Isang Yun's Duo for Cello and Harp (1984) is yet another convincing example of Yun’s lyricism in his later works - it is accessible and mellow-toned; but it is still quite intricately worked-out. The main expressive weight lies in the outer movements - the third movement is particularly beautiful - and the mood relaxes in the dance-like middle movement. It is also one of Yun’s happiest works, probably because it was composed on the occasion of his son’s wedding. Watch a performance of Yun’s Duo by cellist Holgen Gjoni and harpist Ina Zdorovetchi . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Dutch composer Michel van der Aa is one of Europe’s most sought-after contemporary composers. His style is strikingly subtle, playful, poetic, and transparent but not, however, expressive or melodious in the traditional sense. His music has an idiomatic sense for the stage, combining sounds and scenic images in a play of changing perspectives. Dramatic personages take on various identities or have an alter ego: musicians on the stage, not always audible, mime or lip-sync with their electronic counterparts on soundtrack. Van der Aa is in fact a playwright in music. His sounds - like real people - can be flexible or stubborn: they either take control or get the short end of the stick; they reinforce or counteract each other, affecting audiences with their expressive power. Hear Michel van der Aa talk about his opera After Life and watch excerpts from it . . . our current COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

According to Tamsin Nutter, "In the beautiful, plotless Sinfonietta (choreographed in 1980), Jiri Kylian plays deftly with patterns and movement dynamics, and yet the result is wonderfully humanist. As befits a great work of art, movement, music, backdrop, and costumes feel indivisible. Leos Janacek’s spine-tingling music (composed in 1926), a golden cacophony of trumpets and trombones, seems to echo off the rolling hills of Walter Nobbe’s gorgeous backdrop. A swirling community of men and women run, leap, and hit the floor, punctuating the large-scale patterns with bewitchingly unexpected little gestures: a bow of the head, a hand drawn in slow motion across the eyes. Sinfonietta is lushly romantic, yet skewed — familiar, yet strange — striking a perfect balance between ballet’s past and future." Watch a performance of Sinfonietta by the Netherlands Dance Theatre . . . this week's DANSES PYTHEUSES.

Icelandic composer Jón Leifs' Hekla (1961) for chorus and orchestra describes the eruption of the volcanic mountain Hekla in 1947, the largest of the 20th Century, which Leifs witnessed. The music is one massive, ever-intensifying depiction of volcanic eruption, beginning quietly but graphically increasing in intensity and power reaching a tumultuous climax during which one hears a brief chorus (almost overwhelmed by the massive orchestra/percussion sound), singing: "In the dark depths, violent cries of death/ There the red flames carried/ The steaming lava across the land." Leifs scored Hekla for orchestra and a huge complement of percussion. Nineteen percussion players are needed. Percussion instruments required include "rocks with a musical quality," steel ship's chains, anvils, sirens, church bells, shotguns and canons. Listen to a performance of Leifs' Hekla . . . it's this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

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

From Paula at Sequenza21: "Ge Gan-ru's Fall of Baghdad (String Qt No.5) (2005) is at once a tribute to George Crumb’s Black Angels for electric string quartet (1970) and an expression of the composer’s own feelings about the war in Iraq. Like Crumb’s work before it, the music comprises three long sections divided into thirteen shorter ones. 'Hair-raising squeals' produced by 'applying pressure to the strings behind the bridge to create a scraping sound of indefinite pitch' open the work. In this quartet, Ge uses extended techniques neither as cultural relics nor as suggestions of ethereal spirits, as he has in other works. Instead, he uses his unique musical language to symbolize the devastation and despair associated with war. Ge employs microtonal inflections to suggest Middle Eastern music (which shares some of its idioms with the music of his native country China) and also makes use of glissandi and distorted sound to create "hellish" effects; playing col legno (striking the strings with the wooden part of the bow) both in front of and behind the bridge for the Caliph’s drum and using extreme high notes on low strings for "moaning" sounds." Hear a performance by Modern Works . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

György Ligeti was an adventurer in form and expression and a great visionary of contemporary music. His richly varied output takes a special position in its musical quality and uncompromising individuality. Ligeti moved far away from aesthetic trends and methods all his life. He was characterized by fresh and unorthodox ideas, any form of dogmatism was foreign to his nature, his entire oeuvre is marked by radical turning points. Admired and hugely influential in the profession, the sensual accessibility of his music has won the hearts of audiences everywheres ... hear him talk about his life and music - our current COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

Sarah Horick, a native of Charleston, SC, is currently a doctoral student in composition at Catholic University, having earned an M.M. in Music Composition and an M.A. in Music Theory from Florida State University. Her primary composition teachers have included Ladislav Kubik, Mark Wingate, Mark Kilstofte, and private study with Christopher Theofanidis. Horick’s works have been performed in the United States, Canada and Europe. Have a listen to a work by this up and coming composer, her Equipoise (2006) for flute and vibraphone - this week's PYTHEAS EARFUL.

Once Leos Janácek found his compositional voice (quite late in life by any standard) he explored musical territory uniquely his own. His Concertino for Piano (1925) is no exception. Here the piano is joined by a small ensemble of 2 violins, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon, with the horn taking a prominent role in the first movement's musical conversation. Watch a wonderful performance by pianist Martha Argerich ... FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

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