Cuong, Concerto for Two Oboes I featured Re(new)al by Viet Cuong in Friday Performance Pick 450, and here were are a mere 10 weeks later with another work by the same composer. I would not usually have two works by the same composer in such … Read more
Viet Cuong, Re(new)al It is traditional to ring in the New Year with a toast, accompanied hopefully by a sense of optimism. So we can start a new year of our Friday Performance Picks the same way. Viet Cuong begins his composition Re(new)al with a … Read more
The American composer Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is active as a concert organist specializing in contemporary music. He has written numerous works for organ, but his compositions also include opera, orchestral works, and works for other solo instruments. Cooman has held the position of Composer … Read more
Maslanka, Symphony No. 4 Hank wanted to feature David Maslanka (1943-2017) in our Friday Performance Picks and, knowing that I have a particular interest, asked me to write about it. In the 1980s, a new generation of largely American composers started to rise. They did … Read more
Carlos Simon, Amen! Professor Carol has had a close association with the Dallas Winds for many years, giving their pre-concert lectures and doing other promotional work. Now that we are in Winston-Salem, she agreed to serve on the board of the Piedmont Wind Symphony. There … Read more
Gjeilo, Unicornis Captivatur Unicornis Captivatur comes from the Engelberg Codex, a manuscript at the Benedictine Abbey of Engelberg in Switzerland. The manuscript dates from about 1400 and contains early German sacred music collected over a period of years. The Latin text is an adaptation of … Read more
Górecki, Totus Tuus Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010) was not among the composers I studied during my years of higher education. We spent quite a lot of time with his fellow Pole and contemporary Krysztof Penderecki, but Górecki‘s works had, for the most part, not yet … Read more
Kancheli, A Little Daneliade I’m guessing that many if not most of you will be intrigued with this piece by Giya Kancheli (1935-2019). The music makes more sense when you know that it serves as the film score to the 1986 Russian-language film Kin-dza-dza. The … Read more
Kevin Puts, And Legions Will Rise Some of the selections I make for this series are the result of careful planning and others come about on pure whim. I have some guiding principles—aesthetic, legal, and pedagogical—that constrain me only a little. I try to present … Read more
Johnson, Failing The American composer Tom Johnson (b. 1939) describes himself as a minimalist. The term was first applied to the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and others in the 1960s denoting music that used limited resources or materials and that tended to be … Read more
