When he graduated from high school, William Schuman enrolled in New York University with every intention of doing a commerce degree. Then his sister took him to a New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. That very night, he decided to become a composer. Schuman went on to become one of the most important American composers and composition teachers of the 20th century. He was president of Julliard School, President of Lincoln Centre in New York, and the composer of eight major symphonies. This podcast looks at a new recording of his Symphony No. 6, Prayer in a Time of War, and New England Tryptich, with the Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
Huang Ruo was born in Hainan Island, China the same year the Cultural Revolution ended. This allowed him to get a unique kind of musical education as “western” music was again allowed back into China. This experience, along with his subsequent study in the United States, has helped him develop a unique compositional voice. In this podcast, he talks about his musical youth, and about his new CD with Future in REverse (FIRE) ensemble.
Morten Lauridsen is America’s pre-eminent composer of choral music. His music, with long, arching, expressive lines is enjoyed by performers and audiences alike. In the CD featured in this podcast, the Elora Festival Singers under conductor Noel Edison present five of his pieces - O nata lux and O Magnum Mysterium, two of his most famous sacred works, plus collections of songs based on Italian Renaissance poetry, as well as poems by Robert Graves and Rainer Marie Rilke.
The inspiration for Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony can be traced all the way back to his youth, as he watched on television as the caped superhero rescued humanity - as especially Lois Lane - from all kinds of deadly situations. Daugherty’s ability to allow the visual world to inspire the musical is evident in many of his works such as Deux Ex Machina, included on this CD, and Fire and Blood that was inspired by murals by Diego Rivera. The performers on this present CD include the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, pianist Terrence Wilson, and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.
Album details…
Catalogue No.: Naxos American Classics 8.559635
Andy Teirstein is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in New York. His strong roots in classical music, folk music and dance have helped him create a musical language that crosses all boundaries. Most of the pieces on this CD are chamber pieces, ranging from “3 Movements for String Quartet and Folk Musician” to the chamber melodrama “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”. In this interview, Teirstein talks about composing music for theater, working in a Mexican circus, the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, and his dream of writing a companion piece to “What is Left of Us”.
Composer Michael Daugherty was the composer-in-residence for four years at the Detroit Symphony, and composed all of the music on this CD for that orchestra. The title work was inspired by the giant murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts by Diego Rivera. Rivera was commissioned by Edsel Ford to create a mural celelbrating the Detroit automobile industry. This CD features the Detoit Symphony, conducted by Neeme Jarvi, with soloists Ida Kavafian on violin, and Brian Jones on Timpani.
To listen to the episodes from the respective Podcast you will need to have Adobe's FLASH player installed. Please use Adobe's web page to choose the appropriate version to install for your platform.
When he graduated from high school, William Schuman enrolled in New York University with every intention of doing a commerce degree. Then his sister took him to a New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. That very night, he decided to become a composer. Schuman went on to become one of the most important American composers and composition teachers of the 20th century. He was president of Julliard School, President of Lincoln Centre in New York, and the composer of eight major symphonies. This podcast looks at a new recording of his Symphony No. 6, Prayer in a Time of War, and New England Tryptich, with the Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
Entries (RSS)