According to David Weininger (Boston Globe), composer "David Rakowski is a laid-back, slightly geeky, funny guy who writes some very difficult music. Or, as Rakowski puts it on his home page, music that has "lots and lotsa notes." Rakowski never planned to add so many works to such an artistically suspect genre. He wrote the first étude, E-Machines, in 1988, more or less on a challenge from his then-roommate. "That turned out to be a fun piece and people actually liked it even though I thought it was worthless at the time. Well, I don’t know about worthless but certainly useless." Soon other pianists began asking for more; so did the publisher C.F. Peters. "And I would just write them as technique builders in between pieces or when I was stuck on a big piece I would write a little étude and then come back to the big piece refreshed. It usually kind of worked." Each étude must be written from start to finish without revision, and must take a maximum of six days to finish. And he plans to quit when he reaches 100. "I like the idea of putting closure on a project so that I can say that’s done. And seriously, it seems silly to be playing an Étude No. 101. Sounds more like a highway than an étude." His growing catalog of Études for piano has inspired performances and recordings by leading pianists on both sides of the Atlantic. Watch a performance of Rakowski's Étude No. 76, " Clave" (2007) by pianist Geoffrey Burleson . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Sound is central in Mirjam Tally’s creations. Her music brims with playful contrasts – humorous, dramatic and poetic mixes of sound. She has written chamber and electronic music in which acoustic and electronic sounds often interweave, sometimes using Nordic or exotic instruments (Estonian kannel, didgeridoo, tanpura, accordion and others), treating sound material with a modernist open mind. According to Tally, "Work with electronics has considerably widened my imagination of sound. To me, color is really important in music. Lately I have discovered the recording of environmental sounds. This is a bit similar to photography – you just need to be at the right place at the right time to get a fascinating sound on tape, be it, for example, yacht masts swaying in the wind, clinks of ice floes on the coast or wind generators, not to mention the sounds of birds and nature in general. The further result (i.e. the composition) depends on if you have good ingredients; you don’t need to process and "bend" it in the studio at all. The main thing is to collect valuable sound material from the living environment." Watch Tally's collaboration with filmmaker Ülo Pikkov, their short film Tablemat of Baltic Sea (2006) . . . it's our current PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

Zoltán Kodály’s contributions to the musical life of Hungary in the 20th century were immense, and indeed, have gone far beyond mere nationalism. His orchestral compositions enjoy a place in the standard repertory. His researches into his country’s folk music have been models for ethno-musicologists. The program for folk music research drafted by him and Bela Bartok in 1913 resulted in the collection, classification and editing of over 100,000 folk songs. He also made significant contributions in the fields of music history, music criticism, history of literature, linguistics and language education. His teaching methods also went far beyond the borders of his native land with the worldwide use of the Kodály Method for teaching music in schools, the idea being general music literacy. Kodály was a vocal oriented composer; melody and lyricism were of prime importance to him. And at the core of his work is folk music. Hear Kodály talk about his ideas on music education in a rare video from Hungarian Television . . . our COMPOSER PORTRAIT this week.

Musique concrète ("concrete music" or "real music") is a form of electroacoustic music that utilizes acousmatic sound — sound one hears without seeing or knowing an originating cause — as a compositional resource. French composer Pierre Schaeffer is singularly responsible for launching the Musique concrète movement in the late 1940s and with it, the course of much of the experimental music of the 20th Century. From Wikipedia: "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." Etude Noire/Black Study (1948) is an early piece of musique concrete by Schaffer . . . and 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

We couldn't resist putting these two videos together this week. Zoltán Kodály's music for Háry János (1926) is a classic and quite unusual in featuring a cimbalom, the Eastern European version of a hammered dulcimer. Other composer who have used the instrument include Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók Pierre Boulez, Peter Maxwell Davies and even Frank Zappa and Elvis Costello in concert works of theirs. And so it is that we find film composer Hans Zimmer using it in his 2009 score for Sherlock Holmes. To celebrate the musicians who helped perform the music for Sherlock Holmes we're given this quite fun music video of music from the film score . . . this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS. Enjoy!

Jennifer Higdon started late in music, teaching herself to play flute at the age of 15 and then beginning formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Higdon makes her living from commissions and her music is known for its technical skill and audience appeal. Hailed by the Washington Post as "a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit," the League of American Orchestras reports that she is one of America's most frequently performed composers. From a PBS special called Being Creative in Philadelphia we hear Higdon talk about her life and her music . . . it's our current COMPOSER PORTRAIT. And by the way, her Violin Concerto just won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Congratulations Ms. Higdon!

According to Art Lange (Fanfare Magazine), "Rumor has it that there's a big chunk of the classical music listening public that is afraid of contemporary music. When it's played with the passion and conviction that violinist Jennifer Koh generates on behalf of these 21st-century scores, the skeptics have nothing to fear. She displays impeccable technique and a flawless tonal range regardless of their degree of difficulty, and more important, uncovers the lyrical impulse at the music's core. Jennifer Koh is a hell of a violinist (sorry, couldn't resist), and this is a most impressive collection." Check out Jennifer Koh's CD Rhapsodic Musings - 21st Century Works for Solo Violin . . . this week's FEATURED RECORDING.

Sinfonía India (1936) by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez is one of the best examples of his forays into musical nationalism. Based on mestizo music from Chávez's childhood as well as including a massive array of native percussion, this is one of the most impressive and accessible pieces in the composer's repertoire. Watch a fabulous performance of the Sinfonía India (1935-36) by Gustavo Dudamel and the Berlin Philharmonic . . . this week's FROM THE
PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

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

David Amram's Triple Concerto (1970) for woodwinds, brass, jazz quintets and orchestra is a groundbreaking and breathtaking piece of music which incorporates jazz, blues, Latin and Middle Eastern idioms into one cohesive whole. The work allows the classical woodwind and brass quintets to shine right alongside the jazz virtuosos who make up Amram's own quintet, all accompanied accompanied by a symphony orchestra. This critically acclaimed composition brings to exuberant life Amram's philosophy of "music without walls". Watch a performance with David Amram conducting and playing as soloist, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

In the words of Carson Cooman, "Gwyneth Walker's work is characterized by a tremendous energy and a strong sense of humor. Even in her most calm and serene pieces, there is a constant undercurrent of energy -- a lifeblood that ties the music together. Many personal stylistic traits appear throughout her work including elements that have often been classified as characteristic of "American music", including the strong rhythmic sense, open sonorities, and influences of rock, jazz, blues, and American folk music. She is strongly in the American tradition of composers such as Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein -- but is a slave to no compositional school or prescribed style. Her music is recognizably her own and thoroughly original". Watch and listen to composer Gwyneth Walker talk about her music and her life . . . our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.

World-renowned Italian composer Nino Rota is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy. During his long career, Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, producing more than 150 scores for Italian and international films. Alongside this great body film work, he composed twelve operas, seven ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works. The gorgeous aria Oh mio tesor (Oh my darling) is from Rota's comic opera La notte di un nevrastenico (The Night of a Neurasthenic) (1950). Hear a performance by baritone Paolo Drigo, soprano Sabrina Testa, and tenor Young-Hoon . . . the current PYTHEAS EARFUL.

Zoltán Kodály set a new standard of virtuosity with his fiendishly difficult Sonata for Solo Cello written in 1915. The great Hungarian cellist Janos Starker performs the Sonata's last movement with stunning ease and power; a thrilling experience you won't long forget . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

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