Composers Datebook podcast

#Music #American Public Media

30:55

A secret field that summons lightning. A massive spiral that disappears into a salt lake. A celestial observatory carved into a volcano. Meet the wild—and sometimes explosive—world of land art, where artists craft masterpieces with dynamite and bulldozers. In our Season 2 premiere, guest Dylan Thuras, cofounder of Atlas Obscura, takes us off road and into the minds of the artists who literally reshaped parts of the Southwest. These works aren’t meant to be easy to reach—or to explain—but they just might change how you see the world. Land art you’ll visit in this episode: - Double Negative and City by Michael Heizer (Garden Valley, Nevada) - Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (Great Salt Lake, Utah) - Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt (Great Basin Desert, Utah) - Lightning Field by Walter De Maria (Catron County, New Mexico) - Roden Crater by James Turrell (Painted Desert, Arizona) Via Podcast is a production of AAA Mountain West Group.…

Composers Datebook

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Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

108 episodes

Composers Datebook

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updated 2 days ago

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108 episodes

#Music #American Public Media

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Composers Datebook

1
Jodie Blackshaw's 'Letter from Sado' 2:00

2 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Australian composer Jodie Blackshaw is passionate about music for wind band and is fond of quoting her famous compatriot composer Percy Grainger on the subject: “Why this cold-shouldering of the wind band?” Grainger asked. “Is the wind band — with its varied assortments of reeds (so much richer that the reeds of the symphony orchestra), its complete saxophone family that is found nowhere else ... its army of brass — not the equal of any medium ever conceived? As a vehicle of deeply emotional expression it seems to me unrivalled.” For her part, Blackshaw has chosen to compose primarily for wind band. She also appears as a guest clinician and adjudicator for band festivals throughout Australia. “The Wind Band offers a varied and colorful contribution to instrumental music, and with literally millions of children worldwide entering musical performance through this medium, it is worthy of our serious attention,” she said. On today’s date in 2014, a new work by Blackshaw intended for middle-school band students was premiered by the Rosemount Middle School Band of Rosemont, Minnesota, under the direction of John Zschunke. The new piece, Letter from Sado , was inspired by a Japanese haiku and traditional Japanese taiko drumming. This work is part of the BandQuest series commissioned by the American Composers Forum, intended to offer young musicians a diverse variety of fresh new wind band works by leading composers of our day. Music Played in Today's Program Jodie Blackshaw: Letter from Sado ; University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble; Hal Leonard HL04004132 (sheet music)…

Composers Datebook

1
Milhaud's 'Sacred Service' 2:00

3 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco is one of America’s foremost reform congregations. For some 50 years its cantor was Reuben Rinder, who, in addition to his liturgical duties, was a composer, impresario, and musical mentor. Cantor Rinder influenced the careers of two of the 20th century’s greatest violinists, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, and also commissioned two of the 20th century’s most famous concert versions of the Jewish liturgy, the Evening and Morning Sabbath Service settings of Ernst Bloch and Darius Milhaud. Milhaud’s Sabbath Morning Service was first heard at Temple Emanu-El on today’s date in 1949, with its composer conducting. Milhaud was born in Provence and wrote that the Provencal Jewish tradition evoked in his score differs somewhat from the more standard Ashkenazi liturgy prevalent in most American synagogues then and now. The composer’s intention was to create a personal musical statement that could serve as both an actual liturgy for the faithful and as an ecumenical musical experience for any and all who hear the work, whether in temple or concert hall. In that respect, Milhaud’s Sacred Service was a great success. Alongside Bloch’s setting, written in the early 1930s, shortly before the onset of the Holocaust, Milhaud’s setting, written in the years following the conclusion of World War II, remains a powerful and moving affirmation of religious faith. Music Played in Today's Program Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Sabbath Morning Service ; Prague Philharmonic Choir; Czech Philharmonic; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Naxos 8.559409…

Composers Datebook

1
Ned Rorem for eleven 2:00

4 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis While many great composers have also been great conductors, this can be the exception rather than the rule. On today’s date in 1959, American composer Ned Rorem tried his hand at conducting the premiere of one of his own compositions, the chamber suite Eleven Studies for Eleven Players . Rorem recalled, “I learned that the first requisite to becoming a conductor is an inborn lust for absolute monarchy, and that I, alone among musicians, never got the bug. I was terrified. The first rehearsal was a model of how not to inspire confidence. I stood before the eleven players in all my virginal glory, and announced: ‘I’ve never conducted before, so if I give a wrong cue, do try to come in right anyway.’” Fortunately for Rorem, his eleven musicians were accomplished faculty at Buffalo University, and, despite his inexperience, he certainly knew how his new piece should sound. His suite incorporated a few bits recycled from music he had written for a successful Broadway hit — Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer — plus a bit from the unsuccessful play Motel that never made it past a Boston tryout. Rorem’s own tryout as a conductor convinced him to stick to composing, although he proved to be a fine piano accompanist for singers performing his own songs. As for Eleven Studies for Eleven Players , it’s gone on to become one of his most-often performed chamber works. Music Played in Today's Program Ned Rorem (1923-2022): Eleven Studies for Eleven Players ; New York Chamber Ensemble; Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, conductor; Albany 175…

Composers Datebook

1
Smetana and the National Theatre in Prague 2:00

5 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1868, Czech composer Bedrich Smetana helped lay the foundation stone for Prague’s future National Theatre. As the stone was driven into the soil with a ceremonial mallet, Smetana exclaimed, “In music is the life of the Czechs!” That same evening at Prague’s New Town Theatre, Smetana conducted the premiere performance of his new opera Dalibor . It’s worthy of note that one of the players in the orchestra was 26-year old violist and fellow composer Antonín Dvořák. The subject matter of Dalibor seemed theatrically apt for the occasion: a Czech legend about a rebellious 15th century knight imprisoned for supporting a peasant uprising. During his imprisonment, according to the legend, Dalibor learned to play the violin so beautifully that people came to listen to him outside the window of the Prague Castle tower in which he was held. Thirteen years after the premiere of Dalibor , the National Theatre opened on June 11, 1881. For that gala occasion, another Smetana opera, Libuse , received its premiere performance. Sadly, by that time Smetana was completely deaf, mentally ailing and desperately poor. To add insult to injury, the directors of the new theater had neglected to invite him to the gala premiere of his own opera! Despite the inexcusable snub, Smetana found his way into the theater, and, when called on the stage and recognized by the audience, was acknowledged with thunderous applause. Music Played in Today's Program Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884): Act I Prelude and opening chorus, from Dalibor ; Prague National Theatre Orchestra and Chorus; Zdenek Kosler, conductor; Supraphon ‎SU0077-2 632…

Composers Datebook

1
Jerod Tate's 'Children's Songs' 2:00

6 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and its Composer-in-Residence. He was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and his chamber and orchestra works, all infused with themes and musical elements from his Native heritage, have been performed by major orchestras like the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. But during the fall of 2011, Tate began working with a non-professional ensemble closer to home — at Dickson Middle School in Dickson, Oklahoma. Tate had been commissioned by the American Composers Forum to write a new work for their ChoralQuest series for middle-school choirs. The resulting work, Taloowa’ Chipota , which in the Chickasaw language means Children’s Songs , was premiered on May 15, 2012, by the children at the Dickson School. “The songs, are reminiscent of traditional stomp dancing and are based on old Chickasaw melodies,” explained Tate. “Stomp dances begin at dusk and end at dawn. The first movement depicts the beginning sunlight of the morning. The second is full of abstracted textures emulating the shell shaking in stomp dances.” For his part, Tate says he’s pleased how it all turned out: “I was able to introduce a Chickasaw experience to a diverse group of students … I strengthened my own relationship with my Chickasaw community and demonstrated to the Chickasaws in the chorus how our culture can positively impact classical music.” Music Played in Today's Program Jerod Tate (b. 1968): Taloowa Chipota ( Children’s Songs ); Minnesota Boy Choir; Hal Leonard 00119300 (sheet music)…

Composers Datebook

1
Sousa's 'Stars and Stripes Forever!' march 2:00

7 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1897, John Philip Sousa was in Philadelphia and leading his band in the premiere performance of The Stars and Stripes Forever! Sousa wrote his most famous march on Christmas Day, 1896, in a New York hotel room — completing the score, he said, in just a couple of hours. The work’s title was a tribute to one of Sousa’s mentors, legendary bandmaster Patrick S. Gilmore, whose favorite toast was, “Here’s to the Stars and Stripes forever!” The 1897 premiere of the march went over well, but at first sales didn’t surpass the other Sousa marches available at the time. It was the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the subsequent national eruption of patriotic fervor, and some cagey showmanship on Sousa’s part that catapulted The Stars and Stripes Forever! into its unique status. Sousa crafted a touring patriotic pageant involving hundreds of performers, which ended with The Stars and Stripes Forever! playing, as soldiers from all three branches of the military marched on stage with flags unfurled, culminating in the entrance of an attractive local beauty decked out in red, white and blue. Despite the thousands of times Sousa and his band were required to play The Stars and Stripes Forever! they claimed they never tired of it. And in its now 100+ year history, it’s become one of the most frequently performed pieces of American music worldwide. Music Played in Today's Program John Philip Sousa (1854-1932): The Stars and Stripes Forever ; Royal Artillery Band; Keith Brion, conductor; Naxos 8.559093…

Composers Datebook

1
New York 'novelties' by Liszt et. al. 2:00

8 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1862, the front page of The New York Times offered some encouraging news to the Northern side in the American Civil War: Union troops had captured Norfolk, Virginia, and there were other advances being made by General McClellan’s troops. Under “Amusements” on the inner pages of that same edition could be found an announcement of a Grand Vocal and Orchestral Concert at Irving Hall to be conducted by 27-year-old musician Theodore Thomas. Thomas had been a major figure on the New York music scene since 1855, performing as the principal violinist in that city’s first ensemble giving a regular series of chamber concerts. That chamber group presented hot-off-the-press works by Brahms and other ultra-modern composers of the day. This big orchestral concert, which marked Thomas’ debut as a conductor, was no different. The Times noted, “We have never before had so much musical novelty presented to us. Such plentiful instrumental music equally new to our musical world, under the capable conductorship of the young musician, must insure a crowded audience of the more critical as well as the more fashionable portion of our public.” Tickets were $1 each — quite a lot of money in 1862 — and the program offered the American premieres of orchestral pieces by Wagner, Meyerbeer and Liszt’s flashy orchestration of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy . Music Played in Today's Program Franz Schubert (1797-1828) arr. Franz Liszt (1811-1896): Wanderer Fantasy ; Leslie Howard, piano; Budapest Symphony; Karl Anton Rickenbacher, conductor; Hyperion 67403…

Composers Datebook

1
Gabriel Kahane 2:00

9 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis American composer and singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane claims someone once described one of his songs as having been from the wastepaper basket of Schubert — but, Kahane hastened to add, “I think he meant that as a compliment.” Certainly Kahane is a successful songwriter, and if not quite as prolific as the 19th century Viennese composer, is quite productive on a number of 21st-century platforms and takes his inspiration from quintessential 21st-century experiences. On today’s date in 2018, for example, the Oregon Symphony premiered his Emergency Shelter Intake Form , a song-cycle or oratorio inspired by the questionnaire homeless people have to take to secure a shelter bed. “I live in Brooklyn, and I had volunteered at a shelter in Manhattan,” Kahane said. “I started thinking about the banality of going through that crushing bureaucracy on top of experiencing extreme poverty. That led to the intake form as a jumping-off point for the libretto. It is somewhere between found text and my own extrapolations that began with this sterile administrative form.” The Oregon Symphony’s premiere performance of Gabriel Kahane’s Emergency Shelter Intake Form was recorded, and, in equally quintessential 21st-century fashion, is available as a download. Music Played in Today's Program Gabriel Kahane (b. 1981): ‘What brings you here?’ from Emergency Shelter Intake Form ; Alicia Hall Moran, mezzo-soprano; Oregon Symphony; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Digital download…

Composers Datebook

1
Maazel's 'Ring without Words' 2:00

10 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In 1987, Telarc Records asked conductor Lorin Maazel if he would make a purely orchestral distillation of the four operas that make up Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung . Telarc wanted it all to fit on just one CD. Now, with these four Wagner operas clocking in at about 15 hours, that’s a slimming-down assignment worthy of The Biggest Loser. Maazel crafted a 75-minute sequence, played without pause, beginning with the opening pages of the first opera and ending with the closing pages of the last, with all the music appearing in the same order as it does in Wagner’s four operas. For the Telarc CD release, Maazel recorded his Ring without Words with the Berlin Philharmonic. But what had started as a purely studio affair proved an attractive orchestral showcase for other ensembles, so on today’s date in 1990, Maazel led the Pittsburgh Symphony in the debut of his Ring without Words as a concert hall work. Since then, he has performed it with orchestras ranging from the New York to the Vienna Philharmonic. Maazel confessed he resisted the idea at first. “I said … it would be desecrating a unique masterpiece. But they kept after me.” In the end, Maazel capitulated, but insisted there couldn't be one note by Lorin Maazel. When one instrumentalist shuddered at a particularly abrupt transition, Maazel told him, “Sorry! That's the composer.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883) arr. Lorin Maazel (1930-2014): Ring without Words ; Berlin Philharmonic; Lorin Maazel, conductor; Telarc 80154…

Composers Datebook

1
Maxwell Davies at a wedding (with sunrise) 2:00

11 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In 1970, British composer Peter Maxwell Davies moved to the remote and rugged Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. At first, he said, the natives thought he was just some weirdo from the south, and the more Puritanical islanders would pray the might find a more respectable means of earning a living than writing music. But over time, Davies and the islanders got used to each other. The composer found inspiration in the landscape and legends of the area, while the community warmed to the fact that the newcomer found them so fascinating. In 1978, he attended a neighbor’s wedding, which inspired a musical work he called An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise . “It is a picture postcard,” Davies said. “We hear the guests arriving, out of extremely bad weather. This is followed by a processional and first glass of whiskey. The band tunes up and we get on with the dancing, which becomes ever wilder, until the lead fiddle can hardly hold the band together. We leave the hall into the cold night. As we walk home across the island, the sun rises to a glorious dawn.” “The sun is represented by the highland bagpipes, in full traditional splendor,” he concluded. Despite its local color, An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise was actually an American commission from the Boston Pops, who gave its premiere on today’s date in 1985, with John Williams conducting. Music Played in Today's Program Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016): An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise ; George MacIlwham, bagpipes; Royal Philharmonic; Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor; Collins 1444…

Composers Datebook

1
Alexis Alrich's Marimba Concerto 2:00

12 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis One today’s date in 2004, a new concerto for marimba and orchestra had its premiere in San Francisco, with soloist Matthew Cannon and the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. The new concerto was written by Alexis Alrich, who studied composition out east at the New England Conservatory, and out west at Mills College, where one of her teachers was Lou Harrison, who introduced her to Asian music through Javanese gamelan. Her own music, she says, blends American minimalism, Asian music and Western classical and folk music, a mix some have described as “California impressionism.” “[My] Marimba Concerto is highly demanding for the soloist and fully exploits the technical possibilities and sound palette of the five-octave marimba,” Alrich said. “The opening movement with its string tremolos and whispering wind motifs provides an atmospheric entrance for the solo marimba … The middle movement starts with a gently pulsating theme that recurs between contrasting sections, including one in Mexican folk style. The final movement climaxes with a multi-layered, Asian-inspired chorale … with a toccata-style cadenza for the soloist.” In 2010 British percussion virtuoso Evelyn Glennie and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong gave the Asian premiere of the concerto and made its first recording. Music Played in Today's Program Alexis Alrich (b. 1955): Marimba Concerto; Evelyn Glennie, marimba; City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; Jean Thorel, conductor; Naxos 8.574218…

Composers Datebook

1
Beethoven's Second on first? 2:00

13 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Hold on tight: we’re about to cover 150 years of musical — and presidential — history in just two minutes! On today’s date in 1821, when James Monroe was president, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 was performed in Philadelphia at a concert of the Musical Fund Society. That occasion marks the first documented performance of a complete Beethoven symphony in America and occurred when Beethoven was 50 years old and residing in Vienna. In 1853, when Franklin Pierce was in the White House, the Germania Musical Society took Beethoven’s Second Symphony No. 2 on its American tour, presenting it in St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Chicago. That 1853 tour marked the first time an entire Beethoven Symphony was performed in the Windy City. Additional 19th century “firsts” for the symphony occurred over the next two decades in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and San Francisco, during the administrations of James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. Ulysses S. Grant was president in 1870, when Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 debuted in Washington, D.C., and Grant was still President in 1872, when it was the first symphony to be performed in Minneapolis. A hundred years later, in the 1970s, when Richard Nixon was in the White House, you could hear performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 from Maine to Hawaii, all while sitting comfortably in your own Executive Mansion, courtesy of your local government-assisted public radio station. If you wish, you may now stand and salute your radio! Music Played in Today's Program Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Sony 61835…

Composers Datebook

1
Thomson's 'Mother of Us All' 2:00

14 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1947, a new opera, The Mother of Us All debuted at Columbia University in New York City. The libretto was by American poet Gertrude Stein, and dealt with the life and times of Susan B. Anthony, a 19th century champion of women’s rights. In Stein’s dream-like account, iconic figures from America’s past like President John Adams, orator Daniel Webster and entertainer Lillian Russell interact even though they lived at different times in history. Two of the opera’s 27 characters, playwright Constance Fletcher and Yale librarian Donald Gallup, in fact, were contemporary friends of Stein’s. The music was by American composer Virgil Thomson, whose score evoked seemingly familiar 19th century hymns, sentimental ballads, circus band music, drum rolls, and fanfares. The tunes were, in fact, all original creations. The mix of Thomson’s music and Stein’s text results in a rambunctious opera about American life and politics, at turns both amusing and strangely touching. It became an unlikely success. Thomson wrote two other operas: Four Saints in Three Acts , from 1933, was an earlier collaboration with Gertrude Stein, and Lord Byron , from 1972, sets a witty libretto by Jack Larson, an actor famous for his portrayal of Daily Planet cub reporter Jimmy Olson on the old Superman TV series. Lord Byron was intended for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but never made it there, and performances these days are rare. Music Played in Today's Program Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Mother of Us ; All Santa Fe Opera; Raymond Leppard, conductor; New World 288…

Composers Datebook

1
Larsen's 'Lyric' Third 2:00

15 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1992, Joel Revzen conducted the Albany Symphony in the premiere of the Third Symphony of American composer Libby Larsen. Larsen subtitled her new work a Lyric Symphony . Now, the early 20th century Viennese composer Alexander Zemlinsky had written a Lyric Symphony , one that involved vocal soloists. As a composer, Larsen is noted for her songs and choral works, but for her own Lyric Symphony she opted for a purely instrumental work that would be somehow quintessentially American. In program notes for her new symphony, she wrote: “As I struggle with the definition of American music, it occurs to me that in all of our contemporary American genres, the dominating parameter of the music is rhythm. Rhythm is more important than pitch. This is a fundamental change in the composition of music in the 20th century. Here we speak American English, an inflected, complex, rhythmic language. “What is lyric in our times?” Larsen continued. “Where is the great American melody? Found, I would say, in the music of Chuck Berry, Robert Lockwood, Buddy Guy, George Gershwin, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, James Brown, Aaron Copland, Walter Piston and those composers who create melodies that are defined more by the rhythm than their pitch. My Symphony No. 3 — the Lyric , is an exploration of American melody.” Music Played in Today's Program Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Symphony No. 3 ( Lyric ) London Symphony; Joel Revzen, conductor; Koch 7370…

Composers Datebook

1
Debussy's Violin Sonata 2:00

16 days ago2:00