Ear to Ear: Claire Chase

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Brooklyn based flautist Claire Chase has emerged as a gifted interpreter and performer of contemporary music, as well as an active entrepreneur of the experimental arts. Winner of the 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Claire is the executive director and co founder of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), dedicated to presenting new works and expanding today's new music scene.

International Contemporary Ensemble
Claire Chase on MySpace

Turkey in the Straw

Friday, November 28, 2008

We keep the holiday mood going with different versions of that folk classic, "Turkey in the Straw." Also, Conni Ellisor's vibrant "Blackberry Winter" with Stephen Seifert on the dulcimer and music box, and Mark O'Connor's "Vistas," also featuring Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer.

Also Featured Tonight:

Igor Stravinsky / Violin Concerto in D
Johann Sebastian Bach / Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830
Alan Hovhaness / Sonata, Op. 406

Silk Road at the UN

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Tune in at 8PM for a special presentation of Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble's recent performance at the United Nations on UN Day. Also, music for the holiday from John Corigliano, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. And later, we give thanks Baroque-style, with J.S. Bach's lively Cantata "We Thank You, God."

Also Featured Tonight:

Timothy Cameron Lloyd / Four Native American Love Poems
John Cage / "Primitive"
Earl George / "A Thanksgiving Overture"
Philip Glass / String Quartet No. 4 ("Buczak")

Julia Fischer

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

In advance of her concert with the New York Philharmonic this weekend, rising star violinist Julia Fischer joins Terrance McKnight to talk about her skyrocketing career and share some musical examples, including a preview of her upcoming Bach album.

Julia Fischer's website

Music of Plum Village

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

We hear music by Vietnamese monk Thích Nhất Hạnh, founder of Buddhist meditation center Plum Village in the south of France. Also, traditional folk music of Sicily from the 2002 album Voci. Later on, it's two bird-themed works for piano: Franz Liszt's version of St. Francis of Assisi's "Sermon to the Birds," and Olivier Messiaen's "Short Sketches of Birds."

Also Featured Tonight

Johann Sebastian Bach / Cello Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1008
John Cage / In a landscape
Ben Monder / Still Motion
Benjamin Britten / Cello Sonata in C, Op. 65
Ralph Vaughan Williams / "Songs of Travel"
Arvo Part / "Litany"

Things Ain't What They Used to Be

Monday, November 24, 2008

We hear a symphonic version of one of Duke Ellington's most popular jazz anthems, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" — as well as a snappy little Ellington arrangement from clarinetist Don Byron, "Blue Ribbons." Later, composer Francis Poulenc performs his own concerto for two pianos in a recording from 1962, and we hear works from American composers Eric Ewazen, John Harbison, and Charles Ives.

Also Featured Tonight:

Veljo Tormis / Our Shadows (Once We Will Reappear)
Nikolay Medtner / Three Nocturnes, Op. 16
Sergei Prokofiev / Symphony no.1 in D 'Classical'
Jacob Ter Veldhuis (Jacob TV) / Suites of Lux
Maurice Durufle / Messe "Cum Jubilo", Op.11

Sacred Sundays: Duke Ellington

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Host David Garland invites weekday Evening Music host Terrance McKnight to present sacred music that he knows and loves, and Terrance joins David to offer us Duke Ellington's "Second Sacred Concert." This multi-part work brings Ellington's colorful, jazz-based music together with a sense of worship and wonder. The piece was dear to Ellington's heart, and was first performed at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1968.

Ear to Ear: Ben Monder

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Virtuoso guitarist and composer Ben Monder has stretched, altered and reconstructed the definition of Jazz guitar, lending his own unique sound to the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and the Paul Motian Octet, among others. Monder also performs his original music internationally with his own quartet, trio, and in a duo project with vocalist Theo Bleckmann.

Visit Ben Monder's Website
Shop Ben Monder CDs at amazon.com
Download Ben Monder albums on iTunes

Two Way Conversation

Friday, November 21, 2008

We sample the artistry of late Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel in "Two Way Conversation," a series of duets with bassist Red Mitchell. Also, another duet from American Composer Lou Harrison, featuring guitarist David Tanenbaum and percussionist William Winant. Later in the evening, Duke Ellington and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt find common ground via the piano, in two serenely simple masterpieces: "Single Petal of a Rose" and "For Alina."

Also Featured Tonight:

Arnold Dreyblatt / "Lapse"
Bob Mintzer / Quartet No. 1 in Three Movements
George Phillip Telemann / Concerto No. 6 in A Minor
Johannes Brahms / Waltzes, Op. 39 (selections)

Refugee

Thursday, November 20, 2008

We hear Osvaldo Golijov's film noir-charged "Refugee," a track from his score to the Francis Ford Coppola movie "Youth Without Youth." Also, one of Robert Schumann's finest orchestral scores, his "Manfred" overture (to a romantic drama by Lord Byron). Later, a string quartet from American composer Richard Danielpour entitled "Psalms of Sorrow," complemented by William Russo's parable of the stages of life, the "Carousel Suite" (featuring the late Studs Terkel as narrator).

Also Featured Tonight:

Astor Piazzolla / Milonga del Angel
John Adams / The Chairman Dances
Johann Sebastian Bach / Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
Claude Debussy / "Six epigraphes antiques"
Edmund Rubbra / Cello Sonata in G Minor
Gunther Schuller / Concertino for Jazz and Orchestra

The Peaceable Kingdom

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Inspired by the "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings of Edward Hicks, composer Randall Thompson turned to Hicks' own source — the biblical book of Elijah — for his first large-scale sacred choral cycle. Thompson's "The Peaceable Kingdom" casts the chorus in the role of narrator, forging a dramatic narrative from several carefully selected biblical passages.

Also Featured Tonight:

Meredith Monk / "St. Petersburg Waltz"
Sergei Rachmaninoff / Morceau de fantasie, Op. 3
John Adams / China Gates
Poul Ruders / Credo
Sergei Rachmaninoff / Youth Symphony in D Minor
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky / "1812 Overture," Op. 49
Johannes Brahms / "Liebeslieder Walzer," Op. 52
Horatio Parker / Suite for Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 35

Orient and Occident

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has made a successful career out of writing expressively modern music that retains an ancient air. We hear his "Orient and Occident" from 2000, a conversation for string orchestra that alternates between unison lines and flashes of rebellious harmony. In contrast, we hear from another popular modern composer with a different style, Philip Glass, in "Echorus," a lullaby-like etude for violin and string orchestra.

Also Featured Tonight:

Robert Schumann / Sonata in G minor
Zoltan Kodaly / Cello Sonata, Op. 4
Philip Glass / Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi / "Stabat Mater"
Johann Sebastian Bach / Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011

Kebyar Maya

Monday, November 17, 2008

If Evan Ziporyn's "Kebyar Maya" sounds vaguely Indonesian, that's because it's based on an actual Balinese gamelan piece, "Kebyar Ding." The "Maya" in Ziporyn's piece stands for contemporary music superstar Maya Beiser — who recorded the work in 2000, acoustically overdubbing her cello 18 times to luminous effect.

Also featured Tonight

Billy Strayhorn / Chelsea Bridge
Johann Sebastian Bach / Sleepers Awake
Virgil Thomson / "Autumn"
Leo Brouwer / "Concerto Elegiaco" No. 3
Franz Schubert / Introduction and Variations on "Trockne Blumen"
David Chesky / Psalm I
Jacques Loussier / Concerto for Violin and Percussion

Sacred Sundays: Music of Gurdjieff

Sunday, November 16, 2008

For this week's Sacred Sunday feature, host David Garland presents music composed by the early 20th Century mystic Gurdjieff for his "Sacred Gymnastics and Movements." Gurdjieff believed that dance could be used as a language to express cosmic knowledge, and he created music to accompany carefully choreographed ensemble movement. In the 1920s Gurdjieff's music was orchestrated for presentations in New York and Paris, and a recent, premier recording of those orchestrations is featured.

Ear to Ear: Missy Mazzoli

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Missy Mazzoli is an active composer, performer, arts advocate and courier of new music in the New York scene. Based in Brooklyn, she has composed enterprising works for various soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras as well as music for her own all-female group, Victrola.

New Amsterdam Records: Missy Mazzoli
http://www.missymazzoli.com/
Missy Mazzoli on MySpace

Aaron Copland

Friday, November 14, 2008

With iconic works like "Rodeo," "Billy the Kid," and "Appalachian Spring," Aaron Copland (1900-1990) single-handedly defined the "American" sound in classical music. We mark the composer's birthday anniversary with a liberal sprinkling of his works, including "Simple Gifts," the Violin Sonata, and the Piano Variations.

Also Featured Tonight

Caleb Burhans / a moment for Nick Drake
Nick Drake / Hanging on a Star
Robert Kyr / Violin Concerto No. 2, "On the Nature of Harmony"
Johann Sebastian Bach / Concerto for Three Harpsichords and Strings
Philip Glass / Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra

Three Elegies for Nine Clarinets

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Englishman Gavin Bryars wrote his "Three Elegies for Nine Clarinets" as a present for his long time collaborator Roger Heaton, who recorded it for an eponymous release in 1995. In the manner of Steve Reich's "Counterpoint" series (which also appears on his album), Heaton multitracks the entire piece himself, performing on nine different instruments.

Also Featured Tonight:

Dino Saluzzi / Esquina
D.J. Olive & Matt Haimovitz / "Trans"
Sergei Rachmaninoff / Preludes, Op. 23
Max Reger / Cello Suite No. 1 in G, Op. 131
Mieczyslaw Karlowicz / Violin Concerto in A, Op. 8
Edouard Lalo / Piano Trio No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 7
Osvaldo Golijov / "Oceana"

Erkki-Sven Tüür

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Long before Jonny Greenwood was writing orchestral music for the BBC and films, Erkki-Sven Tüür was making the transition from Estonian rock star to serious world-class composer. We sample a bit of his artistry, from the tightly-knit, string-infused "Illusion" to the grandly fluctuating soundscape set forth in his "Requiem."

Also Featured Tonight:

Philip Glass / Songs and Poems for Solo Cello
Finn Savery / Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
Hans Werner Henze / Drei Tentos
John McLaughlin / Duos for Guitar and Piano
Manuel Enriquez / Rapsodia Latinoamericana

Pelimanni's Revenge

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The string quartet Ethel plays new music of all kinds, as evidenced by their second album, Light. We take a listen to their arrangement of Finnish harmonium player Timo Alakotila's lively toe-tapper "Pelimanni's Revenge." Also, music by two composers who follow the contemporary DJ mold when it comes to monikers, DBR and Jacob TV.

Also Featured Tonight:

Iva Bittova / "The Little Calf" (Dos Kelbl)
Stephen Perillo / Oboe Serenade
Morten Lauridsen / "Les Chansons de Roses"
Fred Lerdahl / Quiet Music
Charles-Valentin Alkan / Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.65
Harri Vuori / Symphony No. 1

The Carbon Copy Building

Monday, November 10, 2008

The good people from Bang on a Can made waves several years ago with their multimedia comic book opera, The Carbon Copy Building. We sample a track from the 2007 CD release of the work, billed as a "a dynamic and visually stunning trip through the gritty underside of urban life."

Also Featured Tonight:

Roberto Sierra / Trio No. 2
Poul Ruders / New Rochelle Suite
Bedrich Smetana / Piano Trio in G Minor, Op.15
Carlos Chavez / La Hija de Colquide
Dmitri Shostakovich / Viola Sonata, Op. 147
Dominic Frasca / Deviations

Sacred Sundays: A Love Supreme

Sunday, November 09, 2008

A Love Supreme is a suite conceived and composed in 1964 by saxophonist John Coltrane, one of the great visionaries and virtuosos of jazz. In this piece he transcended traditions, categories, and expectations by exploring the spiritual and sacred possibilities of his music.

David Garland's Sacred Sunday feature on Evening Music offers listeners a wide range of traditional and personal sacred music, and tonight features John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" in its entirety.

Ear to Ear: Fred Ho

Saturday, November 08, 2008

As a multi-faceted artist, educator and activist, Fred Ho has pioneered works for dance, theater, and multimedia, interweaving tradition with novelty and free form Jazz. The Brooklyn-based saxophonist and composer joins David Garland to share his music and talk about his many multicultural pursuits — which include leading the Monkey Orchestra, the Afro Asian Music Ensemble, and the production company Big Red Media Inc.

Fred Ho premieres his Bari Sax Concerto "When the Real Dragons Fly!" at Zankel Hall with the American Composers Orchestra on November 14th.

Fred Ho on MySpace
Big Red Media

Buy Fred Ho albums at amazon.com
Download Fred Ho albums with iTunes

Rivers

Friday, November 07, 2008

Like many modern composers, Canadian Ann Southam began her career by writing neo-romantic works, but later moved towards a lyrical sort of atonal minimalism. After several years exploring the field of electronic music, Southam went the way of acoustic instruments with evocative works like her "Rivers" series for piano, which we sample tonight.

Also Featured Tonight

Brenno Blauth / Concertino for Oboe and Strings
Eric Ewazen / Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Violincello and Piano
Charles Mingus / Compositional Theme Story: Medleys, Anthems and Folklore
Garrett Fisher / "Moon in the Bucket"
Johann Sebastian Bach / Triple Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1044

New Morning for the World

Thursday, November 06, 2008

"There comes a time when people get tired." With those words, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a remarkable speech that spelled out the road map to eventual victory in the struggle for civil rights. We hear Chicago composer Joseph Schwantner's inspirational symphonic tribute to Dr. King, New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom, which includes excerpts from that famous speech, given just over 50 years ago.

Also Featured Tonight:

Anthony Newman / Variations & Toccata for Violin
Arvo Part / Credo
Conlon Nancarrow / Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra (1986)
Kevin Volans / String Quartet No. 2, "Hunting: Gathering"
Sergei Rachmaninoff / "The Bells," Op. 35
Johannes Brahms / Clarinet Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120/1

The Conductors

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

As Alan Gilbert prepares to take over the New York Philharmonic next season, we look back to some of the NY Phil's music directors of the past. Recordings include Toscanini conducting Bach, Dmitri Mitropolous in Poulenc, and Bernstein in music by John Corigliano.

Also featured tonight:

Frank Zappa / Welcome to the United States
Ludwig van Beethoven / Variations on a Theme of Handel, WoO 45
James P. Johnson / Victory Stride
Richard Strauss / "Metamorphosen"
Gustav Mahler / "Ruckert Leider"

Looking to Tomorrow

Monday, November 03, 2008

Terrance McKnight helps ease your pre-election anxiety with music that looks to tomorrow, including Peter Boyer's "New Beginnings," John Lewis's "Odds Against Tomorrow," and that old holiday standby, "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day."

Frederic Rzewski / "The People United Will Never Be Defeated"
Richard Strauss / "Morgen!," Op. 27/4 (Tomorrow)
Jack Gottlieb / "Presidential Suite"
Jerome Moross / "The Last Judgement"

Sam Sadigursky

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Sam Sadigursky marries poetry to jazz in the art song tradition for his hypnotic "Words Project" albums — creating what one leading critic called "that rare anomaly: a jazz-and-poetry record that sounds utterly natural and convincing." The Brooklyn-based saxophonist, multireedist and composer joins David Garland in the studio to share and discuss those and other current activities.

Buy/Download the Words Project II album from amazon.com
Sam Sadigursky Discography

Visit Sam Sadigursky's website
Sam Sadigursky on MySpace