Music of the Days: 1/21/12 - 1/22/12

George Crumb (b. 1929)

• Mundus Canis, "A Dog's World" (1998, gtr. and perc.)
• Quest*** (1994, gtr., soprano sax., harp, double bass, and perc. [2 players])
• Federico's Little Songs for Children (1986, fl./picc./alto fl./bass fl., harp)
• Night Music I  (1963, rev. 1976; soprano, piano/celeste, and 2 perc.)

The original performance of Mundus Canis was by guitarist David Starobin with George Crumb himself playing percussion.  Each "humoresque" is named after one of the Crumb family dogs.  My favorite movement is probably the last, Yoda, in which Crumb called out "Yoda" throughout the piece.  It ended with the scolding, "Bad dog!"


David Liptak (b. 1949)

• Forlane (1998, gtr.)

Melinda Wagner (b. 1957)

• Arabesque (1998, gtr.)

Richard Wernick (b. 1934)

• Trochaic Trot (2000, gtr.)

Paul Lansky (b. 1944)

• Shameless Sarabande (1997, gtr.)

 
Elliot Carter (b. 1908)

• Luimen (1997)

Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)

• Nocturnal, Op. 70*** (1963, gtr.)

Gyorgy Ligeti (1923 - 2006)

• San Francisco Polyphony

Frederic Rzewski (b. 1938)

• Les Moutons de Panurge (1972, open instrumentation)

Giacinto Scelsi (1905 - 1988)

• Kho Lo (fl. and cl.)    

Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)

• Radiant Voices (orch.)
• Angels in the Architecture (wind ens.)
• Nitro (wind ens.)

 
Arvo Part (b. 1935)

• Magnificat (1989, chorus) 

Music of the Day: 1/18/12

Soon I'll be beginning to work on a chamber opera for three vocalists, alto flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello, guitar, harp, and piano.  I haven't written anything for guitar before, so to begin my studies I've been multi-tasking - listening up on some guitar works while handwriting a horn part for a graduate assistantship application.  The pieces I've starred are ones I hope to study closer in the near future, if I can get my hands on some scores!

Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
Some solo guitar works:

• El Decameron negro
• Preludios Epigramaticos
• Canticum
• La Espiral eterna
• Parabola
• Tarantos
• Paisaje cubano con tristeza ** 

Joan Tower (b. 1938)

• Snow Dreams (1983, fl. and gtr.)

 Toru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996)

•  Umi e (Toward the Sea) (1981, fl. and gtr.) ** [has some interesting flute extended techniques]
• Hiroshima to iu na no shonen (A Boy named Hiroshima), from the movie Himiko (1987, gtr. duo)
• Folios (1974, gtr.)
• Yume no heri e (To the Edge of Dream) (1983, gtr. and orchestra)

Kohachiro Miyata

• Kusabue no Koro (Time of the Grass Flute) (fl. and gtr.)

Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006)

• Guitar Concerto, Op. 67 (1959, gtr. and orchestra)

Music of the Day : 9/30/11

My goal in the coming weeks is to start devoting some of my listening time to the works of composers who teach at the graduate programs to which I'm applying!  (If I write it down, maybe it will actually happen.)

First up: Evan Chambers!

Evan Chambers (b. 1963, University of Michigan)

• The Old Burying Ground, Book 1 (2007; folk singer, tenor, and orchestra)

Music of the Day : 8/27/2011

George Crumb (b. 1929)

• Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) (1971, for three masked players: electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano)

Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960, College of the Holy Cross)

• Ayre (2004, soprano and ensemble [fl, cl, hn, vn, vc, vd, harp, accordion, ronroco/guitar, perc, laptop]) 

Music of the Day : 8/23/11

Steve Reich (b. 1936)

• New York Counterpoint (1985, for amplified clarinet and tape [or 11 clarinets] )

Music of the Day : 8/20/11

George Benjamin (b. 1960, King's College London)

• At First Light (1982, chamber orchestra)

Martin Bresnick (b. 1946, Yale)

• BE JUST!* (1995, chamber: cl., vc., cb., guit., pno., perc.)
• String Quartet No. 2, "Bucephalus" (1984)
  
• Piano Trio (1988)
• The Bucket Rider* (1995, chamber: bcl., vc., cb., guit., pno., perc)
• Three Intermezzi (1971, solo cello)
• Falling (1994, mezzo soprano and piano)
• Willie's Way (2006, solo piano)
• Ballade (2004, cello and piano)
• Every Thing Must Go (2007, saxophone quartet)
• High Art (1983, piccolo and toy piano) *** Look at the score sometime!
  

* BE JUST! and The Bucket Rider are both part of Bresnick's Opere della Musica Povera (Works of a Poor Music). The twelve "operas," composed between 1990 and 1999, feature a variety of instrumentations, but share similar formal plans and structures. Each has its own "key" and a title that "evokes a sense of poverty: poverty of means, of spirit, of wit."
The titles of BE JUST! and The Bucket Rider refer to two stories by Kafka: In the Penal Colony and The Bucket Rider, respectively.
The Bucket Rider contains some lovely timbral blurring between clarinet and vibraphone.

Dennis Kam (b. 1942, University of Miami)

• The Epistemology of Delicate Time in Blue Three (1981, two pianos)
• Fantasy Sonata for clarinet and piano (1981) 

Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978)

• Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia, from Spartacus (1954, ballet - orchestra)
• Piano Concerto in D-flat Major, Op. 38 (1936)
• Toccata, Op. 11 (1932, piano)

Anthony Suter (University of Redlands)

• As We Shine, Singing, Over Waterless Seas (2007, concert band)
•  tracings of sand and smoke (2006, bsn., hn., vcl.)

Charles Norman Mason (University of Miami)

• Metaman (2009, violin with digital sound and video)