Classical Music Diary

Rudolf Zaras - 50 Years

2012-01-31T20:06:00.003-05:00

Rudolf Zaras (b. 1961) is an American pianist and composer of Romantic piano music.

Mr. Zaras' music is rather rhetorical, in a romantic style that harks back to 19th century music making.

The videos on YouTube, which you can all see here, show an intricate pianism--that is if one can just listen to the music and not get distracted by the Gothic show. As explained on Zaras' classical composers page, Zaras is also a martial arts artist, an artisan of "armor suits", and a director of film productions. All of these activities are put to good use in the videos.

From YouTube, Piano Highlights:

And Waltz in the Dungeons of London Op. 26 complete with zombie show more fit for Halloween than the concert hall, recorded more for visual effect than the acoustics:

Patrizio Marrone - 50 Years

2012-01-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

Patrizio Marrone (b. 1961) is an Italian composer for musical theater and chamber music theater--an original form of music. In addition he has composed chamber and ballet music.

From YouTube a 7-minute excerpt from Memorie di una maschera, a 40-minute chamber music theater work for recitative and ensemble.

An from musical theater:

Grant Sheridan - 50 Years

2012-01-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

I have striven to create and work with a view to the music future. It is my sincere hope that my music communicates to the future, with a clear, optimistic and original voice. ⁽¹⁾

Grant Sheridan (b. 1961) is an Australian composer, flutist, conductor, and educator.

We hear some of the composer's optimism in this short piece for flute and guitar, from the Suite for Flute & Guitar in Popular Styles (2008/2009):

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⁽¹⁾ Grant Sheridan : Associate Artist, Australian Music Centre

Robert James Thoms - 50 Years

2012-01-30T21:28:00.000-05:00

'Most of my music is either a waltz or a march. If you don't like waltzes and marches, chances are you will not like my music. If you do waltzes and marches, you just might.' ⁽¹⁾

Robert James Thoms (b. 1961) is a Canadian on and off composer in the romantic style. He writes:

Notating music was always for me a wearisome task, but I always saw myself as a good tune-smith. What once was hard has now become easy thanks to computer software. I probably wouldn't have written music had it not been for the evolution of said software . . . that's just me!

Let's listen to one of these waltzes, very pleasantly arranged for euphonium (2002).

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⁽¹⁾ Mr Robert James Thoms, Score Exchange

Mark Matthews - 50 Years

2012-01-30T21:12:00.000-05:00

Mark Matthews (b. 1961) is an Australian pianist, composer, and civil engineer. In addition Mr. Matthews has been honored for his community service.

His compositions are mostly for piano, often for children, in a minimalist style.

Proceeds from the CD sales of his "Music for the Heart and Soul" series go to Redkite - supporting children through cancer. ⁽¹⁾

This collection not only fills the needs for contemporary piano music at the intermediate piano level, but it does so by providing a well-structured, carefully crafted set of pieces that are accessible to young players. The surface material is attractive and accessible, but the compositional ideas are also maturely handled. This is a worthy addition to the potential repertoire of young players looking for more modern works. ⁽²⁾

From Opus 1 of this collection, The Kiss and Sarah's Suite:

From Opus 3, Scarborough Mist:

From As The Months Go By, September (2010):

A song:

Fur Elis-e-tation V2 T2, a variation on Für Elise (2010):

In Suspense, a rhythmic piece inspired by John Spence:

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⁽¹⁾ Mark Matthews, Wirripang, Home of Australian Composers
⁽²⁾ Remarkable music.net, the home of Music For The Heart And Soul.

Virgílio Melo - 50 Years

2012-01-30T20:37:00.000-05:00

Virgílio Melo is the third and last composer of the Second Renaissance of Portuguese Composition born in 1961. Besides being a composer Mr. Melo also is a writer, teacher, and conductor. His studies in France and Belgium included electronics and sound technology. He has also emerged as a first-rate musicologist and interpreter of Portuguese music. ⁽¹⁾

From YouTube, Remember for recorder (2003):

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⁽¹⁾ MELO Virgílio (1961), mic.pt

Benjamin Thorn - 50 Years

2012-01-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

His music tends to be rhythmically lively and tuneful (though with the odd crunchy bit) and he has been referred to 7/8 Anonymous to cure a marked addiction to that time signature.

He believes not enough music is inspired by vegetables and crocodiles. ⁽¹⁾

Benjamin Thorn (b. 1961) is an Australian composer and recorder player. The catalog of his works is long and varied. He is widely recognized for his compositions for recorder.

Inspired by crocodiles, for recorder and voice (1988):

For two guitars (2002):

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⁽¹⁾ Benjamin Thorn : Represented Artist, Australian Music Centre

David Drury - 50 Years

2012-01-30T20:02:00.000-05:00

David is a Church musician of the highest order; a world renowned organist and improviser, choir trainer and composer. ⁽¹⁾

David Drury (b. 1961) is an Australian organist, composer, and choir trainer. He has performed internationally on the best organs.

Some of his compositions--all titled "improvisations"--are listed here.

Let's admire his improvisational skills, recorded at the Notre Dame Church in Paris in 2007:

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⁽¹⁾ David can ‘hear’ choir sing his St Mary Mass, By Damir Govorcin, The Catholic Weekly, 29 August, 2010

Emanuel Frazão - 50 Years

2012-01-29T21:05:00.001-05:00

A few posts back we met Isabel Soveral, who is part of what one blogger calls the Second Renaissance of Portuguese composers.

We now meet Emanuel Frazão (b. 1961), Ms. Soveral's compatriot, composer, and educator.

From this article we learn that Mr. Frazão is not interested in the fate of his compositions. Once the work is finished and delivered, he prefers to let the chips fall where they may; he has better things to do with his time. That is, of course, the composer's prerogative, but a little bit of marketing goes a long way this day and age.

The composer was educated in both old and new techniques. He studied piano and composition at the National Conservatory and the Higher School of Music followed by composition and electroacoustics at IRCAM.

His compositions blend the past with the present. He gets involved with serialism and pre-compositional schemes, but remains sufficiently flexible and sensitive to the music at hand. He believes that

the essence of music lies beyond schools and diverse aesthetics. What changes is the language. The musical gesture is very similar throughout history. Hence, he concludes that music above all, breathes and lives essentially as the gesture of the musician. ⁽¹⁾

From Três canções sobre poemas de Armando Côrtes-Rodrigues, a beautiful excerpt (2007):

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⁽¹⁾ Gulbenkian Musica, Recortes de Imprensa, Emanuel Frazão, Compositor a Descobrir, 5/26/2001

David Sawer - 50 Years

2012-01-28T21:52:00.005-05:00

David Sawer (b. 1961) is British composer of opera, choral works, orchestral and chamber music.

If Sawer's early work reflected a variety of influences – from Igor Stravinsky to György Ligeti and Luciano Berio – these have been shed, gradually, as he matured. ⁽¹⁾

At YouTube, Exit from Sounds - Three Kandinsky Poems (1999):

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⁽¹⁾ From the composer's Wikipedia page

C. S. L. Parker - 50 Years

2012-01-28T21:39:00.002-05:00

'The Orphic mysteries from the sixth century refer to Orpheus’ ability to charm all nature through music. I see my own work as the ability to perceive nature through music.' ⁽¹⁾

C. S. L. Parker (b. 1961) is a British-born composer and pianist who lives in Ireland.

His works are inspired by nature and jazz, and include solo piano, chamber, vocal and orchestral works. He frequently composes for films and documentaries.

From YouTube:

A beautiful work for piano (1983):

From the 2006 album Smoke and Silk, a song It's Good To Be The King (composed 2004):

From the Forty Shillin Shame soundtrack with production stills (2007):

Composed in 2008:

A beautiful song (2009)

A jazz-inspired work for double bass and piano:

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⁽¹⁾ From the composer's page at The Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland

Henning Lohner - 50 Years

2012-01-28T17:46:00.001-05:00

Henning Lohner (b. 1961) is a German-born composer, multi-media artist, and film director and producer. He started out as an avant-garde composer and multi-media artist, was invited to Hollywood by Frank Zappa, has worked extensively with Hans Zimmer at Media Ventures (now Remote Control Productions), and is active in Hollywood and Berlin.

Lohner's early influences were Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and John Cage.

The composer explains the creative process in music and film:

A 1993 tribute to John Cage:

Film score excerpt (2000):

An introduction to Australia's most haunted town with music from The Ring (2002):

From another film score (2005):

Trailers (2006 and 2007):

Piotr Grella-Mozejko - 50 Years

2012-01-28T17:03:00.001-05:00

'Art is like a vast endless cosmic ocean. It has no beginning nor does it have an end. We can dip our hands, our brains, in that ocean, inhale that ocean and then come up with something new, but those who have certain listening or perceptual habits, they may react to it, they may express their shock to it, but I don’t think the goal of the avant garde has ever been to shock, it’s the audience that becomes shocked. We want to demonstrate to our potential audiences that there are other ways of artistic self expression. We don’t want to shock.' ⁽¹⁾

Piotr Grella-Mozejko (b. 1961) is a Polish-born, Canadian composer who has variously been described by the German press as demonstrating “uncompromising honesty” («Neue Zeitschrift für Musik»), praised for his unorthodox aesthetics ('Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung'), and whose work is called “brawny, high-contrast… full of rich counterpoint and compelling textural changes” ('The New York Times'), “strikingly individual” ('The Toronto Star'), and “wonderful-sounding” ('The Buffalo News'). ⁽²⁾

At YouTube we find the composer's music performed by the Ensemble Mujirushi, founded in 2006 by the composer, 'an interdisciplinary modular collective featuring Canada’s leading New Music performers and artists.' It is 'a “supergroup” ('The Edmonton Journal'), which specialises in incorporating live electronics and interactive video into its performances.' ⁽²⁾

WIDDERSHINS ⁽²⁾, for virtual tape and amplified saxophone quartet, a work describing the 'wonderful world of the Marquis de Sade' (2009):

I deeply believe that there are two forces within us (if we be a macrocosm, reflection of cosmos), a positive one and the other destructive. We are still learning how to cope with them, especially the latter. This opposition is ever-present in the piece, which, at least at first, seems—and this is intended—neither entirely life-affirming nor wholly given to absolute oppression. Most likely, the music itself, enhanced by the virtual tape part, sounds like a psychotic mixture of cruel, ruthless aggression, pain, protest, despair – and unrestrained, bizarre pleasure. But is this pleasure only bizarre; is there no light? ⁽³⁾

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⁽¹⁾ Ensemble Mujirushi: Avant garde is new expression, vueweekly.com, 11/28/2008.
⁽²⁾ Piotr Grella-Mozejko page at the Canadian Music Centre
⁽³⁾ Piotr Grella-Mozejko, Widdershins, Quasar web page. The adverb "widdershins" means literally 'in the direction reverse to the course of the Sun', 'counterclockwise'.

Mike Edgerton - 50 Years

2012-01-28T16:29:00.001-05:00

Michael Edward Edgerton (Mike Edgerton, b. 1961) is an American scientist and authority on the 'extra-normal' voice and extended vocal techniques, and a composer. His impressive resume includes extended stays throughout Europe, including a research stay in 2011 at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen with Holger Mitterer where he worked on 'the elicitation of mismatch negativity between visual and auditory stimuli using unusual vocal productions'.

At YouTube we find compositions and scores with a very intricate visual impact and videos illustrating extended voice techniques. The latter explore the possibilities of the voice in all its aspects, an endeavor on the cusp of art and science.

For solo voice (2001):

A film by Rebekka Uhlig (2001) using music from Edgerton's unfinished opera "Creation of the World," featuring voice performance by the composer.

String Quartet No. 1 (2002). We learn:

Edgerton, in his 1 Stringquartet writes a complex music that one can either simply intuitively understand, or can parse out a deeper understanding from the composers' instructions.

In total, the sound, the formal constructs, the non-western influence become a metaphor for global existence -- not really one encompassing existence, but rather closer to the rocky path of the wandering Taoist.

For solo guitar (2005):

An amused audience and youths enjoying voice exploration in Finland (2008):

For recorder quartet, a more traditional composition using three European melodies in mixed meters (2008):

Music to a Light and Sound installation at a defunct wood chip silo in Oulu, Finland (2009). The building was designed by Alvar Aalto.

A 2010 vocal performance of a Central-Asian crying song, illustrating voice techniques and expressing Shamanism, grief, and vast open plains.

Isabel Soveral - 50 Years

2012-01-28T14:09:00.003-05:00

On the strength of her spatially adept Anamorphoses from 1994, Peixinho’s own student, Isabel Soveral is evidently one of the more interesting new composers to emerge in recent years. ⁽¹⁾

Isabel Soveral's music, simultaneously at the macro and micro level, can be characterized by morphosis, constant transformation and development. It can be attributed to the subconscious influence of the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. ⁽²⁾

Isabel Soveral (b. 1961) is a Portuguese composer of electroacoustic music. Influenced early on were Jorge Peixinho and Karlheinz Stockhausen, she has evolved towards a balance between lyricism and rigorous construction and has explored the combination of instruments with electronics.

The genetic code (DNA) of her music is constituted by the notion of development, by sound combinations, which in a way reflect the electronic imaginary, but above all by two opposites - organization of the material, on the one hand, and creation of the work, on the other, which emerges from "a dance on the top of the material". The concept, which "crosses the body of her compositions, serving her as a title as well as an operational and internal motto"[9] is the morphose. Her music has a "visual" component, so to speak, which in a metaphorical way turns her into sculptress of sound masses. ⁽²⁾

We listen to Quadamorphosis for four percussionists and electronics (2003). The work is part of Soveral's Metamorphoses cycle.

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⁽¹⁾ Antologia De Musica Electornica Portuguesa
⁽²⁾ Portuguese Music Research and Information Centre, In Focus: Isabel Soveral.

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk - 50 Years

2012-01-28T12:40:00.001-05:00

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (aka Joachim Peter Sautscheck, Johann Joachim Sautscheck, Konradin Aemilius Sautscheck, Ioannes Leopolita, and Jacobus Olevsiensis, ⁽¹⁾ b. 1961) is an Ukrainian painter, scenic artist, and composer for the lute. He also translates Slavic-language poems into English. Mr. Turovsky-Savchuk lives in the United States.

His works hail from earlier times. Some of them have been presented by the composer as newly discovered manuscripts, causing some turmoil in the early music community. To the composer any criticism was undeserved:

'I produced some "hypermusicological" mythology, explaining the range of styles from 1680 to 1840 with four generations of purported composers, all from the same family. So after many flame-wars and a few accusations of immorality (some accusers were oblivious of the quotations from Beethoven, Reger or Giazzotto that I'd used...) I've earned some great friends for whom music's quality is paramount to its pedigree.'

It is amazing that such peaceful music should create a tempest in a teapot.

Gathering all Burlaks (2004):

On viola da gamba (± 2005):

In memory of Omeljan Kovch (2007):

A Ukrainian folk melody:

From Cantiones Ruthenicae

From Mikrokosmos IV -- Balli Sarmatici:

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⁽¹⁾ For more information on these allonyms and pseudonyms and the concept of Sautscheckerei, see here.

Andrei Krylov - 50 Years

2012-01-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

Andrei Krylov (b. 1961) is a Russian guitarist, composer for the guitar and an occasional song, and poet. He lives in Canada by a beautiful lake.

His compositions and improvisations are in New Flamenco and New Age style and have often been used in films. The works are inspired by such diverse sources as the beautiful Canadian landscape, artwork, Russian folk song, flamenco, Cuban song, tango, Japan, Celtic music, jazz, fusion, and The Beatles, just to name a few. Together they form a body of work that occupies a unique niche and is very attractive.

Mr. Krylov performs on all kind of guitars--double-neck, 6- and 7- string guitars, small guitars, etc. His performances include songs and duets with percussion, violin, and saxophone.

From YouTube, often with beautiful video:

To start a recently posted poem--in Russian. I wish I understood the lyrics.

A romantic Russian song (1997 ⁽¹⁾):

Japan-inspired, on 7-string guitar (2000):

An original etude (2001):

Variations on a Russian folk song (2002):

More music from Russia, with a gorgeous Russian art show (2002). The artwork that is now coming out of the old Soviet block, for a long period underground and suppressed, is an amazing testimony to the human spirit. ⁽²⁾

Cuban-inspired (2003):

Jazz on a double-neck guitar (2003):

Doing what he does best (2007):

From Zen of the Moon Lake (2007):

Canadian landscape paired with Gypsy-inspired music (2007):

An original composition (2008):

Improvisation with saxophone (2010):

Celtic music for violin and guitar (2011):

Meditating by a Canadian lake (2011):

To close, a Beatles tribute, While My Guitar Gently Weeps:

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⁽¹⁾ The dates of Mr. Krylov's works are not always clear. I've taken them mostly from the dates of the CDs the works appear on.
⁽²⁾ It is apparent in this video. I also recently had the pleasure to view Hungarian art from that period at the American Hungarian Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ.

Alain De Ley - 50 Years

2012-01-22T20:25:00.001-05:00

Alain De Ley (b. 1961) is a Belgian composer and Manager of the Flemish Radio Choir. His compositions borrow from the old but have a tinge of the new. He says in a somewhat roundabout way:

"The music I write is classical in the sense that it isn’t pop,on the other hand it’s modern in the sense that it isn’t classical because it isn’t all together tonal, although you shouldn’t be fooled by appearances,perhaps it’s eclectic, then again that could give the impression that I didn’t write it myself,which I did." ⁽¹⁾

De Ley's output is not voluminous: choral works, and a few pieces for voice and ensemble, piano, and guitar.

All this seems to be very low key, if it weren't for the sound samples and a single YouTube video: The Seven Last Words of Christ. The sound is gorgeous.

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⁽¹⁾ From the composer's webpage.

Lourdes Pérez - 50 Years

2012-01-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

"In Puerto Rico we don't make a distinction between a pigeon and a dove. We don't have this--low-class pigeons and high-class doves.

... Why would I be quiet if I have something to say, if I have something to write , if I have something to sing about, why would I not choose to use my voice?

... We have been in places where we have brought music, for example a trip to Palestine. We bring the music. Then there's joy, and the children are happy. For a moment we forget there is a war out there. Something about music makes you well." ⁽¹⁾

Lourdes Pérez has been compared to Argentina's Mercedes Sosa for her soul-touching Spanish language songs, and to French chanteuse Edith Piaf for her ability to transcend the limitations of the language. Raised in the music tradition of San Sebastián and Moca, Pérez carries the spirit of the jíbaro (a person from the countryside of Puerto Rico) in her voice and guitar. ⁽²⁾

A fiercely independent and humble musician, Lourdes has devoted her work to promoting human rights and dignity around the globe. ⁽³⁾

Lourdes Pérez (b. 1961) is a Puerto Rican composer of songs, vocalist, guitarist, and poet of décimas, a form of Spanish poetry.

A song for her mother:

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⁽¹⁾ Lourdes Perez - Take a Listen, YouTube, May 1, 2008.
⁽²⁾ Lourdes Pérez, An interview with the Nueva Canción troubadour, Craig Usher, at rootsworld.com
⁽³⁾ From the Lourdes Perez website.

Uncle Dave Lewis - 50 Years

2012-01-22T12:25:00.003-05:00

Although classically trained music and a jazz enthusiast, Lewis initiated a series of Cincinnati-based groups that combined punk, avant-garde, electronics, and free improvisation. ⁽¹⁾

Uncle Dave Lewis (b. David N. Lewis, Cincinnati, OH 1961) is an American original, not only a composer but equally a filmmaker, with interests in painting and poetry--all steeped in avant-garde. An unremitting self-starter, Lewis's career has led him to many places and to many different roles:

Started very early on writing stories--age 7, music--age 9, and making experimental films--age 13.

Took up painting and poetry in adolescence and became editor of the Cincinnati Public Library's Seven Hills Review.

Sidetrips to New Orleans and San Jose; played in Lou Harrison's gamelan during the latter.

Founded a series of experimental rock groups with releases under his own record label. 11,000 Switches was one of these groups.

Wrote about lost Cincinnati media history.

'In 1985 11,000 Switches guitarist Dan Williams and I founded the experimental radio show "Art Damage," which is still on the air at WAIF-FM and going strong after 20 years.' ⁽²⁾

Moved to San Pedro in 1991; worked as the entertainment director at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, and as an editor at Random Lengths News.

Buyer/manager for the classical departments of the Tower Records stores in L.A. and the Virgin Megastore on Sunset.

Editor in the classical department of the All Music Guide in Ann Arbor.

Papers on Cincinnati jazz, earliest Ohio records, firs stirrings of punk rock.

'I 2004 I traveled to the Reneker Museum in Winona Lake, Indiana on an ARSC grant to study the recordings of Gospel Music pioneer Homer Rodeheaver.' ⁽²⁾

Writer of liner notes.

'Documenting my own work is a never ending challenge. So far I have a listing of 494 musical works which are considered "complete" and "publishable," and a second listing about another 200 pieces that are less so.' ⁽²⁾

This is obviously a composer who has been--voluntarily or involuntarily--side-tracked quite a bit. From what we glean at YouTube, that is probably a shame, as the experimental movies and accompanying soundtracks are quite original.

Experimental film assembled out of 1919 footage of Japanese acrobats; original score for 4 percussion and edit by Lewis (2008):

An experimental music video to his classical composition For Dan (2007/2010):

Another experimental video/composition (2010):

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⁽¹⁾ Uncle Dave Lewis biography on allmusic.com
⁽²⁾ Uncle Dave Lewis, myspace.com

Harry Gregson-Williams - 50 Years

2012-01-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

"In an odd sort of way, I think I'm aiming to perfect one composition through this entire journey,"...

"There's a score that I wrote for a tiny little independent movie called The Magic Of Marciano," he says, referring to a 2000 film written and directed by Tony Barbieri, starring Natassja Kinski. "I just hit upon a theme on that movie that I sometimes come back to and feel drawn towards — it sticks in my mind as probably the most lucid piece of composition that I've done. It's so clear and so clean, when I listen to it I can hear what I was trying to do. And I've drawn on it from time to time, as I still think that I can improve on that first idea that appeals to me..."

... "You see, I nearly 'did it', and it's probably a good job that I didn't completely do it, otherwise I don't know what I'd be doing now." ⁽¹⁾

He's able to put classical elements together without it becoming pretentious. ⁽²⁾

"As I have never really listened to movie music and gone out and bought soundtrack CDs (and I doubt I ever will) I am constantly surprised that people would be interested in my music WITHOUT the film! Sometimes I worry that a lot of the music doesn't make much sense without the pictures...but I guess that's for others to judge. I am living proof that a lot of hard work and little luck will take you...somewhere or other...in this extraordinary and exciting business." ⁽³⁾

Our third commercially successful composer is Harry Gregson-Williams (b. United Kingdom, 1961). 'Harry Gregson-Williams's drive to explore original ideas and sounds has made him one of Hollywood's leading composers, scoring everything from romantic comedies to spy thrillers and historical dramas.' ⁽¹⁾

Combining electronic music with orchestral and classical music elements, he worked as a top composer in Hans Zimmer's studio and collaborates heavily with other composers in the industry. ⁽⁴⁾

What's perhaps less known is that the composer started out as a teacher of music and sports, and profoundly enjoyed it. He spent a few years teaching in Egypt--and learning Arabic--and Kenya, and considered teaching his vocation, before movies took over. ⁽³⁾ That he is still a kid at heart shows in his many scores for children's movies.

I'm going to break the composer's rule stated above about not listening to the music without the film, and post several videos with live performances of the composer's works. The music does stand very well on its own.

From The Rock (1996):

Armageddon, expanded score track suite, composed with Trevor Rabin (1998):

From Chicken Run, composed with John Powell (2000):

From Spy Game (2002):

From Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003):

From Shrek 4-D (2003):

From Veronica Guerin (2003):

A few videos from the Metal Gear videogame series (2002/2008):

From Man on Fire (2004):

From Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004):

From Kingdom of Heaven, ancient sounds for an ancient story (2005):

From Déjà Vu (2006):

From Flushed Away (2006):

From Chronicles of Narnia (2008), a Lullaby on the ocarina and a youthful orchestra:

I'm a Believer - Shrek Forever After (2010), an enthusiastic performance:

From The Town (2010):

From Cowboys and Aliens (2011):

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⁽¹⁾ Composing For Films-Harry Gregson-Williams, Richard Buskin, Sound on Sound, December 2005.
⁽²⁾ Harry Gregson-Williams - Kingdom of Heaven, Ridley Scott, YouTube, January 2012.
⁽³⁾ Our Man Harry, Yumbo & Harry Gregson-Williams, Unofficial Harry Gregson-Williams Page, 16/11/98
⁽⁴⁾ Harry Gregson-Williams, Wikipedia and Metal Gear Wiki

Michiru Oshima - 50 Years

2012-01-21T17:10:00.000-05:00

Before starting the project, I didn't really appreciate Fullmetal Alchemist. However, I truly have great memories from that work. It gave me a chance to visit Russia four times to participate in orchestral recordings. It was quite an important project for me, extremely rewarding. My work on ICO was also a very agreeable. ⁽¹⁾

Michiru Oshima (b. 1961) is a Japanese composer successful in the videogame, anime, movie, and television industries.

From a recent interview posted at a French Gameblog site, we learn the following:

Ms. Oshima started out composing for commercials at the height of the economic boom. This led to assignments in the movie industry, something she enjoyed very much.

Her debut in animes (Japanese cartoons) was less enthusiastic, but their success is indisputable--especially in Europe. Ms. Oshima does not seek out work for animes and videogames. It is the producers and directors who come to her, knowing that fantastic universe projects suit her perfectly.

Most of the time composers for videogames or animes have very little material to work with. If she's lucky, Ms. Oshima receives a pilot game. It is easier if the manga (cartoon) already exists. And if it is a very popular one, the composer tries to remain neutral, as with The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, and to not let it interfere with the creative process.

As for her upcoming project, it is top secret, but an announcement is imminent.

From the Legend of Legaia (1996 and 1998):

From Boys over Flowers/ Hana Yori Dango (1996):

From Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000):

A youthful band performing a song from Fullmetal Alchemist (2003/2005):

Playing by ear from a 2008 anime:

From the Xam'd: Lost Memories anime (2008):

From Soranowoto (Sound of the Sky) anime (2010):

To conclude, my favorite, a live performance at Le Poisson Rouge of a 2010 work:

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⁽¹⁾ Interview in Gameblog.fr

Alexandre Desplat - 50 Years

2012-01-17T22:15:00.001-05:00

1961 was a great birth year for composers. We've met many interesting personalities so far with more to come.

Our survey takes us next to three successful commercial composers. Two score films, one writes music for the video-gaming industry.

Alexandre Desplat (b. 1961) is an French film composer who has scored films worldwide including many Hollywood productions.

Mr. Desplat's music is--most of the time--an exercise in understatement, always perfectly in service of the storyline and the characters, setting the mood, only becoming loud when warranted. In Mr. Desplat's own words:

I like the music to shine and be big and strong when it has to be, but otherwise I like it to be interwoven with the film and not to be too intrusive. ⁽¹⁾

This is a quality movie directors appreciate as can be seen in a comment by Stephen Frears, director of The Queen. Mr. Desplat wrote the score for this movie in three weeks after the director gave up on another composer.

'In the end, composers are good when they read the films well. His reading was very, very clever.' ⁽²⁾

The same New York Times article tells us about the difference in film scoring between Europe and the United States, and gives us a glimpse of how Mr. Desplat conceives his works:

In Europe scores are often written on much smaller budgets but less stringent time constraints, allowing film composers to orchestrate their music, which is rare in the United States.

'The first moment I see a movie, I don’t think melodies, I think colors,' Mr. Desplat said. 'Before I find a structure and the way I would write a motif or character moments, I think about what the orchestra will play. What texture does this movie need?' ⁽²⁾

From YouTube, a very nice tribute:

From The Rendez-Vous (2004):

From Syriana (2005):

From Afterwards (2008):

And one for the kids (2009):

Music for the stage (2011):

2011:

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⁽¹⁾ Desplat reveals all about Harry Potter, Classic fm, Thursday, 7 July 2011 11:10
⁽²⁾ Thinking in Colors and Textures, Then Writing in Music, Jon Burlingame, New York Times, January 7, 2007

Peter Machajdik - 50 Years

2012-01-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

Machajdik often chooses to compose his works in solitary places. His compositions draw on several sources of inspiration, especially from the polyphony and modal harmonies of early music. In recent years Machajdík's works have been typified by both economy of material and stringency of method, thereby demonstrating that what may be simple musical language can nevertheless be powerful. Also elements such as controlled use of dissonance, sustained sonorities, inconspicuous melodic motion and frequent use of minor tonalities apply to Machajdík's compositional style. Most of his compositions have a meditative character. ⁽¹⁾

'My own music had always seemed to be a bridge between various music genres. I have never cared about the name of the style of my compositions. In Bratislava, where I grew up, as well as in Berlin, where I have lived for the past 16 years, I have also worked with musicians of different styles, with dancers, visual artists, as well as with film-makers. Maybe therefore I could really enjoy working with both Jon [Anderson] and David [Moss], who have had similar experiences, and I am very happy that they now appear on Namah.' ⁽²⁾

Peter Machajdik (b. 1961) is--as was Peter Zagar whom we've met before--a Slovakian composer. Although they have some commonalities--both like the accordion and choral works--Peter Zagar embraces the very rich musical traditions of the Bratislava region and Peter Machajdik has embarked on a musical voyage. He has lived in Berlin for over fifteen years, has adopted such modern techniques as sound collage and electro-acoustic sound. His works have over the years sometimes become extremely minimalist, a style that works well in small settings and lends great beauty to choral works.

The result is a music of exceptional calm and tranquility, a soothing sound for the modern listener. His works lend themselves very well to modern dance expressions and form an ideal background for video montages as demonstrated in some of the following YouTube videos:

For solo accordion (1997):

For cello and piano (2002):

For harp (2003):

A very static piece, for piano, with dancer (2003):

A sound collage in remembrance of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and the death of its seven crew members, including the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon (2003):

For string quartet (2003/2004):

For piano or harp (2006):

For cimbalom and sound production (2007):

Radio art, soundscape (2007):

From the album Namah, with Jon Anderson (2008):

For harp, cello, piano and electronics (2010):

From the album Inside the Tree, for cello, harp, and electronics (2011):

For mixed choir and tubular bells (2011):

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⁽¹⁾ From Peter Machajdik's webpage.
⁽²⁾ From "Flowing Into the Unknown": An interview with Peter Machajdík, Peter Potts, October 30, 2008

Brett Dean - 50 Years

2012-01-14T20:24:00.001-05:00

'One of the most internationally performed composers of his generation, much of Dean's work draws from literary, political or visual stimuli, including a number of compositions inspired by paintings of his partner Heather Betts.' ⁽¹⁾

'...creating dynamic soundscapes and treating single instrumental parts with complex rhythms. He shapes musical extremes, from harsh explosions to inaudibility. Modern playing techniques are as characteristic for his style as an elaborate percussion scoring, often enriched with objects from everyday life. Much of Dean’s work draws from literary, political or visual stimuli, transporting a non-musical ‘message’. Environmental problems are the subject of Water Music and Pastoral Symphony, while Vexations and Devotions deal with the absurdities of a modern society obsessed with information.' ⁽²⁾

Brett Dean (b. 1961) is an Australian composer, violist, and conductor. He was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic for 15 years. Back in Australia, he has focused on composing, on performing his works for viola and conducting internationally. Brett Dean's awards are exceptionally prestigious and include the 2009 Grawemeyer award and the 2010/2011 Elise L. Stoeger award for composers of chamber music.

He is represented by Intermusica, where some of his works can be sampled.

From YouTube:

For saxophone and quartet (2003/2004):

Rehearsing his Viola Concerto (2004):

Epitaphs for String Quintet (2010). The work starts at 30:33 into the video.

'Dean's recent Epitaphs for string quintet eulogises five of the composer's friends who died in a short time. Its most striking movements open and close the work: a splendidly textured memorial to Dorothy Porter, packed with high, light textures, and a wrenching requiem for the former artistic director of Opera Australia, Richard Hickox.' The Age, November 2010

'Here, the way in which [Dean] told, through most subtle means, of the incomprehensibility of death simply took one’s breath away. Chromatic scales and descending glissandi imbued life on the downhill track with a compelling symbolic force while every movement, at the same time, maintained its distinct characteristic as to expression and tone. This was a chamber music masterpiece, authentically performed.' Kölnische Rundschau, September 2010

From 2011:

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⁽¹⁾ From Dean's page at The Australian Music Centre.
⁽²⁾ From Wikipedia.

Amin Bhatia - 50 Years

2012-01-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

Amin Bhatia (b. 1961 in the United Kingdom) is a Canadian composer, recording artist, and producer.

As a composer he has earned acclaim for albums, and film and television scores. Described as a neo-symphonic synthesist ⁽¹⁾, Bhatia's early works were created on analog keyboards and tapes. He has developed very strong skills in music and midi-synthesizer programming. More recently he has incorporated lush orchestral scoring in his endeavors in cooperation with the Toronto Symphony and opera orchestras.

Among his albums, Interstellar Suite and its long-awaited successor Virtuality stand out.

Many things made this [Interstellar Suite] recording unique: One was its lush orchestral stylings attributed to Amin’s love of Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams film scores. Another unique element was Amin's insistence on using analog synthesizers in a world where everyone else had gone digital. Rather than join the trend of sampling and abusing orchestral phrases, Amin combined and layered hundreds of electronic parts to achieve a warm orchestral sound that was not stolen from an orchestra. To this day Amin still gets requests from listeners and programmers asking for the orchestral sample libraries used. He has a hard time convincing them that it was all him. ⁽²⁾

“My father's genius and passion was taking the synthesizer out of the laboratory and making synthesis accessible to musicians, and through them, to the world. Amin Bhatia’s “Virtuality” is another fine example of that accessibility.” Michelle Moog-Koussa, daughter of the late Bob Moog and Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. ⁽³⁾

From Interstellar Suite (1987), Walking in Space:

And a wonderful production by a marching band:

From Virtuality (2008), Bolero Electronica:

And with the music in the background, a captivating home video:

From Flashpoint, Season 3 (2010), the theme song written jointly by Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner:

And Claire De Leah composed by Amin Bhatia, Ari Posner, and Leah Salomaa:

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⁽¹⁾ From the Moog Foundation's website.
⁽²⁾ From the Interstellar Suite page at aminbhatia.com
⁽³⁾ From the Virtuality page at aminbhatia.com

Peter Zagar - 50 Years

2012-01-14T14:38:00.000-05:00

Our next composer originates from the old trilingual town of Presporok/Pozsony/Pressburg (now Bratislava), a town closely linked to such famous composers of the past as Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven. It is a 'part of the world [that] is exceptionally suited to accommodate the polystylistic approach to music, for it has always been the melting pot of various cultures.' ⁽¹⁾

Peter Zagar (b. 1961) is a Slovakian composer in all genres. He is, among many other things, a member of Pozon Sentimental, a Slovakian chamber quartet comprised of violin, piano, accordion, and flute.

The composer's varied musical inspirations can be gleaned from a few statements by the composer and on the Pozon Sentimental web page:

'I wrote Stabat Mater after the sheer, almost mystic beauty of plain-chant, which I consider to be one of the world's miracles. Plain-chant demonstrates that the quality of musical experience depends greatly not on the expressed, but on what is left unexpressed.' ⁽²⁾

'Alfred Einstein, the German musicologist (cousin of the famous physicist) once made a witty remark that “New Music” is never really absolutely new, instead, it brings a shift in attention on hitherto marginal features, which are stressed as central ones. Pozon Sentimental involves several such “shifts of accent”:

1. Accent on local tradition of small towns, as opposed to senseless attempts to follow world trends and attempts to copy the “city” style (computers, lasers, video, etc.)

2. Openness toward the common listener who can find his favourite tunes (in a recycled form) on the programme – as opposed to arrogant and elitist attitudes of the “classical New Music” that does not even count with the audience.

3. Obvious joy from performing, from simple music making – as opposed to “superhuman” virtuosity or conceptual" amateurism (two extremes into which “New Music” has been divided).

4. Acceptance of “old-fashioned” styles of the past and their integration into own expression – as opposed to deliberate hostility of all “New Music” toward everything that is old.' ⁽³⁾

Peter Zagar's videos on YouTube range from sacred to serious, from sentimental to little puns on commercials:

Composed in 1993:

A deeply felt choral work (1995):

With the Pozon Sentimental ensemble, from The Heritage Land (1995) and I Waited for You in the Carlton (1996):

'One of the features of our music is the complete irrevelance of the material used in the process of composition. Compare for instance the opening of Zagar’s I Was Waiting For You at the Carlton and its conclusion; the former exploits the technique of bitonality, the latter is a simple Hungarian dance, as if taken from one of Bratislava’s cafés.' ⁽¹⁾

Two Pieces (1997), for the accordion virtuoso:

A string quarter (2005):

And a few anti-jingles. I assume that just means that they are not commercial but otherwise adhere to "jingle" rules. For those not familiar with the term, songs for commercials are usually referred to as jingles. They are miniature songs that last 30 seconds, can be adapted to 15 seconds, and are otherwise variable according to the needs of the advertising agency and the client:

Jingles are the most lucrative musical form in commercials. The fees are higher than for underscores and so are the residual payments. This makes jingle writing a highly competitive and profitable field. Successful jingle writers usually devote their careers to only writing jingles. It is an unusual skill and takes a long time to master. ⁽⁴⁾

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⁽¹⁾ Marek Piaček, Peter Zagar – About Požoň sentimentál by Marek Piaček on Aug 3, 2011
⁽²⁾ From Zagar's Stabat Mater web page.
⁽³⁾ From Pozon Sentimental's home page.
⁽⁴⁾ The above quote--as well as the rigid rules for writing successful jingles--can be found in Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials, a Manual for Composers and Students by Michael Zager (2003).

John Burge - 50 Years

2012-01-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

"I've set many poems to music. In particular, I'm drawn to setting Canadian poets." ⁽¹⁾

... It is obvious that a number of his works for large ensemble draw their influence from a distinctively Canadian perspective. Orchestras and audiences seem taken with these works as they have received numerous performances across Canada and even as far away as Brazil and Russia. ⁽²⁾

John Burge (b. 1961) is a Canadian composer, educator, and pianist, active in Kingston, Ontario.

Unfortunately, I could not discover any settings of Canadian poets on the Internet. Nevertheless, it is evident from the piano works posted on YouTube, that Burge is drawn to poetry and the poetic. These works are a pleasure for the ear.

From 1996:

2001:

2009:

Here is an arrangement for female choir (1997):

His orchestral works can be sampled here. One Sail dates from 1993/1995, Upper Canada Fiddle Suite from 1996, and Flanders Fields Reflections from 2006.
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⁽¹⁾ From Steven Heighton has write stuff for John Burge; Author and composer collaborate for Prince Edward County Music Festival by Lisa Jemison, The Kingston Whig Standard, 4 years ago.
⁽²⁾ From Burge's web page at Queen's University School of Music.

Michael Torke - 50 Years

2012-01-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

Michael Torke has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre, each with a characteristic personal stamp that combines restless rhythmic energy with ravishingly beautiful melodies. ⁽¹⁾

With his two best known early pieces, Ecstatic Orange and Yellow Pages, written in 1985 while still a composition student at Yale, Michael Torke practically defined post-Minimalism, a music which utilizes the repetitive structures of a previous generation to incorporate musical techniques from both the classical tradition and the contemporary pop world. ⁽²⁾

Michael Torke (b. 1961) is an American composer who has achieved a good degree of recognition both in the U.S. and internationally, most notably with Javelin, written for the 1996 Summer Olympics. He has composed in all genres including extensive work for ballet.

His compositions are influenced by minimalism, jazz, rap, disco, and even the classics. They are fun and full of nonstop energy. He perceives music and sound in colors (color-synthesia). The pieces often carry whimsical titles or titles referring to colors. Young people love to perform Torke's works.

From YouTube:

From the Color Music series (1985 - 1989):

Ash (1988) for orchestra or chamber orchestra, also performed as ballet:

Written in 1994 for the 1996 Summer Olympics:

July, from the Months series, composed in 1995 for saxophone quartet, a great nonstop piece in a spirited performance:

For orchestra (1998):

From a 1999 opera:

A rousing percussion concerto (2001):

Something more sentimental (2002):

For marimba and orchestra (2009):

And in support of the Tiger, for the World Wildlife Fund, with Eschenbach and Lang Lang (2011):

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⁽¹⁾ From Classical Net.
⁽²⁾ From Michael Torke's website.

Marc-André Dalbavie - 50 Years

2012-01-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

Among the many students of spectral music there are those who study music and sound as a science, and there are those who create timeless beauty. Marc-André Dalbavie (b. 1961 in France) belongs to the latter category.

He studied electronic and spectral music at IRCAM. The exploration of sound led him to create spatialised acoustic pieces for specific halls and venues. He has over time reintegrated the consonance and rhythmic beat of the symphonic orchestra and explored symphonic sound diffraction and blocks of sound. ⁽¹⁾

His works are listed here.

Dalbavie's luminous and tactile music explores timbre and color, drawing on the French spectral school, but also reinterpreting the post-serial music of Boulez and the New York minimalism of Steve Reich and Morton Feldman. ⁽²⁾

From YouTube:

For four woodwinds, brass sextet, and piano (1986):

Composed for an art exhibit (1995-1996):

The visitor enters a completely dark room: he can't see his surroundings; he hears, however, a piece of music for piano. Sight denied, he transfers bit by bit the task of discovering the space he's in, to his other senses: through touch he discovers the installation, a sculpture in the dark with tactile characteristics, smooth, cold, rounded--a piano. His hearing then allows him to enter deeper into the work of art: the musical line he hears seems the first few minutes repetitive, automatic. It varies nonetheless according to whether he speaks, approaches the piano, touches it, or moves around in the room. At this moment of the visit, and if he hasn't discovered it yet, the visitor is led to wonder: Is there a pianist in the room? From this first room the spectator then walks into a second, this time devoted to sight, illuminated by the projection of live infrared video images, as from a surveillance camera; he can now see what he touched and heard in the previous room: space, piano, pianist, and music. The music, composed by Marc-André Dalbavie, has in turn created and inspired another dimension of the work: a movie produced by Jean-Michel Othoniel where the music becomes soundtrack and the pianist the main actor. ⁽³⁾

For orchestra (2002):

One commenter writes:

I love the way Dalbavie moves the melodic lines and phrases between different instruments so that the timbres are continuously blending and changing in such surprising ways.

A Piano Concerto (2005) in good hands with Leif Ove Andsnes:

Listen here to Sonnets (2008), a setting of six sonnets by 16th century French poet Louise Labé with Philippe Jaroussky, soprano countertenor.

A video introduction of Gesualdo (2010), an opera on the life and troubled soul of Carlo Gesualdo (1566–1613), Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, lutenist, brilliant composer of the late Italian renaissance, and ruthless double murderer of his wife and her lover.

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⁽¹⁾ From the composer's page at Gérard Billaudot Editeur.
⁽²⁾ From a now inactive page at sospeso.com
⁽³⁾ Free translation from Exposition Villa(s) 7: Jean-Michel Othoniel

Matthew Malsky - 50 Years

2012-01-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

Matthew Malsky (b. 1961) is an American composer who 'has written concert works for soloist and mixed chamber ensembles, often with live and pre-recorded electronics with multi-channel sound diffusion systems.' ⁽¹⁾

In his compositions, writings, and teachings the composer focuses on new ways to make music, be it electroacoustic, computer-manipulated sounds of traditional instruments, wordless instrumental settings of poems, or a combination of instruments and live computer processing.

He is co-director of the Extensible Toy Piano Project.

From YouTube:

For cello solo (2001):

A wordless setting for string quartet of The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot (2003). The principal thematic material sets the beginning sentence 'We are the hollow men.' The ending of the piece sets the ending of the poem: 'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.'

Excerpt from the string quartet Lacan (2007), accompanying a good, short film:

The latter two compositions can be heard on CD together with 'Malsky’s Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (2009), his anachronistic accompaniment to a 1920′s silent film of the same title.' ⁽²⁾
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⁽¹⁾ From the website of Clark University, Worcester, MA.
⁽²⁾ Read Sequenza 21's review of the CD here.

Giorgio Colombo Taccani - 50 Years

2012-01-02T21:10:00.000-05:00

Giorgio Colombo Taccani (b. 1961) is an Italian composer, musicologist, and educator.

His compositions contain the following elements: ⁽¹⁾

A search for refined harmonic and timbral beauty using the technical and expressive instrumental qualities.

Timbres--often considered destabilizing in the music of the twentieth century--become supporting elements of musical structure.

A particular attention to instruments that have been less explored by classical composers, e.g. accordion, recorder sometimes in combination with harpsichord, bass clarinet, and unusual ensembles.

A clear, deliberately formal clarity.

His music is often inspired by extra-musical scenes and relationships.

An awareness of language and literary texts, sometimes using narration.

A reworking of aspects of 20th century musical experiments into a more functional context in line with contemporary aesthetics.

As a musicologist he has concentrated on contemporary music, e.g. writing on Italian music theatre of the Sixties and on Bruno Maderna. ⁽²⁾

From YouTube:

For flute and percussion (1996 - 2001). Extra-musical idea: 'Daedalus, the mythical builder of the labyrinth, became trapped in his own creation.'

The Still Sea (2001/2007) for three bass recorders. Note from the composer's website: 'The hidden starting point of everything is the group of three chords from the beginning of Procol Harum's A Salty Dog as well as its entire melodic line, here a tribute to the immobility of the adolescence.'

Panic-stricken Fear for ensemble (2001). Scene: 'It is in fact the hottest hour of the day that evokes this mythologically-inspired piece, “when all of nature lies still and dazed, no song, no sound is allowed. The god Pan, with his harsh ill temper, is resting, tired of loving and early morning hunting. It would be terrifying if he woke up early, as terrifying as the mysterious sounds with which he fills the forests to taunt ill-fated travelers. So silence it is: timor panico.'

Inspired by Robert Schumann's Lied of the same name, Op. 36. (2003):

For accordeon and electronics (2006). Inspiration: L'Enigma Dell'Ora, painting by Giorgio de Chirico.

On two poems by Angel Crespo (2007):

The White Walls of Endenich (2011), remembering Robert Schumann's last two years in the mental asylum of Endenich:

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⁽¹⁾ From the profile on the composer's website.
⁽²⁾ From the Contemporary Composers Index.

Stephen Hough - 50 Years

2012-01-02T11:51:00.001-05:00

Stephen Hough (b. 1961) is a widely known British-Australian pianist, composer, and writer.

His long list of compositions is undoubtedly somewhat obscured by his fame as a pianist, an eternal problem that has plagued many gods of the piano, starting with Liszt.

Requiem Aeternam (after Victoria) (2010) was composed for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; listen to the gallery's podcast here.

From YouTube:

A Christmas anthem (2008):

A transcription from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel (1998):

Karen Tanaka - 50 Years

2012-01-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Important Japanese elements in Tanaka’s music are a sense of timelessness as found in Zen Buddhist aesthetics, an appreciation of noise and manipulated sound, and concepts of “stretched time” and “deformed space,” which can also be found in the Japanese Noh theater. ⁽¹⁾

She has composed extensively for both instrumental and electronics media... Her recent works, such as The Song of Songs, Night Bird and Metal Strings, develop new directions in her musical language using the latest technology and reflecting different aspects of contemporary culture. In recent years, Karen Tanaka's love of nature and concern for the environment has influenced many of her works. ⁽²⁾

Karen Tanaka (b. 1961) is a Japanese composer who studied in Japan (Akira Miyoshi), concentrated on contemporary music in France (French spectralism with Tristan Murail, IRCAM) and Italy (Luciano Berio), absorbed its sound and linked it with Zen Buddhist aesthetics to create music all her own and ethereally beautiful.

Tanaka has composed attractive works for young pianists, a valuable addition to the piano teacher's library.

From YouTube, Crystalline (1988) and Crystalline II (1995-1996):

Jardin des Herbes (Herb Garden), Sweet Violet for harpsichord (1989, rev. 1995):

For the young pianist, a lovely performance from Zoo in the Sky, Swan (1994-1995):

A timeless tango at the Berlin Railway Station: Song of Songs for cello and electronics (1996).

For alto saxophone and electronics (1996):

Listen here to Frozen Horizons (1996), inspired by the Norwegian, arctic landscape.

Rhythmically challenging Etudes for piano (2000):

From a recent series for piano (2010-2011), which illustrates the beauty of our planet:

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⁽¹⁾ From New World Records, Exploring the sound worlds of Chen Yi and Karen Tanaka, Marilyn Bliss.
⁽²⁾ From chesternovello.com.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-02T09:51:00.001-05:00

Well, 2011 has come and gone, and I'm far from finished with my survey of composers born in 1961. It's been very rewarding so far. The plan is to continue into 2012 and then turn to actual 2012 anniversaries.

From what I can tell the greatest celebrations this year will go to Debussy and Cage, but there may be many masters along the way, and I may touch on the musical side of Frederick II of Prussia and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Maybe I'll even find some time to touch upon those composers whose birth years are sadly missing and who would otherwise remain unsung in my humble blog.

Best wishes.

Hanna Kulenty - 50 Years

2011-12-31T19:13:00.003-05:00

Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961) is one of the leading contemporary Polish composers. She has lived and worked in Poland and in The Netherlands.

Hanna Kulenty composes works for symphonic orchestra in a highly expressive, intuitive constructivist style ⁽¹⁾

The remarkable consistency of form, as the composer explains, results from her method of composing: she first hears or “envisions” (in sounds and time) the whole work in its entirety, in a point that contains all of its dimensions, and later writes down this momentary musical vision by “stretching out” layers of musical material that appeared in a condensed form in the initial revelation of the complete piece. ⁽²⁾

The composer's early works are constructed with a ' polyphony of arches' or 'arcs'. 'These works include many layers of simultaneous “arches” which may begin at different points of their trajectories and proceed at different speeds.' ⁽²⁾

During the 1990s Kulenty's music became less layered and developed into an original version of ‘post-minimalist’ style, Kulenty's version of the 'European trance music': single, powerful arches, slowly evolving in time, gradually increasing their gripping intensity of emotion. This intensity has been powerful in her music for the stage.

Kulenty’s latest compositional technique, the 'polyphony of time dimensions,' focuses on circularity and simultaneity of temporal events. ⁽³⁾

From YouTube:

An early masterpiece that put Kulenty firmly on the late 20th composers' scene. The piece, 'performed at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, elicited an enthusiastic response from Jan Weber, a very powerful music critic who warned Kulenty’s male colleagues: "Gentlemen, hear and tremble!" ' ⁽⁴⁾

A work illustrating the 'polyphony of arches' technique:

A work illustrating the post-minimalist/European trance style (with interesting film footage in the video):

Listen here to the Flute Concerto No. 1 (2001).

An trailer for Wiarolomni/Faithless (2010) featuring Kulenty's music:

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⁽¹⁾ From Wikipedia. Read more here on Constructivism and Intuitions.
⁽²⁾ The music of Hanna Kulenty by Maja Trochimczyk, October 2003, article on the Hanna Kulenty website.
⁽³⁾ Read more here on polyphony in contemporary music composition.
⁽⁴⁾ From the USC Polish Music Center webpage.

Kent Farbach - 50 Years

2011-12-31T12:58:00.001-05:00

Currently, Kent divides his time between composing, educating and inventing / manufacturing. He owns the rights to a successful invention that has been distributed in Australia and America since 1998, and enjoys the various synergies that exist between composing and inventing. ⁽¹⁾

The compositions of Australian composers, set apart through distance, a unique landscape, vegetation, wildlife, and people, offer a distinct sound and atmosphere. In addition, the setting is inherently more relaxed than in the rest of the world. Nature seems largely unspoiled, and this bliss transfers to the music. Australian artists are able to find time to enjoy other interests and their environment, be it the tropical forest as with Tony O'Connor or yachting, beaches, islands, and oceans with Farbach. This preoccupation led to Farbach's parallel existence as an inventor/manufacturer owning the rights to a successful invention: 'a table which can be attached to the side of boats of any size, and even the bull-bars of four-wheel-drive vehicles, to allow a fishing enthusiast to scale and fillet the days' catch, or to cut bait or berley.' ⁽²⁾

Kent Farbach composes for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and full orchestra. The works are inspired by the Australian land- and seascapes, aboriginal music, at times abstract mathematical processes, and--especially in the solo piano works--jazz.

Farbach was raised in a musical family, which includes Philip Fahrbach, a great-grand uncle, who was both friend and collaborator with Johann Strauss.

From YouTube:

From an early work for Bb Clarinet & Piano, with a playful cat in an Australian tree:

The second movement from a suite for orchestra, using two aboriginal songs:

A most atmospheric composition (1995) with exquisite artwork by his wife, Carolyn Farbach:

Based on the mathematical Fibonacci series, a series that occurs frequently in nature, as in the arrangement of leaves on a tree, the pattern of florets in a sunflower, or the bee ancestry code:

With beautiful photographs of the Moreton Bay area, (Queensland, Australia) whilst sailing on his gaff/cutter-rigged yacht:

For piano solo:

More for piano (2009):

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⁽¹⁾ From the composer's page at The Australian Music Centre.
⁽²⁾ Composer hopes to scale new heights, The University of Queensland News, 10/23/1998.

Mehmet Okonsar - 50 Years

2011-12-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

The music by Okonsar is extremely structuralist and calls for an analytical approach. Today the composer uses the computer to formulate symbolic and algorithmic music composition principles. Okonsar uses LISP and Common Music to create a strong structural base for his compositions and advocates this approach as the condition sine qua non for a strong and coherent work.

This structuralism is presented in the finished score in a very detailed, complex and refined musical écriture [writing]. ⁽¹⁾

Mehmet Okonsar (b. 1961) is a Turkish-Belgian pianist (dual national), composer, conductor, and educator. Born in Turkey, he spent many years in Belgian studying and working. He now works from Turkey. While he performs all repertoires--especially baroque and contemporary--as a pianist, his compositional style is distinctly avant-garde. It is meticulously organized with detailed instructions in the scores and derives beauty from its intricacies and algorithmic approach.

From YouTube:

A work inspired by Japanese koto drums (2001):

Kaleidoscopes No.2 for twenty Solo Strings, Marimba and Piano (2006-2009). Kaleidoscopes No. 1 for piano solo and No. 3 for viola and piano can also be found on YouTube. All three compositions are based on the tone-row by Alban Berg as used by him in his Violin Concerto "To The Memory of an Angel".

And an arrangement of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem (2011):

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⁽¹⁾ From Wikipedia.

George Balint - 50 Years

2011-12-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

I write pieces with either a folk music character and rhythms ("Sonata for Clarinet and Piano" and most choral pieces) or with abstract harmonies. They often suggest a nuanced, painful world, in a way that deliberately avoids contemplation and emphasizes drama. In general, the form is the result of philosophical meditation. Moreover, some recent works - "Transitions", "Intru Sine" - incorporate (in Romanian and Latin) fragments of texts of ancient and medieval philosophers. Personal ideas are tested in chamber pieces, such as the clarinet septet, "On a poem by Eminescu," or in larger, vocal-symphonic symphonic works. My songs (lyrics o.a. by Eminescu, Stanescu, Stratan) are designed as scenes in which the voice is declaiming a wide range of expression, uses recitation, and is joined by colorful instruments....

... Poetry is common to all aspects of my musical creations. (George Balint, Compositional Credo) ⁽¹⁾

Whereas many contemporary composers write for film, television, and video games, or otherwise create peaceful sounds in a post-minimalist style, today's Romanian composers do not hesitate to go out on a limb of sound exploration and new musical techniques. We have seen this with Ana-Maria Avram, and we see it now with George Balint (b. 1961). The composer also writes--alongside the more technical works--a great number of vocal/choral works steeped in the rich Romanian folksong tradition.

YouTube has examples of both aspects of this composer:

Suite for piano on themes of songs (1982):

Sons Song (1995):

A choral work (1998):

On a Poem by Eminescu (2001):

Intru Sine/Prior to Awareness (?) (2003):

Another choral work:

An octet (clarinet, percussion, voice (recital), and ensemble) (2010):

One more choral song:

And a poem/infinite for piano and strings (2011); music starts at 4:06:

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⁽¹⁾ Free/Google translation from George Balint's website, list of works (bottom of page). Here is an interview with the composer (also in Google translation).

Nicolas Bacri - 50 Years

2011-12-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

Nicolas Bacri combines the skill of intellectual, even structural writing with virtuosity and all-conquering poetry. ⁽¹⁾

Whereas some early 20th century composers took the path from tonal to atonal and serial music, Nicolas Bacri has taken the opposite direction. Influenced early on by the Viennese and Darmstadt schools and especially by Elliot Carter, he has gradually moved away from these influences. Stimulated by the mystical sound world of Giacinto Scelsi he explored sound for a few years (1984-1987). Then all of a sudden he started to reconnect with the post-Mahlerian symphonic idea and its expanded tonality. Some have compared this new direction to Shostakovich or Britten. The transition is nevertheless without polemical intent and does in no way diminish Bacri's respect for the early 20th century composers. Bacri rediscovers tonal music at the same time as his Hebrew, Mediterranean, and Middle-European roots. His works time and again follow this esthetically progressive and surprising path, always filled with the same lyrical, dense spirit, the same somber colors, violent and stretched to the austere and the tragic. ⁽²⁾

Nicolas Bacri (b. 1961) is one of the most distinguished French composers of our time. He has built an impressive oeuvre adapting traditional forms to varying degrees of tonality as explained in the quotation above. The tone can be dark, especially in the early works, but is always lyrical and rewarding for the performer.

YouTube offers a number of excellent performances of this interesting composer.

From 1987/89, rev. 1992-93:

La Folia, Symphonic chaconne for cello and strings (1990):

Sonata for cello and piano, Op.32 (1990-92/1994):

Symphony No. 4, classical "Sturm und Drang", Op. 49 (1995):

Trio "Sonata notturna" for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 54 (1996/97):

Concerto No. 3 for violin and orchestra, Op. 83 (1999-2003):

Prayer, for violin and orchestra (1997):

Three Love Songs for soprano and small orchestra, Op. 96 (2005, premiere):

From 2007/2008/2010:

From 2009:

Quasi una Fantasia, Concerto three violins and orchestra, Op. 118 (2010):

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⁽¹⁾ Review of Éliane Reyes, Musique pour piano de Nicolas Bacri : Sonate n° 2 ; Diletto classico ; Prélude et fugue ; L'enfance de l'Art. (Naxos 8.572530, 2011), Jean-Marc Warszawski (Musicologie.org, 10/21/2011).
⁽²⁾ Free translation from Les Inouies, Musiques en Artois, August 19 - 26, 2011, Nicolas Bacri's page, Hélène Thiébault, 1995 Rev. : avril 2000.

Lisa Gerrard - 50 Years

2011-12-24T10:20:00.001-05:00

Music is a Place to take Refuge. It's a Sanctuary from Mediocrity and Boredom. It's Innocent and it's a Place you can loose yourself in Thoughts, Memories and Intricacies... Lisa Gerrard. ⁽¹⁾

As Gerrard is complex in her vocal range and flow, she is simple in her mission— to create music that stirs the listener. She remains now, as always, a stunning voice soaring above any accompanying strings and ritualistic drums. ⁽²⁾

Lisa_Gerrard (b. 1961) is one of the most popular Australian musicians to date. She is a singer, composer, instrumentalist, often playing the Chinese yangqin. She collaborates extensively with

Her initial style was arty goth rock, which has evolved over time into world and new age. She has, starting with Brendan Perry in Dead Can Dance, collaborated extensively with other musicians on tours, albums, and in film scores. ⁽³⁾

Lisa Gerrard sings in a number of languages ranging from Aramaic to Breton to her own Idioglossia, developed from the age of twelve.

From YouTube:

Dead Can Dance in concert (1993), Lisa Gerrard on yangqin, Brendan Perry vocals, followed by an interview with Gerrard (a Mark Magidson film):

From The Insider soundtrack (1999), Liquid Moon, with Pieter Bourke:

From Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), with Hans Zimmer:

I'm Waiting (2000), used in Black Hawk Down, with Denez Prigent, in Breton:

Another beautiful song in Breton (view with lyrics here) (2003):

The Our Father in Aramaic, with Patrick Cassidy (2003):

From the album Immortal Memory (2004), also with Cassidy:

From Man on Fire, Creasy Dies (2004), with Harry Gregson-Williams:

From A Thousand Roads, with Jeff Rona (2005):

From The Silver Tree (2006):

From Ichi (2008), with Michael Edwards:

In concert with Klaus Schulze (2008):

From the album The Black Opal (2009):

From Departum, with Marcello De Francisci (2010):

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⁽¹⁾ From Lisa Gerrard's website.
⁽²⁾ Nick Comeau & James Orr on Chicago Music Guide.
⁽³⁾ Contemporary music making becomes more of an all-around event, a blurring of composers into groups, a blurring of composition with improvisation. What's important is the resulting music.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-24T08:32:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all, with some music from two musicians whose anniversaries were celebrated this year:

Franz Liszt (b. 1811), Christus, Part One. IV. Song of the Shepherds at the Manger:

Mahalia Jackson (b. 1911):

Jake Heggie - 50 Years

2011-12-20T22:06:00.000-05:00

And so my responsibility as the composer is to find the music that that person [the character] would sing. Not the music that I necessarily want them to sing but the music that honestly I believe they would sing. ⁽¹⁾

I think of it [my music] as lyrical. I always think of myself as a theater composer. So to me, everything I write is in service to a drama of some kind, whether it’s an internal, psychological drama or physical drama. It’s lyrical and theatrical. ⁽²⁾

He “writes what he hears” in response to a poem or inspiration, without giving attention to any particular stylistic boundaries. ⁽³⁾

Therefore Heggie’s most successful pieces have been about people living in the modern era, struggling with the emotional burdens of the present. ⁽⁴⁾

Jake Heggie (b. 1961) is an American composer of instrumental and vocal works. He is best known for his opera and stage works and for a series of songs and song cycles set with solo piano, chamber ensemble, chamber orchestra, or full orchestra. His opera Dead Man Walking on a text by Sister Helen Prejean is widely known. His art songs continue the great American song tradition.

As illustrated in the quotes above, Heggie's music is always in service of the text. The clear vocal lines require a singer with dramatic and lyrical talents and are supported by carefully crafted accompaniments that are often exceedingly beautiful and/or expressive. Heggie has been sung by the best contemporary artists. His instrumental writing is very effective.

Found on YouTube:

From Three Folk Songs (1994), a setting for medium voice and piano:

From Eve-Song (1996) on texts by Philip Littell, for soprano and piano:

From Animal Passion (1997) on texts by Gini Savage, for soprano and piano:

Listen to The Haughty Snail-King here, from Songs To The Moon (1998) on texts by Vachel Lindsay, for mezzo-soprano and piano.

From Dead Man Walking, Act I Prelude/Prologue, setting the deadly scene. The second video shows Sister Helen Prejean pondering her pen pal involvement with Joseph De Rocher, the criminal in This Journey To Christ, also from Act I.

From The Deepest Desire: Four Meditations on Love (2002) also on texts by Sister Helen Prejean, in the original version for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano:

Henry Moore: Reclining Figure in Elmwood from Statuesques (2005) on texts by Gene Scheer, for mezzo-soprano and piano:

Heggie's contribution to Songs From An Unmade Bed (2005) on a text by Mark Campbell:

From Rise and Fall (2007) on texts by Gene Scheer, for soprano and piano:

From Facing Forward/Looking Back (2007), Facing Forward on a text by the composer himself, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and piano.

And glimpses from two recent operas: Three Decembers (2008) and Moby Dick (2010). Three Decembers deals with the uneasy relationship of a somewhat self-centered mother and her two grown children.

________________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ From etd.lsu.edu/docs: A Performer's Guide To Jake Heggie's The Deepest Desire: Four Meditations On Love, Alanna Keenan, doctoral dissertation, 2009, pg. 3 (Ref. Linda Schaller and Sharon Wood, And Then One Night: the Making of Dead Man Walking. 2001. Available from http://www.pbs.org/kqed/onenight/creativeprocess/players/heggietran.html Internet; accessed 18 August 2008.
⁽²⁾ Ibid. pg. 11 (Ref. interview with Heggie).
⁽³⁾ From another doctoral dissertation: The Influence Of Sister Helen Prejean On The Life And Work Of Jake Heggie As Seen In The Song Cycle The Deepest Desire: Four Meditations On Love , Rebecca Choate Beasley, 2008, pg. 26 (Ref. interview with Heggie).
⁽⁴⁾ Ibid. pg. 27 (Ref. interview with Heggie).

Lowell Liebermann - 50 Years

2011-12-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Liebermann's music falls gratefully upon the ear, but it is filtered through the sensibility of a composer who clearly lives in our time and is fully aware of the tumultuous musical upheavals of the past century, even as he consciously makes the choice to offer us something that rises above the fray. Liebermann writes music that above all strives for balance and beauty - and braininess as well, for all those who care to dig beneath the surface. ⁽¹⁾

"We live in a sarcastic age," Liebermann says with a shrug. "A lot of intellectuals are uncomfortable with genuineness." ⁽²⁾

Lowell Liebermann writes music that the public enjoys and musicians understand and support. He by no means panders to anyone, yet his scores are applauded and are willingly re-heard by a diverse audience. ⁽³⁾

Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961) is an American composer, 'frequently performed and commissioned, who combines technical command and audience appeal.' ⁽⁴⁾

Mr. Liebermann composes in many genres. His works are beautifully crafted. Listening to his works brings the pleasure and satisfaction of witnessing a true work of art.

From YouTube:

Sonata for Flute and Guitar Op.25 (1988):

With the composer at the piano:

Here is a very young and talented pianist:

A song:

And a top rendition of a piano quartet from 2010:

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⁽¹⁾ Peter G. Davis in the liner notes to The Chamber Music of Lowell Liebermann, Albany TROY684 (2004).
⁽²⁾ Music: Back to The Future, Terry Teachout, Time Magazine, 3/6/2000.
⁽³⁾ Composer Lowell Liebermann, A Conversation with Bruce Duffie, 1998.
⁽⁴⁾ From the composer's page at Presser Online.

Wynton Marsalis - 50 Years

2011-12-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

Wynton Marsalis has devoted his life to uplifting populations worldwide with the egalitarian spirit of jazz.

It is Wynton Marsalis’ commitment to the improvement of life for all people that portrays the best of his character and humanity. ⁽¹⁾

Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) does not need an introduction. He is a tireless champion of jazz in music and leaves no stone unturned to promote its cause. As a virtuoso trumpeter in both the classical and jazz styles he has toured the world, often as a bandleader (e.g. the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Wynton Marsalis Quintets), and has given jazz a permanent place at Lincoln Center. As a prolific composer he has contributed to the jazz and classical music repertoire, often incorporating the former into the latter, one more and perhaps the best example of a successful crossover and blending of the styles. ⁽²⁾

He is a generous educator and believes in giving back to society in a big way. In this sense Marsalis strongly reminds of Franz Liszt who was born 150 years earlier. ⁽³⁾

Let's view some videos from YouTube:

Jazz compositions:

Back to Basics from Blood on the Fields:

With the New York City Ballet:

Mating Calls & Delta Rhythms from At the Octoroon Balls, String Quartet No. 1, performed by the Harlem String Quartet:

From All Rise, his first orchestral composition:

More jazz:

Johnson Two-Step from Unforgivable Blackness – The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson:

From Congo Square, co-composed with Yacub Addy

With the Abyssinian Church Choir:

The Razor Rim:

With some flamenco rhythms:

Marsalis composed a Blues Symphony and a Swing Symphony. From the latter:

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⁽¹⁾ From wyntonmarsalis.org
⁽²⁾ See my post on Daniel Schnyder
⁽³⁾ Franz Liszt, Alan Walker, Cornell University Press, 1983

Tony O'Connor - 50 Years

2011-12-11T10:21:00.001-05:00

His music calmed the troubled soul. ⁽¹⁾

Tony O'Connor (1961 - 2010) was an Australian composer, producer, and performer (guitar and piano) who focused on relaxation and music therapy. His albums won numerous Gold and Platinum Awards, his albums have sold millions of copies. He is Australia's biggest selling instrumental musician.

His recording studio was located in the Australian rain forest. Many of his albums are inspired by the Australian landscape, wildlife, seashores, and incorporate sounds of nature and the didgeridoo.

From YouTube:

From the album Tales of the Wind (1990):

From the album Rainforest Magic (1991):

See here for a 2007 live performance of Awakening from the Awakenings album (1999), with didgeridoo.

See here for Joy from the same concert.

From the album Wind Seeker (2002):

From the album Aqua Zone (2003):

Listen here to the composer's rendition of Betty's Song, a song his mother particularly enjoyed. In his introduction, Tony O'Connor explains that this song provided a special connection to his mother and for the audience to those they may have lost: "I don't believe we're ever really separated from the ones we love."

O'Connor's music will continue to touch and bring peace to many stressful and troubled lives.

_____________________________________________________________
⁽¹⁾ Hinterland Times, 7/9/2010

Daniel Schnyder - 50 Years

2011-12-10T20:38:00.001-05:00

Daniel Schnyder (b. 1961) is a Swiss born, New York based composer and tenor saxophonist. He is equally well versed in classical and jazz and has achieved greatness in both.

Justin Davidson wrote in "Ending jazz, classical separation anxiety" (Newsday, New York, 4/10/2004):

"Old conflicts can eventually become obsolete, as Daniel Schnyder's music proves. The Swiss saxophonist-composer makes nonsense of the idea that classical music and jazz belong in separate bins, or that a great deal of diplomacy should be devoted to uniting them. Even when he does not place his own soprano saxophone at the center of an orchestral work, where it stutters, spins and wails, his writing is improvisatory and fiendishly precise. (...) Born in 1961, he comes from a generation of composers who throw all kinds of music under their beds as they grow up and emerge in adulthood with a natural concoction."

The works are always exciting, irresistible, fun for performers, sure to please the audience. Besides jazz, Schnyder draws on Arabian, African, and Latin-American music, punk, and rock.

Lets take a listen at YouTube, often with the composer himself performing:

And an encore:

Ana-Maria Avram - 50 Years

2011-12-10T12:45:00.001-05:00

Ana-Maria Avram (b. 1961) is a Romanian composer and conductor.

Her music is called spectral, hyper-spectral--a label she shares with husband Iancu Dumitrescu, acousmatic, heterophonic, and transformational. Although these avant-garde styles are often associated with the French 20th century avant-garde movement, the Romanian composers' works tend not to be serial.

Her conducting method, often of the Hyperion Ensemble founded by Dumitrescu, is anything but ordinary and very interesting to watch as you can see in the last videos below.

From YouTube:

Illustrating extended piano techniques:

For Solo Percussion:

Avram's arrangement for violin or cello and piano of Bartok's Romanian Folksongs:

Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the desert:

And Seven Sermons To The Dead, inspired by Jung's booklet about individuality and our mystical tendency to unite with God, which he interprets as a dangerous psychological desire to identify with the unconscious; some of that danger is certainly present in Avram's work:

Marc-André Hamelin - 50 Years

2011-12-08T21:42:00.001-05:00

Marc-André Hamelin (b. 1961) is a well-known French-Canadian piano super virtuoso and since the age of five a composer mostly for piano and player piano. The works are unique and complex, taking simple themes and tunes to a whole different level. Free from technical impediments their performance brings fun and awe to the piano recital. The Etudes are a brilliant addition to the piano literature.

From YouTube:

For player piano:

And two bonuses:

En Avril à Paris (April in Paris), Charles Trenet's song arranged by Hamelin:

And when cellphones go off at a concert, Irritation Walz after Nokia:

Unsuk Chin - 50 Years

2011-12-08T19:36:00.001-05:00

My music is a reflection of my dreams. I try to render into music the visions of immense light and of an incredible magnificence of colours that I see in all my dreams, a play of light and colours floating through the room and at the same time forming a fluid sound sculpture. Its beauty is very abstract and remote, but it is for these very qualities that it addresses the emotions and can communicate joy and warmth ⁽¹⁾

For me, a good piece of music is one in which people from all of these different groups maybe don't understand everything but can at least get something out of it. It is very important to me that my music speaks to all of these people on a certain level. ⁽²⁾

Unsuk Chin (b. 1961) is arguably one of the more prominent composers of our time. Born and first educated in South Korea, she moved to Germany in the 1980s. After some years of study with Ligeti in Hamburg ⁽³⁾ she worked as a freelance composer at the electronic music studio of the Berlin Institute of Technology and has been based in that city ever since. She frequently visits her native country. She has collaborated extensively with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Her works are performed worldwide in all major music centers. She is the recipient of the 2004 prestigious Grawemeyer Award (Violin Concerto, 2001).

And how does Ms. Chin compose? Sitting at a desk with pen and paper according to this engaging interview (in German). But a look at the scores unveils intricate underlying structures and techniques with which Ms. Chin produces her distinctly modern and always beautiful world of sounds. She uses electronic and instrumental music alike, writes challenging works for the virtuoso, draws on Medieval techniques, world instruments, and the written word. At times her dreamworld can be very playful as in the opera Alice in Wonderland.

From YouTube in chronological order:

The Violin Concerto:

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⁽¹⁾ From Boosey & Hawkes, her publisher's webpage.
⁽²⁾ 'Unsuk Chin: Hear my $200000 concerto', The Independent, February 16, 2004
⁽³⁾ According to Wikipedia Ligeti did not always appreciate his student. Ms. Chin, however, remains profoundly grateful for her time spent with the master. (See this interview - in German)

Composers of 1961 - 50 Years

2011-12-07T21:46:00.001-05:00

At age 50, composers born in 1961 combine the talents of their youth with the fruits of experience.

They represent a varied field from which the following trends emerge (in no specific order):

Heirs of the great classical traditions: Bacri, Chin, Heggie, Liebermann, Zagar, Farbach, Sheridan, Burge, Taccani, Frazao, Sawer.
Exploration of sound and multi-media, spectral music, and structuralism: Avram, Balint, Edgerton, Grella-Mozejko, Machajdik, Malsky, Bhatia, Dalbavie, Soveral, Dean, Okonsar.
Minimalism, film, and video games: Torke, Desplat, Gregson-Williams, Lohner, Oshima, Parker, Matthews, O'Connor, Kulenty.
Crossover: jazz, punk, new age, world, neo-romanticism, Christian song: Schnyder, Gerrard, Lewis, Thoms, Marsalis, MacDonald, Krylov.
Specialization: piano, lute, recorder, organ, choral, theater: Hamelin, Drury, Hough, Thorn, Tanaka, Melo, Perez, Turovsky-Savchulk, Zaras, De Ley, Marrone.
A showcasing of wind, old, and world instruments.

I will cover them in individual posts over the next few weeks.

The list is gleaned from materials found on the internet. If any of these composers are misclassified, I will be very happy to correct.

Their works are sampled from YouTube. While necessarily incomplete and at times lacking in sound quality and self-promotional, the videos often give a good idea of a composer's works, their performance, and audience.

This must be Liszt or the Devil!

2011-10-31T20:39:00.000-04:00

There is thunder in the air, my nerves are irritable. I need a prey. I feel the talons of the eagle tearing at me. Two opposing forces are fighting within me: one thrusts me towards the immensity of space, higher, ever higher, beyond all suns, up to the heavens; the other pulls me down towards the lowest, the darkest regions of calm, of death, of nothingness. And I stay nailed to my chair, equally miserable in my strength and my weakness, not knowing what is to become of me. (F. Liszt, ⁽²⁾)

From music.umich.edu: "The seeming contradictions in his personal life--a strong religious impulse mingled with a love of worldly sensation--were resolved by him [Liszt] with difficulty."

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a few of Liszt's more devilish works.

Totentanz, where according to youresomodest Michelangeli's piano must have an extra three octaves at the bottom register.

Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata, the crowning achievement of the "Italian" volume of the Années de pèlerinage about which Marie d'Agoult wrote in a letter: "The bravo suanatore began this morning a fragment dantesque which is sending him to the very Devil. ⁽³⁾

Gnomenreigen, bringing to life the world of the gnomes, dwarflike creatures who live underground and guard treasure hoards.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Liszt added the following program note to the printed score by Lenau:

There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song. ⁽⁴⁾

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⁽¹⁾ Post title: Exclaimed by Ricordi, the publisher in Milan, upon hearing Liszt improvise at the piano. (Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years, Alan Walker, revised edition, Cornell University Press, pg. 249)
⁽²⁾ From Le Journal des Zyï, Liszt's and Marie d'Agoult's joint diary (Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years, Alan Walker, revised edition, Cornell University Press, pg. 269), written during a period where Liszt felt artistically tied down by his relationship with Marie d'Agoult.
⁽³⁾ Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years, Alan Walker, revised edition, Cornell University Press, pg. 275
⁽⁴⁾ From Wikipedia.

Max Woiski sr. - 100 Years

2011-10-23T17:02:00.002-04:00

We end our survey of composers/musicians born in 1911 with fun music from Suriname.

Max Woiski sr. (a.k.a. José Baretto, b. 1911 in Suriname - 1981) performed Latin and Calypso music in the La Cubana club in Amsterdam. He worked with many popular Dutch artists and started his own record production company in the 1960s. He moved to the island of Mallorca at the end of that decade where he owned a nightclub and performed for many more years.

Some of his songs were produced for Flexible Advertisement Records; one of them was the Nescafé Coffee Boatsong. Another, for cigarettes--unfortunately, can be heard here.

From YouTube:

B.B. met R. (in English: Kidney Beans and Rice), his biggest hit:

Paul Christiaan van Westering - 100 Years

2011-10-23T11:56:00.000-04:00

Paul Christiaan van Westering (1911 - 1991) was a Dutch composer, organist, and music writer. He studied composition with Jan Mul and organ in Paris with the great Marcel Dupré.

He composed many choral works and children's songs, many on textst of Annie M.G. Schmidt.

It is a shame the works of both these artists are not better known outside The Netherlands.

From YouTube, an utterly charming song, on a text of Schmidt, a lullaby about Porcupines (Stekelvarkentjes):

First the poem, in English translation:

Porcupines:

Suja suja Pricklypig, outside there shines the moon,
You're just a little Porcupine, but don’t you feel forlorn,
You're just a little Porcupine, that you already know.
Lions have manes, tigers have stripes,
And our aunt the squirrel has a red, fluffy tail,
But you are covered in little quills, and that is worth a lot.

Sleep, my little Pricklypig, and you'll grow big and fat,
Then you'll become a porcupine just like me and your dad.
The elephant has a trunk, bears have claws,
The parrot has feathers, green and blue,
And our uncle the giraffe has a very long neck,
But you are covered in little quills, and that is not so bad.

Suja suja Pricklypig, it’s getting terribly late,
You are the prettiest porcupine anywhere.
Cats have whiskers, with which they can purr,
Cows have horns, and fish have fins,
And our cousin the otter has a brown velvet coat,
But you are covered in little quills, one day they'll serve you well.

José Vieira Brandão - 100 Years

2011-10-22T21:39:00.001-04:00

According to an obituary found in the Villa-Lobos Magazine and first published in The Independent on October 18, 2002, José Vieira Brandão (1911 - 2002) was a composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.

From that same obituary:

His collaboration with Villa-Lobos was an almost permanent feature of his early life...
He became Villa-Lobos' assistant in 1932, helping him in his ambitious reform programme for music education in Brazilian schools, later pushing the project forward himself...
by the time of his death his catalogue contained some 100 works, written in a national-Romantic style. His choral music, the technique sharpened by years of practical experience, buzzes with Brazilian rhythms and forms an important contribution to the Brazilian choral tradition. Nor did he neglect his own instrument, the piano...

The music is tonal and romantic. The Brazilian rhythms and the melodic quality make it highly accessible, an important feature for the Brazilian students in need of a national classical music language.

From YouTube, Etude No. 1 for piano:

Valsinha on the guitar:

Bach's Air on the G string, in a choral arrangement by Brandão:

Divertimento No. 1 for wind quintet:

Chorinho Natalino:

Heitor Villa-Lobos's Prelude No. 1 for Guitar, transcribed for piano by Brandão:

Vladimir Ussachevsky

2011-10-22T21:03:00.001-04:00

Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911 - 1990) was a Russian-American composer who wrote choral works in the 19th century Russian-Orthodox tradition and, from 1951 on, became one of the pioneers of electronic music in America.

He was the son of an honorary Mongolian prince born near the Siberian border in China (or perhaps in Russia). The family emigrated to Manchuria after the Russian revolution. When the region was threatened in 1930 by the Japanese, the family emigrated to the United States.

From Art of the States:

During World War II Ussachevsky worked for the Office of Strategic Services (now Secret Service) and US State Department. In 1947 he joined the faculty of Columbia University, where he would teach until his retirement in 1980. There he and Otto Luening were among the first composers in the US to experiment in the electronic medium; in 1959 they co-founded with Milton Babbitt and Roger Sessions what would become known as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, one of the most important studios of electronic music in the world.

From highly interesting notes to the album Vladimir Ussachevsky: Electronic And Acoustic Works 1957-1972, by Eric Salzman, a student of Ussachevsky:

Although tape manipulation of recorded musical and vocal sounds was the hallmark of his early electro-acoustic music, later works also incorporated recorded environmental sounds à la musique concrète as well as analog and digital electronic sound sources. Also, in addition to tape manipulation and splicing, he later used electronic and digital techniques of sound modification, anticipating many later developments in synthesizer and computer music.

Listen to Incantation for tape (1953) here, from the album An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music / Second A-Chronology 1936-2003. According to the liner notes:

Luening and Ussachevsky were two of the primary movers in the New York “tape music” scene, America’s answer to the roughly contemporaneous movements of musique concrète in Paris and elektronische Musik in Cologne. The American experimenters were less doctrinaire in their choice of sounds than their European counterparts— the French favoring “found sounds” and the Germans insisting on the purity of synthetically generated signals such as white noise and sine waves— but their style is no less distinctive.

From YouTube, Piece for tape recorder (1956), one of the earliest works for tape created in the United States:

Listen to Metamorphoses (1957) here.

Wireless Fantasy (1960), with the following Morse code, (compliments of lo0kingatthesky, one of the commenters) :

QST - sign of broadcast starting
DF - Manhattan Radio Beech radio station's ID signal
WA NY - sign of Waldorf-Astoria that started broadcasting in 1910
DOC DF - Lee De Forrest's nickname
AR - broadcast ending
GN - good night

This fascinatings piece then is a tribute to one of the fathers of the "electronic age." The orchestral music in the background is from Wagner's Parcifal.

View the piece here with "lyrics."

Computer Piece No. 1 (1968), using digital sound sources:

Two Images for a Computer Piece with an Interlude (1969):

From Three Scenes from The Creation (1960, rev. 1973), combining choral and electronic sounds:

The Missa Brevis (1971-1972) harks back to the composer's choral tradition. Listen to excerpts here.

Endre Szervánszky - 100 Years

2011-10-22T17:11:00.000-04:00

Endre Szervánszky (1911 - 1977) was a Hungarian composer interested in the aesthetics of music.

He was given the "Righteous among the Nations" award by the State of Israel to honour non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis.

He taught at various schools in Budapest.

From YouTube, 6 Orchestral Pieces, No. 6 (1959), with very exciting percussion:

Concerto for Flute (1952-530, with influence from Kodaly and especially Bartok in the use of pentatonic melodies of old Hungarian folk music, delicate in its tone, a lovely showcase for solo flute:

His first success, String Quartet no.1 (1936–8):

The Folk Song String Quartet:

And a choral work:

Alberto Soresina - 100 Years

2011-10-21T21:43:00.001-04:00

Alberto Soresina (1911 - 2007) was a Milanese composer and teacher. He studied for a while in Siena and taught in Milan and Turin. The internet sheds little light on this composer other than that he is mentioned as the teacher of many musicians and that his piano sheet music can be purchased on various websites.

From YouTube, Shock, a beautiful ballet spectacle with music of Alberto Soresina and Stefano Sanpietro:

Vienna, from "Eight Pieces for Piano, each named after a city:

And a work for organ:

Norbert Schultze - 100 Years

2011-10-21T21:05:00.001-04:00

The song [Lili Marleen] met the inner mood of millions of soldiers of all armies who were fighting on both sides of the fronts and was translated into about fifty languages to become one of the global cultural "index fossils" of the Second World War. ⁽¹⁾

The last of the film composers born in 1911 is possibly a controversial one. Born in Germany, employed by Goebbels during World War II in Germany's propaganda machine, Norbert Schultze (1911 - 2002) was a composer of film music, who survives with a song that brought solace to a war torn world, its harried populace, and its stressed soldiers. When that song came on the radio, every day, it created a moment of hope, of reflection, of consideration for human suffering. That's what my own Dad--who was on the Allied side--told our family many a time over years and decades.

I will skip the propaganda videos available on YouTube. It may be of historic interest to some.

Here is Lili Marleen with 1.2 million views:

Another soldiers' song:

Listen here to Heimweh/ Weisst Du noch zu Haus wo der Flieder stand (Homesick / Do you remember where the lilacs used to be back home)

From an opera:

A sailors' song:

From a German Western:

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⁽¹⁾ From Wikipedia

Nino Rota - 100 Years

2011-10-20T21:32:00.002-04:00

If anyone reckons that all that I am attempting to express in my music is a little nostalgia and lots of humour and optimism, well that is exactly how I would like to be remembered. (Nino Rota) ⁽¹⁾

This year is undoubtedly a blockbuster year for 100th film composer anniversaries. So far we have met Bernard Herrmann, Hans Martin Majewski, and Franz Reizenstein. Nino Rota and Norbert Schultze will complete the picture.

Nino Rota (Giovanni Rota Rinaldi, 1911 - 1979) was an Italian composer who achieved lasting fame with 150+ film scores for such legendary directors as Fellini (La Strada), Visconti (White Nights), Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet), Coppola (The Godfather), and others. See how these scores are rated at rateyourmusic.com and at films101.com. Next to the unflagging production of film music stands an impressive list of classical compositions. All the while he taught at the Liceo Musicale in Bari.

He was a child prodigy and received his music education in Milan, Rome, and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He soon found his stride and composed one masterpiece after another for many decades until his death from a heart attack in 1979. His style is neo-romantic with heart-on-sleeve appeal in the film scores, more emotionally subdued and sometimes rhythmically driven in the other works. His pieces are often set for unusual combinations or soloists. See for example the concerto for trombone or that for bassoon below, the Divertimento Concertante for contrabass, and the many chamber works with flute and harp.

Listen here to an audio introduction to Rota's film music.

From YouTube, standing at 2.3 million views, The Godfather Theme:

From Romeo and Juliet:

Selections from Juliet of the Spirits, from the Maurice Béjart ballet Amor di Poeta on Nino Rota themes, with Béjart's marvellous ballerina Rita Poelvoorde:

Music for the ballet La Strada, with the composer conducting:

Symphony No. 1:

Concerto soirée for piano:

Piano concerto No. 1 with a marvelous conversation between soloist and orchestra:

Concerto for Trombone:

Concerto for Bassoon:

Divertimento Concertanto for Contrabass:

Concerto per Archi:

Trio for Flute, Violin, and Piano:

Improvviso ("Un diavolo sentimentale") for violin and piano:

From the Preludes for piano, No. 2 played by the composer:

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⁽¹⁾ From schott-music.com. The reader should not be misled by this understatement. Much of Rota's classical output is serious, outstanding work. One only needs to listen to any of the classical works posted above to appreciate how great a composer Rota really was.

Franz Reizenstein - 100 Years

2011-10-16T13:15:00.001-04:00

Franz Reizenstein (1911 - 1968) was an English composer who emigrated from Berlin in 1934. After seven years in London, his status as a British citizen was interrupted by a tour to South American (1937/38), and he was interned at the Isle of Man. Read a detailed biography here.

A student of Hindemith and Vaughan Williams, he benefited from the former's emphasis on instrumentation technique and the latter's sensibility and pastoral qualities.

From YouTube:

The Piano Quintet, Op. 23, one of the composer's favorite works (1948):

Some film music:

And for the youngsters:

Allan Pettersson - 100 Years

2011-10-16T12:41:00.000-04:00

Today he is considered one of the most important Swedish composers of the 20th century. His abstract and dissonant symphonies developed a devoted international following, starting in the final decade of his life. ⁽¹⁾

Pettersson's music is filled with dark moods, and he supplied deeply pessimistic descriptions for his symphonies and other works. In 1963 he began suffering from painful rheumatoid arthritis, but he stubbornly continued to compose while also proclaiming his misfortunes. He described himself as "a voice crying out, drowned in the noise of the times." ⁽²⁾

Yet, more than any composer of our time, he has been able to provide a musical testament of a spiritual longing faced with the existential void that we see in the faces of the homeless, the sick, and the beaten-down. Although his music has been labeled "pessimistic", it is inherently hopeful and consolatory – we come away exhausted but enlightened... ⁽³⁾

In his symphonies, as in Mahler's, the sudden emergence of folkish music breaks out as an antidote to tension. In Pettersson's case this often takes the form of broad, chorale harmonizations. ⁽⁴⁾

Pettersson's music is marked by both dissonant, complex and explosive passages as well as simple sections born of his roots in folk music. ⁽⁵⁾

His music most certainly functions on an existential level and the way he treats dissonance sets up the more song-like tonal areas in such a way that they become rewards for the listener. These tonal areas have been termed “lyrical islands” by several writers about Pettersson. ⁽⁶⁾

Pettersson’s less harsh non-symphonic output includes songs, concertos and a cantata, and reflects a fluency with 20th-century trends... ⁽⁷⁾

Allan Pettersson (full name Gustaf Allan Pettersson, 1911 - 1980) was a Swedish composer of symphonies, songs, cantatas, and concertos. The latter are known to be very challenging for the soloist.

His symphonies continue the great 20th century tradition of Mahler and Sibelius. If today he is still somewhat dwarfed ⁽⁸⁾ by the output of these composers, that of Shostakovich and the more atonal 20th century composers, Pettersson's music cannot be ignored by anyone interested in the symphonic tradition.

From YouTube:

From the symphonies:

A song:

A viola concerto:

A sonata for two violins:

A cantata, from the last decade of his life:

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⁽¹⁾ From Wikipedia
⁽²⁾ From enotes.com
⁽³⁾ From classical.net
⁽⁴⁾ From allmusic.com
⁽⁵⁾ From cmt.com
⁽⁶⁾ From christopherbrakel.com
⁽⁷⁾ From lafolia.com
⁽⁸⁾ It did not help, of course, that Pettersson boycotted performances of his own works in Sweden after the Stockholm Philharmonic took his seventh symphony off the program in the late 1960s. (Source: enotes.com)

Jan Mul - 100 Years

2011-10-15T20:55:00.000-04:00

(1)

Jan Mul (1911 - 1971) was a Dutch composer, organist, pedagogue, and music writer. Hendrik Andriessen was his organ teacher during high school.

He was one of the four members of the literary group, the Rijnlandse Academie. The link shows a painting of the group in which Jan Mul is the first on the left. He was a good friend, teacher, amiable and full of humour. He was also a leading figure in Dutch musical life during the 20th century.

He composed in many genres, but is best known for his choral works. Many of his organ and choral compositions originated at the catholic church in Overveen where he worked for more than 30 years. See here for a series of videos narrated--in Dutch--by the well-known television presenter Paul Witteman, a former choir boy and student at the church of Overveen. More information on this composer--also in Dutch--can be found in a very interesting brochure here.

The Missa L'Homme Désarmé ⁽²⁾ was composed in 1942 during the second World War when The Netherlands paid a heavy price for its resistance.

From YouTube, first two choral works:

A prayer, the Pater Noster (Our Father)

And two songs. The first, Morinde, is a tong-in-cheek goodbye to 'Morinde', whom the poet no longer considers worthy of his love.

Here is the Fanfare in Es from Jan Mul's music for the film Fanfare , a double march. The introduction--in Dutch--explains the work's double band positioning with the percussion section in between. The beautiful setting is the Haarlem Library.

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⁽¹⁾ Overveen landscape (Wikipedia)
⁽²⁾ Literally the Disarmed Man Mass, a pun on the popular medieval L'Homme Armé masses

Roberto Garcia Morillo - 100 Years

2011-10-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Roberto Garcia Morillo (1911 - 2003) was an Argentine composer, musicologist, music critic, and pedagogue.

He studied in Argentina and Paris. He was influenced by impressionism, Scriabin, and Stravinsky early on. As the years went on his works became more and more Spanish. His compositions are listed here and here.

He held numerous prestigious posts and received a number of awards.

From YouTube, two piano works:

Danza de Harrild (Op. 9c, 1941)

Cuarta Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 4, 1959):

Gian Carlo Menotti - 100 Years

2011-10-05T21:49:00.001-04:00

Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears. (Gian Carlo Menotti)

From telegraph.co.uk:

Menotti's music is simple and direct in its appeal. His models were undoubtedly Puccini and Mussorgsky. He did, however, employ atonal and polytonal dissonances for some climactic passages...
Menotti is often sentimental and occasionally banal, but his dramatic appeal and craftsmanship are undeniable...
Although he referred to himself as an American, Menotti retained his Italian citizenship – in his music, as much as in his relationship with the authorities.

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911 - 2007) was an Italian-American composer who besides instrumental and orchestral works mostly wrote music and lyrics for the opera. He combined the qualities of a classical musician with the flair of a Broadway writer and is one of the few composers who could write operas that became Broadway hits and earned Pulitzer prizes (The Consul, 1950 ⁽¹⁾). His dramatic style continued in the verismo tradition. He could also be very witty.

In Making A Case For Menotti Tom Huizenga quotes Miles Hoffman from Morning Edition at npr.org:

He was a pioneer:
- He came to this country [USA] as a teenager, studied at the Curtis Institute and had courage to write operas in English, starting in the 1930s, when no other American really did. Certainly, no other American composer was able to do it so successfully.
- He was a media pioneer. Working for NBC he produced a radio opera (The Old Maid and The Thief, 1939). In 1951 he wrote the first opera commissioned for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors, which became a regular holiday broadcast.
He has staying power: He was able to write highly dramatic and emotional operas produced on Broadway, for a large, popular audience.
He can write beautiful music for the voice. Every soprano wants to sing his arias.

In the YouTube videos below, I have kept in mind Menotti's mandate to look for performers with heart and passion, who understand what they are singing about and what Menotti meant with his words, his stories and his music.

Instrumental music from a ballet suite:

From the Missa "O Pulchritudo", the motet:

And from the songs:

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⁽¹⁾ From thesecretconsul.com:

...Nor is it surprising to learn that The Consul was based very powerfully on Menotti’s own experience. After the Second World War he was returning to the US and at immigration found himself helping an elderly Italian women whose documents were incorrect, who spoke no English and was being refused entry to the county. At the very moment when Europe was awash with stateless people and war refugees the great democracies were closing their borders and erecting their barriers – much as they are today with their walls and security fences, databases and iris scans.

Robert McBride - 100 Years

2011-10-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

Robert Guyn McBride (1911 - 2007) was a mostly self-taught player of the clarinet, oboe, saxophone, and piano. Born in Tucson he studied composition with Otto Luening at the University of Arizona.

He taught at Bennington College in Vermont and later in his career at his Alma Mater.

He toured South American in 1941 with the League of Composers Woodwind Quintet. ⁽¹⁾

During the 1950s he worked in New York as a commercial composer where he produced a number of film scores.

See here for a list of works.

His favorite idiom was jazz and the theater.

From YouTube, a fun, entertaining work posted by a Frenchman, who very appropriately comments:

Quand la musique classique s'amuse avec la musique populaire, le temps d'une promenade pittoresque et animée. ⁽²⁾

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⁽¹⁾ From The New Grove Dictionary of Music.
⁽²⁾ This can, of course, only be translated with great difficulty: When classical music has fun with popular music, the time of a picturesque and animated stroll.

Hans Martin Majewski - 100 Years

2011-10-02T21:15:00.001-04:00

Hans Martin Majewski (1911 - 1997) was a German film composer. Until into the 1980s Majewski wrote music for about 200 films, numerous documentaries and industrial movies, approx. 100 radio plays, as well as ± 80 cabaret and theater productions. His compositions spanned classical music, jazz, and popular music, making him one of the most versatile and skilled film composers in Germany. ⁽¹⁾

See the list of movies here.

From YouTube:

Sieben Tage Frist (Seven Days of Grace), the beginning:

and from the same movie, the funeral scene (music starts at 1:18):

The Blood of Fu Manchu (German and Spanish versions composed by Majewski and Gert Wilden):

Hochzeit auf Immenhof :

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⁽¹⁾ Translated from de.wikipedia.org.

Sarah Levi-Tanai - 100 Years

2011-10-02T19:22:00.002-04:00

Sarah Levi-Tanai (1910/11 - 2005) was part of a Yemenite group of Jews whose family traveled, when she was very young, on foot via Ethiopia and settled in Jerusalem. From there the family moved to the port city of Jaffa, where during World War I the Jews were expelled from their homes by the Ottoman authorities to a refugee camp. All members of Sarah's family except her father perished in the camp.

Due to extreme poverty she was placed in a home for Jewish war orphans and later in a children's home in Shefeyah headed by Moshe and Hadassah Calwary. It is there that she was exposed to Western and Hebrew culture and literature, and was able to grow intellectually and broaden her horizons.

In her first post at a nursery school she developed a curriculum of poems and songs which continued to be used by generations of teachers. She continued to compose lyrics and songs, which have been published in a number of collections.

Meanwhile Sarah dreamed of becoming an actress, but she was unable to join the main theaters. Her Yemenite accent was unacceptable. After her marriage, when her husband joined the Jewish Brigade in 1940, she moved to a kibbutz, where she staged the holiday ceremonies, contributing much of the music and songs. One of them, 'El Ginat Egoz' (To the Nut Grove), is featured below.

She went on to create wide-scoped, biblically inspired creations, which included movement, text, music, and a large variety of performers. She was a principal contributor to the folkdance movement of the late 1940s.

Upon her husband's return the family moved back to Tel Aviv.

In 1949 she was inspired by "Operation Magic Carpet," the mass immigration of Yemenite Jews to Israel and decided it was time to seek out her own roots. She began to work with Yemenite youngsters, some of whom became part of Sarah's dance company, which later became the Inbal Dance Theater. Using Yemenite Jewish folklore as building blocks she and the company developed a unique style--dance theater--and were widely acclaimed worldwide.

Listen to Levi-Tanai's music archive here.

From YouTube:

And a children's song for which Levi-Tanai wrote the lyrics (music by Emanuel Amiran)

Jan Koetsier - 100 Years

2011-10-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it all started in my youth. As a ten-year old I loved to listen to the practice sessions of the village band behind the door of their hall. The dampened sounds of these wind instruments stirred my first musical feelings for them. (jan-koetsier.de quoting from Jean-Pierre Mathez ⁽¹⁾)

Koetsier was influenced by Paul Hindemith. He was an admirer of late-romantic composers such as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. (nl.wikipedia.org)

Jan Koetsier always knew how to relate his ideas to reality, to orientate his musical aims towards practical situations, therefore avoiding the danger of clinging to solitary, pseudo-intellectual ideas and burdening his works with these. In a period which seeks artistic salvation in an individualism which all too often can’t be communicated even to an interested public, a personality such as Jan Koetsier treads a difficult path. His conviction as a composer, nurtured during his study of classical periods as well as his intense involvement with the music of our time, left him no choice but to swim against the tide of the so-called avant-garde. (jan-koetsier.de)

Jan Koetsier (1911 - 2006) was a Dutch composer for wind--mostly brass--instruments and a conductor.

As a Dutchman working in Germany he was caught on both sides of politics and war:

In Lübeck as a Dutchman he was far from a welcome guest; at the time one was very restrictive there toward foreigners. This prompted Koetsier to return to Berlin after one concert season. He lived there until 1936/37 on engagements with various touring theater groups, so-called 'Traveling Theaters', for example the 'Deutsche Musikbühne' and the 'Deutsche Landesbühne'. (jan-koetsier.de)

At the same time he faced a ten-year ban in The Netherlands after World War II for his activities in Germany. See petitions here and here.

The works we find on YouTube are beautiful, polished, and utterly pleasing:

Let's start with a priceless video:

And a few solid works for wind instruments (not that the preceding video isn't serious musically, the children are just too endearing!):

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⁽¹⁾ Jean-Pierre Mathez: Jan Koetsier – compositeur à la gloire des cuivres, in: Brass Bulletin 72. Internationale Zeitschrift für Blechbläser, IV/1990, Bulle 1990, S. 83.

Stefan Kisielewski - 100 Years

2011-10-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

It's not a crisis, it's a result. (On the economic crisis in Poland under Socialism, Wikipedia) ⁽¹⁾

Socialism heroically overcomes difficulties unknown in any other system. (On ills besetting socialism, Wikipedia)

Once I heard some old man saying that modern music is music without melody - and then everything became clear to me: I will be a contemporary composer! (kisielewski.art.pl)

Kisielewski's music was virtually absent from philharmonic halls, both for political reasons and owing to the conservative neo-Classical style to which the composer remained faithful throughout his artistic life. Kisielewski viewed music as an autonomous art, and the creative process - as multi-level organisation of sounds. He rejected all extra-musical contents, as well as the Romantic aesthetic. He composed works which were clear in form and made frequent use of classical formal patterns. His musical language combined the traditional tonality with modern atonal music. The strong element of humour and self-irony, characteristic of his works, reflected very well the personality of that man, his brilliant wit and unmanageable humour. In recent years, his music has been played more often, as people are more and more aware of its timeless values. (polmic.pl)

Stefan Kisielewski (1911 - 1991) was a Polish composer, writer, and publicist, whose musical activities were overshadowed by his involvement in the Polish struggle for independence from the socialist regime.

He taught at the Krakow Conservatory. Although his own style was mostly neo-classical, with simple melodies and straightforward forms, showing gaiety and at times sardonic humor in the lighter pieces, he nevertheless supported all types of music in his essays in Polish journals. His own music is often of the Gebrauchsmusik variety. ⁽²⁾

He also published several novels, crime stories, and essays with subjects in politics, literature, and music.

There are a few interesting videos on YouTube:

Danse Vive:

For children, delightful:

Film music:

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⁽¹⁾ Might not the same expression apply to our current crisis?
⁽²⁾ From the New Grove Dictionary of Music

Mahalia Jackson - 100 Years

2011-10-01T20:28:00.000-04:00

Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope. (Mahalia Jackson)

That's where the power comes from, says the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who first met the singer in the 1960s. "When there is no gap between what you say and who you are, what you say and what you believe — when you can express that in song, it is all the more powerful." (npr.org)

One glad morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away... (mahaliajackson.us)

Mahalia Jackson (1911 - 1972) was born in New Orleans, raised by a pretty strict aunt after the death of her mother. She loved singing, especially in church. After moving to Chicago during the Great Migration, she performed in local churches and eventually met and sang the songs of Thomas A. Dorsey, the Father of Gospel. She eventually signed with the Apollo label. She consolidated her fame in the 1950s, was the first gospel singer to perform at Carnegie Hall, toured to enormous success in Europe, and became the "Queen of Gospel."

She performed at for President Eisenhower, at President Kennedy's inaugural ball, and was very active in the civil rights movement. She performed at the 1963 march on Washington just before Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech and at his funeral.

Throughout her life she never wavered from her chosen path, that of a gospel singer, expressing all that is human and spreading a message of hope, a message intended for all humankind, especially those nobody cares about (see this video).

From YouTube, three historical videos:

Listen here to her song on the death of JFK.

And some unforgettable songs along with some YouTube comments:

It has been stated that the church has been the bedrock of the Black community. To a large degree, the civil rights movement that was instrumental in us winning basic rights as a people originated within the Christian church. I truly believe that faith in God has given Black people the courage and the strength to go on and flourish in what has frequently been an unfriendly society. (Retrogems)

My absolute favorite interpretation of Summertime:

She counted presidents, kings, queens and major social and cultural leaders around the world among her friends. She was a protege of Dr. King -- in fact, she brought him from Atlanta to Chicago - her city - and transformed the Civil Rights Movement, also known as 'The Cause', from fragmented regional movements into a national one. (Penntrafford)

Success in Europe:

Musicians of the world, come listen. A study of Mahalia's musicality should be a compulsory part of every music course. There could only be one elemental force like this, and her ability to excite is what every soul, r and b and blues performer today and into the future are unconsciously channeling. Judy Garland and Lena Horne were fans. Jeff Buckley's crescendos were learned in part by listening to Mahalia. (Winifredatwell)

Mahalia in extremely good shape, inspired by the public in France! (PierreGarin)

Alan Hovhaness - 100 Years

2011-10-01T16:54:00.001-04:00

Every piece I heard attached me more and more to the music by this truly great American composer. (Marvin Rosen)

Hovhaness has found new ways to use the archaic materials with which he starts … it is as though he had skipped the 18th and 19th centuries. (Henry Cowell)

One famous movie composer insisted on sitting beside me and looking at the score when one of my pieces was played by the New York Philharmonic. Then he wanted me to give him the score; I knew it had a lot of effects he wanted to use. I told him he could get it from the publisher. (Alan Hovhaness) ⁽¹⁾

Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000) had the spirit and energy of an American icon:

Stylistic maverick--he did not pay particular attention to contemporary musical thought, ⁽²⁾
Inspired by Renaissance and Baroque--fugues are prominent in his oeuvre,
Life-long admirer of Sibelius,
Influenced by the mystic painter Hermon DiGiovanno
Portraitist of the American landscape--he lived in the state of Washington; mountains were a favorite,
Lover of cats and whales,
Fascinated by Indian ragas, a student of Japanese Gagaku music and Korean Ah-ak music, and of Armenian music--he was of Armenian and Scottish descent,
Created music for all people--not just the snobs, often writing for the musicians and musical ensembles at hand,
Accepted the challenges of commissioned works,
One of the most prolific composers of the twentieth century.

The Hovhaness page at Classical Net explains the composer's distinct style at length:

Quasi-aleatoric Senza Misura technique (often called "Spirit Murmur"), which creates a sense of mystery, and foreshadows minimalism,
Influence from India and Asia during the 50s and 60s (he traveled extensively),
A mystic/religious feel,
A distinct vocal style (rather like Chopin),
Primarily a miniaturist; even his larger works are divided into a number of short movements,
Consonant harmonies organized modally or chromatically,
A love of counterpoint,
Easy to play, although the exposure can be terrifying to the soloist.

From YouTube, a documentary:

Spirit Murmur technique in Lousadzak:

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⁽¹⁾ Could this unnamed composer have been Bernard Herrmann, his exact contemporary? Film composers are notoriously known for borrowing. Facing tight deadlines and always looking for sound that is easily understood. The accessible music of Hovhaness would have been an ideal source.
⁽²⁾ This led to criticism from such well-known composers as Copland and Sessions, prompting Hovahness to rethink his style and to destroy of a large number of works.

Bernard Herrmann - 100 Years

2011-09-30T20:11:00.000-04:00

Such music does not come from a man whose soul is a litany of harsh cadences. And in fact, this implausible, sometimes even impossible man could also be a loving friend, a sentimental innocent, an endearing companion. In the end it was the humanity of this extraordinary person that spoke in his music, his art, for which he is justly celebrated. (David Raksin)

There are two mightily significant scenes in Vertigo and Psycho in which almost nothing happens on screen. In the first, we see Kim Novak wandering through a museum and outdoor garden, with Jimmy Stewart following in her wake. In the second, we see Janet Leigh driving a car at night, squinting through a rain-spattered windshield. Herrmann's music passionately accents these neutral images. For Psycho, he writes motoric string sequences fidgeting endlessly in static progressions: music of redoubling frustration and dread. For Vertigo, he writes vacant, hypnotic music that drops a veil of illusion over the photographic image. (From Deceptive Cadence, quoting Alex Ross, who wrote the booklet notes for conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen's L.A. Philharmonic recording of Herrmann's scores)

That the film music of Bernard Herrmann (1911 – 1975) has contributed to the immortality of Hitchcock and Orson Welles is certain.

But did that music also secure lasting fame for its composer? As a composer of film scores the answer is yes. As a composer in general the answer remains no ⁽¹⁾. The problem is not so much Herrmann but a lack of acceptance of film music as a classical music genre. It is time in this 100th anniversary year to give film music its proper place in the classical canon and to pay tribute to a great classical composer.

The public at large won’t have a problem. Through the movie scores they have become familiar with Herrmann’s music and declared it unforgettable.

Herrmann was trained classically from an early age on and studied at NYU with Percy Grainger and at Juilliard.

He was one of the early radio pioneers. In his career as conductor at CBS he premiered many new classical works.

While at CBS he collaborated with Orson Welles on radio adaptations of literary works and later moved with Orson Welles to Hollywood. There he produced many of the greatest film scores for Welles, Hitchcock, and other famous directors.

Herrmann’s music has a distinctive sound that can easily be recognized, a quality of a great composer. Read more on his distinctive style here and here.

His oeuvre--besides film scores--consists of melodrams, incidental music, stage works (one opera: Wuthering Heights), and orchestral and chamber works.

From YouTube, first a documentary and an interview:

Some film music:

Listen to a melodram here and here:

For the classic Herrman, see here and here. Listen here to three wonderful pieces from his opera Wuthering Heights.

From the Moby Dick Cantata:

And orchestral music:

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⁽¹⁾ For example, there is no mention of Herrmann in David Dubal’s The Essential Canon of Classical Music, North Point Press, 2001

Nikola Hercigonja - 100 Years

2011-09-17T21:11:00.002-04:00

Nikola Hercigonja (1911 - 2000) was a composer and musicologist of Croatian origin in the former Yugoslavia.

He was a modern nationalist, inspired by Montenegrin and Croatian folk music, which he knew thoroughly. ⁽¹⁾

He wrote in many genres, a.o. an opera-oratorio and a cantata on The Mountain Wreath, a masterpiece of Montenegrin and Serbian literature by the Montenegrin Prince-Bishop and poet; Njegoš, film music, battle songs and national anthems.

From YouTube, the Montenegrin anthem, a labor song, and a song by a charming girls' choir:

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⁽¹⁾ From the Algemene Muziek Encyclopedie, Zuid-Nederlandse Uitgeverij, 1959

Gábor Darvas - 100 Years

2011-09-17T17:18:00.001-04:00

Gábor Darvas (1911 - 1985) was a Hungarian composer, arranger, and musicologist. He studied with Zoltán Kodály in Budapest, stayed in Chile during World War II, and assumed posts with the Hungarian Radio, the Hungarian Record Company, and the Hungarian Copyright Office after the war.

His compositions combine influences from Bartók, aleatory music, and serialism. He was one of the first Hungarians to work with tape.

As a musicologist he wrote many books and arranged many great compositions. One of these arrangements we find at YouTube: Liszt's Csárdás Macabre.

Alan Walker writes:

The bare fifths with which the Csárdás Macabre (1881-82) begins are audacious and without precedent in the music of Liszt's contemporaries. It is unlikely that they were written to provoke Hanslick, a view that has enjoyed common currency of late.....

A more intriguing topic for debate is the second-subject stage of the structure. Is it a parody of the Dies Irae in which death lurks just beneath the surface of a dance with the devil? Or is it a quotation from the popular Hungarian song "Ég a kunyhó, ropog a nád"? ⁽¹⁾

When Liszt had finished work on the Csárdás Macabre he scribbled on the manuscript: "May one write or listen to such a thing?" It was a pointed question. The loneliness of his artistic position had struck him with force, and he was assailed by doubt. The Csárdás Macabre remained unplayed and unpublished until 1951. ⁽²⁾

Let's listen to the Darvas arrangement. I think Liszt would have been proud and happy.

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⁽¹⁾ The Little Hut Is Burning.
⁽²⁾ Franz Liszt, The Final Years, 1861-1886, Alan Walker, Cornell University Press

Buck Clayton - 100 Years

2011-09-17T12:46:00.001-04:00

One of the clearest trumpets, Buck Clayton!

Compared to big trumpet stars of the Swing era Buck’s sound was smoother and gentler; he was a skilled craftsman without the need to grandstand. His personal style featured a flowing and melodic approach to improvisation, a refined and tasteful sound featuring subtle use of mutes, a great feel for the blues, fine technique and the ability to present an engaging musical personality.

His tart, striking tone and melodic dexterity were his trademark.

A valued member of a variety of classic big bands, Wilbur "Buck" Clayton was versatile enough to thrive as a bandleader, session man, and trumpet soloist.

Buck Clayton (born Wilbur Dorsey Clayton, 1911 - 1991) was an important trumpeter seminal in the evolution of jazz, who, after lip surgery in late 1960s, became an arranger, composer, bandleader, and educator. He became the father of popular music in Shanghai in his early years, moved from Los Angeles, to Kansas, to New York, and performed extensively throughout Europe.

He bolstered the national rise of the Count Basie Band and performed with most jazz greats of his time.

His taste for well-balanced and well-built tunes remained his trademark until the end, especially in his work as composer and arranger during the last years of his life.

From YouTube:

Kansas City, 1938:

Brussels, 1958:

Switzerland, 1965:

And as composer and arranger,

The Buck Clayton Swing Band, Greenwich Village, NYC, 1990:

Rampage In G Minor - Live in Vienne, France, 1991, in his last year:

Jan Cikker - 100 Years

2011-09-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

Jan Cikker (1911 - 1989) was a leading Slovakcomposer who lost his father in World War I, and studied in Prague and Viennauntil the German annexation of Austria. Back home he served in themilitary on the border with Germany until 1939 when he went to teach in Bratislava. Moved by the events of World War II he composed some works, but it was atthe end of the war that he was able to fully catch up as a composer, writer,and educator.

He started writing operas--and mostof the librettos--in the 1950s. His later, vocal works--operas,choral works, and song cycles--form the core of his output and make him themost internationally influential Slovak composer of his time.

From fritz-oeser.de:

'His operas represented in striking subjects and powerful musicalcomposition a human ideal which found interest in East and West. Andperhaps some irritation, since West German critique rubbed at times--especiallyin the early 1970s--against the ideological and aesthetic stance of his operas,the Christian-idealist statement, devoted to a humanist portrait of man,and--compared with contemporary works such as Nono's Intolleranza or Zimmermann's Soldiers--a moderate tone language. This critique, however, has recently been revisited. Looking backat the time of thaw and the Prague Spring, with its violent end in 1968, Cikker's selection of themes with theirultimately non-ideological commitment to humanity was at the time of theircreation far from self-evident.'

Cikker's music has apronounced style rich in contrasting moods and character.

In the glory time of the Avant-garde,

'Classicism didn't die, but sort of migrated elsewhere, mainlynorth and east. Suddenly, Scandinavia became the homeland of a lively school ofprolific "Nordic" symphonists. Orchestral music was also popular inthe periphery of the empire (o.a. Cikker).'

From YouTube:

Thomas Canning - 100 Years

2011-09-12T11:49:00.001-04:00

Thomas Canning (1911 - 1989) was an American composer and educator who wrote most of his compositions for specific occasions or organizations.

From YouTube, one beautiful video with a comment from a student:

Great to see this here. Tom was my composition instructor many years ago and my mind goes back every time I get to listen to this piece. He was a unique individual, the likes which I have yet to again encounter, and my wish is that everyone would have an opportunity to experience his wonderful music. GLSmyth

Paul Burkhard - 100 Years

2011-09-12T11:15:00.001-04:00

Paul Burkhard (1911 - 1977) was a Swiss conductor and composer, primarily known for the song O Mein Papa.

The song is part of a musical Der Schwarze Hecht (The Black Pike), reproduced in 1950 as Feuerwerk (Fireworks). Besides this Burkhard composed a number of other musicals, oratorios, and operettas.
See here for a 100th anniversary tribute.

From YouTube:

From the same musical:

In Swiss dialect:

From Die Kleine Niederdorfoper:

Remembering a crime against humanity

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today I think of all the people who lost their lives in New York City ten years ago: fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, first responders, firefighters, among them a large contingent from Maspeth, Queens, the girl in my daughter's middle school class who lost both parents, all the men and women who contracted illnesses on that terrible day, the kids--almost 10 years old now--who will never know their dads.

In remembrance of these brutal acts I offer the two main personal prayers of my religion and a song from a lady whose 100th anniversary we honor this year. She died long before September 11, but her message of hope endures.

Jussi Bjorling - 100 Years

2011-08-14T20:51:00.003-04:00

In 2008 BBC Music Magazine conducted a poll among a distinguished voting jury to come up with the 20 best tenors of the twentieth Century. Jussi Bjorling (b. Sweden, 1911 - 1960) was listed number five.

Having listened extensively to the samples here and the abundance of YouTube videos I've concluded that this ranking may be shortchanging Bjorling. The voice is uniquely pleasing and the technique is flawless time after time. The only criticism seems to have been a too even temper in opera's dramatic roles. His endearing personality combined with his unequaled voice and singing abilities--he was known for reaching high C's effortlessly--made him a darling of audiences worldwide. He performed many times in the U.S., where he had already toured as a boy with his father and brothers . Only Italy--partial to its own outstanding tenors and perhaps perceiving a serious rival--did not take to Bjorling.

Following are some YouTube videos along with a few comments:

It took a Swede to render the definitive version of this wonderful American song (vpo2g2)

Here is Ah Love, but a day by Amy Beach.

He has something besides great top notes and that is low notes that few if any lyric tenors of his type can beat. Listen to others sing this also. This is a great rendition! (SHICOFF1)

- the way his voice fades from the top note, controlled perfectly so that it's just the volume and not the passion that decreases, is glorious. (hollyrr)

For me, there is an inherent sadness in Jussi's voice, and a natural beauty and power that conveys all the emotion needed in this aria. Anyone who says he lacks passion must be deaf....I love this, and I'm Italian! (MomDiva999)

Heroic poetry, incomparable musician-
ship, clarity and thrilling dramatic
presentation define Bjorling's superb
performance. In my opinion, only
Sobinov and Thill bestow the same
grace of Wagner's masterwork! (Kievest)

Possibly the greatest tenor of all time. From top to bottom the sound is pure and consistent. (2CalaMo)

And from his last concert in 1960:

Simultaneously exquisite and heartbreaking..... (JussiBjorling1960)

Jehan Alain - 100 Years

2011-08-03T21:55:00.000-04:00

Jehan Ariste Alain (1911 – 1940) was a French organist and composer. He studied composition with Paul Dukas and Jean Roger-Ducasse, and organ with Marcel Dupré. Promise nurtured by such masters developed into genius and left us a catalogue of more than 140 masterpieces.

In his short life--he was a daredevil motorcyclist and died in a skirmish with German soldiers as a dispatch motorcyclist in the French army while reconnoitring the German advance ⁽¹⁾--he absorbed a multitude of influences: from his father's organ-building and rebuilding project in his own house to visits to the Valloires Abbey in the Somme region, from seeking out old French organs in many different churches to music, dance, and philosophies from the Far East and North Africa.

Kimberly Marshall talks about the composer:

As a whole, his output is strikingly consistent and complete unto itself; scholars of Alain's music have difficulty developing precise dates for many of the works since telltale signs of stylistic development are practically absent from his music. His works sound with one voice, varied, but mature. Alain's music makes extensive use of the church modes, as well as coloristic dissonance. A somewhat rhapsodic approach to rhythm creates an ecstatic building up of bold, colorful and phantasmagoric sections in the Litanies and the Trois Danses that can be tremendously exciting to hear. In Le Jardin suspendu and short works such as the lovely Choral dorien he created smooth, mysterious textures that suggest an otherworldly, even divine, presence. ⁽²⁾

From YouTube:

Played by the composer himself presumably in 1938 at the Temple in the Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth:

The composer was also a talented drawer, as can be seen here:

Some examples from a considerable body of piano works:

A short life well lived.
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⁽¹⁾ Slonimsky's Book of Musical Anecdotes, Nicolas Slonimsky, pg. 216
⁽²⁾ From classicalarchives.com

Komei Abe - 100 Years

2011-08-02T21:48:00.002-04:00

Komei Abe (1911 - 2006) was an important 20th century Japanese composer, conductor, cellist, and clarinetist. His style was late romantic and neo-classicist, learned from German and East-European musicians living in Japan.

When he became music director of the imperial orchestra in 1948, he encountered for the first time gagaku, a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries and which influenced his style.

Abe’s music is very straight-forwardly tonal, melodic, and well-formed. It is also lighter than air, and even the more aggressive gestures in the Symphony are pretty friendly. ⁽¹⁾

Here is a Sonatine for children:

See here for the Symphony No. 1, the Divertimento, and the Sinfonietta.

Listening to the three works by Komei Abe (1911-2006) one would never expect they were written by a Japanese composer, and a major one at that. Abe was influenced more by European traditions than by those of his native land, particularly by Carl Orff and his repeated rhythmic figures.

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⁽¹⁾ From sequenza21.com

Ludwig Thuille - 150 years

2011-08-01T21:12:00.038-04:00

Ludwig Thuille (1861 - 1907) was an Austrian Savoyard, a composer of the Munich School, a lifelong friend of Richard Strauss.

His compositional style influenced many of his students and friends in a way that should not be underestimated; this led in music history to the term 'Munich School'. ⁽¹⁾

Thuille had less interest in revolutionary innovation than in combining traditional and modern elements to form a personal style. His distinctive harmonic treatment shows influence from the New German School, to which he grew close, particularly through the composer Alexander Ritter, a friend of Richard Wagner. In contrast to the artistic ideas of New German School, however, Thuille remained more faithful to classical forms, respecting the classical framework albeit in a flexible, not very strict way. He also did not adopt program music. ⁽¹⁾

This composer deserves to be better known.

Rebbecca Broberg recorded some songs in Thuille's songs: my experience. She offers the following thoughtful reflections:

Ludwig Thuille is considered to be a quintessentially Jugendstil composer. In art song at the turn of the previous century, one often finds nostalgic tendencies towards the popular folk style, perhaps as a protest against growing materialism and the wonders of technology, and perhaps as well a proud sign of German nationality. This nostalgia is evidenced in the choice of poem (describing or taking place in nature, like a fairy-tale, the sentiments of simple country people), the melody (song-like and declamatory) and the form (strophic)...
He infused the poem with soul and spirit, bringing it to life with various emotions, making it rich with stories to tell. Every song by Thuille that I have sung is like a drama in music, much more than a song with piano accompaniment. New worlds are created; the poem becomes a unity of the two autonomous dimensions of voice and piano melting into each other.

Listen to the following video, and you will agree:

From his best remembered work:

Some piano works:

Piano Concerto, Andante movement, with hints of Chopin:

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⁽¹⁾ Translated from de.wikipedia.org. Ernst Bloch was one of his students.