources ranging from mythology and contemporary poetry, to her training as a percussionist, Gardner is building new audiences for contemporary music with an expressive sound and a flair for the imaginative and unexpected. A native of Washington, DC, Gardner's compositions have been featured at festivals and venues throughout the U.S. and internationally. Watch a performance of her Bloom (2009) performed by cellist Joshua Roman . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
