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New Sounds

Friday, April 27, 2007
  • Marc Mellits
    Composer Marc Mellits

    Mellits, the "Post-Minimalist"

    For this New Sounds episode, listen to “Brick” by Marc Mellits. The Baltimore-born composer wrote the piece for his mother, and most of the piece relates directly to her. Some movements seem to have been drawn from Mellits’ life experiences like “Purple Dandelion,” about the weeds that he’d picked for her when he was small; “Red Hammer,” so named after the Arnold Schwarzenegger of hammers, which was passed to him from his grandfather. Other movements might be entirely play, as Mellits likes to play rhythmic games, of which he says, “in a way, it is they that actually hold the music together, like the bricks in a house that are positioned in certain patterns, and still support the structure.” This new work, co-commissioned by WNYC through the Cheswatyr New Music Initiative, has already been taken on tour by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

PROGRAM #2519, WNYC Commissions (First aired on Tues, 3/7/06)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Steve Reich

The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1

Know What Is Above You [3:30]

This CD is not commercially available. It was made for a WNYC fundraiser in 2001.

Philip Glass

The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1

Now So Long After That Time [5:00]

See above. This Glass work is now part of Glass’s “Etudes,” recorded on Orange Mountain Music www.orangemountainmusic.com see also www.philipglass.com

Marc Mellits

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra @ Carnegie Hall, 2/4/06

Brick [22:30]

Not yet commercially available. See www.marcmellits.com for info

Derek Bermel

Alarm Will Sound on New Sounds Live @ Merkin Hall, 1/16/03

Three Rivers, excerpt [10:00]

Not yet commercially available. A recording by The Kitchen House Blend is on The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1, above.

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Twitchy Renaissance-Infused Minimalism

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From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, Nico Muhly presents a series of new electroacoustic ensemble works, combining “twitchy Minimalism” and Renaissance polyphony. Hear brand-new works from "Mothertongue," along with other works, recorded live.

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