We’re taking a little break over the next couple of weeks, repeating two of our programs from earlier this year:

December 26: Program #151: Lou Harrison and Conlon Nancarrow 

January 2, 2009: Program #136: Stimmung

Have a safe and wonderful New Year. We’ll be back on January 9th with new programs.

In the meantime, your continued support of KALW  is greatly appreciated.

Maria de Alvear:  Asking  (2001)   -    Eve Egoyan, pno   Mode 187 (2007)

As with many of de Alvear’s pieces for piano, it is based on a open structure that requires the pianist to make many little and big decisions while playing, so the work itself is asking questions of the pianist.

De Alvear says: “The dialogue between the interpreter and the music is one of the main concerns in my music. It is very important for a work to focus, like a mantra does, the thinking energy of the pianist interpreting the score, so that there is enough space for the inner being of the interpreter to open up and blossom.”

Elliot Carter (11 Dec 1908): Piano Sonata 1946
Ursula Oppens, pno. Cedille (2008) cedillerecords.org

Edgard Varese (22 Dec 1883 - 6 November 1965): Ecuatorial (1934)
Abravanel, Utah Symphony, Vanguard Classics OVC 4031 (1991/1968)

Olivier Messiaen (10 Dec 1908 - 27 April 1992): Preludes (1929) #6,7,8
Angela Hewitt, pno. Hyperion CDA 67054 (1998)

A program of percussion music, 3 classics and one new one.

Edgard Varese - Ionisation (1931)
John Cage - 3rd Construction (1941)
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zyklus (1959)
La Scala Percussion Ens, Renato Rivolta, cond
Stradivarius STR 33816 (2008)

Peter Adriaansz: 7 Dances for Percussion Quartet (2004)
Den Haag Percussion Group  (unreleased)

December 22 is the 125th anniversary of Edgard Varese.  Watch a very stylized video of a performance of Ionisation.

Olivier Messiaen:

Et Exspecto Resurrectionem (1964)
Poems pour Mi (1948)  -  Yvonne Naef, mezzo

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Sylvain Cambreling, cond
Hänssler Classic CD 93.225 boxed set 8 CDs

Dance IV (1979)
Donald Joyce, organ

Two Pages (1968)
Philip Glass, electric organ; Michael Riesman, piano
Recorded 1975 - Nonesuch 79326 (1994)

Satyagraha (Act III conclusion) (1980) - arranged by Michael Riesman
Donald Joyce, organ
Anton Heiller Memorial Organ, Collegedale, Tenn
recorded April 1993 - BMG/Catalyst 09026-61825 (1993)

Kyle Gann: Saintly, from Private Dances, Time Does Not Exist, On Reading Emerson
Sarah Cahill, piano; on Private Dances, New Albion NA 137 (2007)

And a brief tribute to Berkeley composer Jorge Liderman who tragically passed away in February.

Jorge Liderman: Swirling Streams (2003) - David Tanenbaum, guitar; Earplay, Mary Chun cond. - Bridge 9150 (2004)
and selections from Aires de Sefarad - 46 Spanish Songs for Violin and Guitar
#1: Por la tu puerta yo pasi (I came through the door)
#24: Adios querida (Good bye my dear)
Duo 46: Matt Gould, guitar; Beth Ilana Schneider, violin - Albany TROY 829

New programs will resume next week with number 160. Stay tuned!

Peter Adriaansz is a young Dutch composer born in Seattle, Washington and now living in Den Haag, Netherlands. His chamber and solo pieces are widely performed in Europe and in the US

Triple Concerto (part 1) (2003) - Array Music
Serenades II-IV (2004) - Catch Electric Guitar Quartet
La Voce di Zarlino (part 1) (2006) - Compagnie Bisschof
9 through 99 (2003) - Ives Ensemble

(unreleased recordings provided by the composer)

Rebroadcast from earlier this year.

Romanian composer living in Paris, Horatiu Radulescu, passed away suddenly at the age of 66 last month. The inventor of “spectral music”, he was one of the most extraordinary composers of his generation. Little known to the concert halls here in the U.S., his music is widely performed in Europe.

Horatiu Radulescu: Piano Concerto “The Quest” (1996)
Ortwin Stürmer, pno; Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Lothar Zagrosek, cond.
cpo 999589 (1998)

»The Times obituary

»Wikipedia entry

Elodie Lauten: The Death of Don Juan (Act I)  (1984)
Ens dir by Elodie Lauten
Unseen Worlds Records 2008 rerelease of CC713 on Cat Collectors Productions (1985)

Chen Yi: China West - Suite for 2 Pianos (2007)
Maki Namekawa & Dennis Russell Davies
Klavier-Festival Ruhr, 2008

Olivier Messiaen: Un Sourire (1989)
SWR Symph Orch Baden-Baden und Friebourg
Sylvain Cambreling, cond.
Hänssler Classic 93.225  (2008)

 
Eric de Visscher:  Stille und Lärm (1993)
Serge Verstockt:  Apeiron (1993)
Champ d’Action ensemble, conductor Celso Antunes
Megadisc  MDC 7869 (1994)

Wayne Siegel: Domino Figures
Los Angeles Electric 8 electric guitar ensemble

Joan Jeanrenaud: Vermont Rules (2002)
Jeanrenaud, cello, effects;  Talking House “Strange Toys”

Arthur Levering:  Catena (2000)
Donald Berman, piano; Dinosaur Annex Chamber Orchestra, Scott Wheeler, cond
New World Records 80662 (2008)

Terry Riley:  June Buddhas from Mexico City Blues (1991)
Brooklyn Philharmonic, Ennis Russell Davies, cond
Musical Heritage Society re-release 5180914 (2005)

Jeffrey Ryan: String Quartet #3 “sonata distorta”  (2006)
Penderecki String Quartet; Centredisques CMC CD 13308 (2008)

After a couple of programs of “challenging” music, here’s an hour of embarrassingly tonal “easy listening” piano music from recent releases we’ve received.

Ann Southam: Glass Houses
Gavin Bryars: After Handel’s Vesper
… Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano; Wellspringe WEL0008 (2008)

Valentin Silvestrov: Bagatells I-XIII (2005)
… Valentin Silvestrov, piano; ECM New Series 1988 (2007)

Giovanni Verrando: Agile (2004)
Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Stradivarius STR 33573 (2007)

Luciano Berio: Ritorno degli Snovednia (1977)
Ensemble InterContemporain, Pierre Boulez, cond., Sony Classics (1991)

Maurico Kagel: Tactil  (1970)
Deutsche Grammophon 445252

Mauricio Kagel, closely associated with Stockhausen, Boulez, and others of that generation, has died in Köln at 76.

Mostly self-taught, Kagel’s music combined theatrics and comedy. Nothing he produced was ordinary in any way.

Some worthwhile obits do justice to his life and legend more than I can:

• Philip Clark in Gramophone
• William Grimes in the NY Times
• Adrian Jack in the Guardian
• Tom Service in the Guardian

Hovhaness: Lousadzak (1945)
Keith Jarrett, piano; Dennis Russell Davies, American Composers Orchestra
Music Masters MMD 60204 1989 rereleased Musical Heritage Society 2005 5180932

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Dichotomie: Mecanisme/Organisme (2000)
Gloria Cheng, piano. Telarc 80712 (2008)

Michael Byron: A Bird Revealing the Unknown to the Sky (2005)
Joseph Kubera, piano; New World Records 80679 (2008)