Composer Lawrence Dillon writes about his new piece Poke (2011): "Poke, subtitled 'a bagatelle on anti-social media', is scored for cello and double bass, with a running (spoken) dialogue between the two musicians as they play - an argument taking place across various social media. Over the course of the piece, the two 'text', 'friend' and 'like' one another with increasing fury, as their virtual exchanges completely obliterate their real lives in a comic turn on the dark underbelly of our online politesse." Watch a performance of Lawrence Dillon's Poke played by the duo Low & Lower - Brooks Whitehouse, cello, and Paul Sharpe, double bass . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Phil Kline makes music in many genres and contexts, from experimental electronics and sound installations to songs, choral, theater, chamber and orchestral music. Raised in Akron, Ohio, he came to New York to study English Literature and music at Columbia. After graduation, he became part of the downtown New York arts scene: founding the rock band The Del-Byzanteens with Jim Jarmusch and James Nares, collaborating with Nan Goldin, and playing guitar in the notorious Glenn Branca Ensemble. His early compositions grew out of his solo performance art and often used boombox tape players as a medium, most notably Bachman’s Warbler for harmonicas and twelve tape loops (1992), and the Christmas piece Unsilent Night, which debuted in the streets of Greenwich Village in 1992 and is now performed annually in dozens of cities around the world. Other compositions include Zippo Songs, a song cycle based on poems Vietnam vets inscribed on their Zippo lighters, The Blue Room and Other Stories, written for string quartet Ethel, and Exquisite Corpses, commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Watch and listen to Phil Kline talk about his life and his music . . . it's our COMPOSER PORTRAIT for the week.

Tadeusz Baird began to study composition during the German occupation of Poland during World War II. After the war (1947-51) he continued his studies with Piotr Rytel and Piotr Perkowski at the State College of Music (now the Music Academy) in Warsaw. He was one of the initiators and creators of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, first held in 1956. In 1974 he began to teach composition at the State College of Music/Music Academy in Warsaw; then promoted to full professor, and becoming head of the composition department in 1977. Baird won numerous distinctions for his achievements in Poland and abroad, and among Polish composers of contemporary music, Baird's music is distinguishable for the deep respect he retained for tradition. This is manifested in his highly subtle referencing of the music of past ages – he demonstrated special admiration for Romantic, Baroque, and Renaissance music. The composer rendered his own compositions archaic by using early melodic phrases, but nevertheless created works that are highly effective in less tangible spheres – through emotion, impression, expression. His precisely and meticulously structured chords ring with exceptional beauty and his juxtaposition of musical timbres demonstrates unparalleled taste. Far from abandoning a modern compositional language, he rather deftly combined it with traditional musical elements. The entirety of Baird's music is very strongly lyrical, a trait that is most clearly manifested in the fully developed melodic lines, which are song-like in the best sense of the term [Thanks to culture.pl for these notes]. Listen to a performance of Tadeusz Baird's Epiphany Music (1963) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.

From notes by composer Andrzej Panufnik: "My Second String Quartet is an abstract work, with no literary programme. However, the idea behind it is very personal and is connected with a memorable experience from my childhood. When I was 7 or 8 years old, on holiday in the country, my favorite pastime was to put my ear to the wooden telegraph poles and listen to sounds produced by the wires vibrating in the wind. After a while I became convinced that I was listening to real music - which retrospectively I think was my first experience of the creative process, as for the first time I made use of my musical imagination. When I came to compose my Second String Quartet, I decided I would try to draw upon those childhood fantasies, allowing them to suggest to me both design and musical material. The work is composed in one continuous movement, and is based on two cells only: a tetrad (4-note cell) and a triad (3-note cell) with all their reflections and transpositions. It is almost like a secret code, as if the message perhaps was written not with words, but with squares and triangles replacing ordinary letters. Although I have designed a framework with  a most rigorous structure, my main intention was to compose a fantasy-poem, with real musical substance, and to convey to the listener some of the mysterious messages which I used to over-hear in my imagination from the telegraph poles. The work starts exactly as I remember from my childhood: from total silence, through to a hardly audible chord (tetrad), gradually transformed into melodic lines, which weave throughout the work into various shades of poetical expression, returning finally to the first chord, which eventually dissolves into silence. Listen to a performance of Andrzej Panufnik's StringQuartet No. 2, subtitled "Messages" (1980) played by the Chilingirian Quartet . . . it's this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

After pushing one end of the envelope with three slow movements in his Symphony No. 3 (1976), Henryk Górecki swung back the other way in 1980 with his delightful Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra (1981). This sparkling piece lasts about nine minutes and consists of two fast movements, both centering around D. The harpsichord is accompanied by a small string orchestra; if the solo part is played on piano, the strings are expanded to compensate. This concerto is strongly related to Górecki's Three Pieces in Olden Style (1963), which was shocking at the time for its unabashed simple, diatonic style. (thanks to Rod Corkin/Classical Muic Mayhem for these insights). Watch a performance of Górecki's Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra with Elżbieta Chojnacka, harpsichord, and the Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia, Antoni Wit conducting . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Robert Moon (at Audiophile Audition) writes about CPO Records first volume of the Symphonic Works of Andrzej Panufnik: "Andrzej Panufnik is the least known of the three great Polish composers of the twentieth century – the others being Witold Lutoslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki. His music combines the architectural quality of consecutive soundblocks – extended music with distinctive tone and texture – with the emotional feel of the spiritual and visionary. By manipulating three note cells in a mathematical manner, Panufnik's music has a forceful, sometimes overwhelmingly powerful presence which is often contrasted by a more meditative, atmospheric section. The music on this disc can be best understood by tracing their personal, political and sociological times in which they were created. The Tragic Overture (1941) recreates the cataclysmic terrors of World War II. The composer uses a four note motto theme throughout this short work that plays beneath a cantabile violin melody. The Heroic Overture, ostensibly written for the pre-Olympic competition in Warsaw in 1952, was really a testament to the valiant resistance of Poland to the Nazi invasion of 1939. Here the conflict is punctuated by a valorous march and a triumphant ending. In Nocturne (1948) "I completely detached myself from the tragic memories of the past years," Panufnik writes, "I was escaping reality, weaving for myself a kind of night vision, as in a dream." This 17 minute work starts quietly, moves towards a devastating climax, and then recedes into the mist. Its structure reminds me of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, but there is a portent of fear and danger under the patina of calmness. There also is a warmth, especially in the string writing, that perhaps reflects the composer’s love for humanity. Nocturne may have been cathartic for Panufnik, but, as moving emotionally as it is, there still remains the imprint of the horror the composer experienced in World War II. It is the major discovery of this disc. Katyn Epitaph is a searing remembrance of the Katyn Forest Massacre of thousands of Polish patriots by Russian soldiers in World War II. The quiet and lovely A Procession for Peace is a symphonic prelude dedicated "to peace loving people of every race and religion, of every political and philosophical creed," Panufnik wrote. Harmony – a Poem for Chamber Orchestra - was composed in 1989 and dedicated to the composer’s wife of 25 years. Its spiritual and graceful tone is an excellent example of the meditative and visionary Panufnik. This impressive disc is a sampling of the diversity of symphonic music which this under-appreciated composer has given to the world. Performances and sound are excellent, as are the extensive program notes. This is an important beginning to recordings of Panufnik's orchestral works (this is Volume 1), and I look forward to future issues, especially recordings of his ten symphonies." Check this and other contemporary music recordings out out at the Pytheas Recordings Archive . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDING.

Karen Amrhein is an award-winning member of ASCAP, a recipient of a 2005 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, and has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her music has been described as "very sensitive to melody, and quite insightful as to the harmonic structure that will best support it. What results is both engaging and intriguing, as well as emotionally satisfying, not infrequently witty, and quite often uplifting - all characteristics and affects that seem regrettably rare in the work of more recent times." Listen to a peformance of the second movement of Amrhein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1996) . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.

In another collaboration between Judith Lang Zaimont and her husband Gary Zaimont (with video production by Mike Bregman), The Joy of Dance, features Zaimont's art song Clair de Lune from the song cycle Chansons Nobles et Sentimentales sung by tenor Charles Bressler . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

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