State of Affairs is a call-in discussion program on Louisville’s NPR affiliate, 89.3 WFPL (kind of like Talk of the Nation), Weekdays at 11am (EST) Tomorrow’s topic is NEW MUSIC.  I will be a guest along with Marc Satterwhite, professor of composition at the University of Louisville.  Marc also coordinates the Grawemeyer Award.  Joining by phone will be Peter Lieberson, latest Grawemeyer winner. It’s a call in show, so if you have a comment or question give us a yell (I don’t know the number, but it will be announced throughout the program). “But Daniel, I don’t live in Louisville.”

IRIS By evidence (stephan moore + scott smallwood) Deep Listening (DL 35-2007) This two-disc collection offers an audio CD with works by evidence, and a DVD that uses this audio in collaboration with videos from “video artists, VJs, vusicians, live video performers, and time-based visualists…” Successful electronic/computer music is multi-dimensional. Chamber &Host (track 4, audio; track 1, DVD) offers a sonic depth and intricacy that allows detail and line to be felt and heard. The companion video by David Lublin & Jack Turner is simple and mesmerizing, hooking me as though it had a plot with a twist. IRIS moves

Harry Somers A Midwinter Night’s Dream Canadian Music Centre 12306 Any one considering an opera suitable for young people may want to consider Harry Somers’ A Midwinter Night’s Dream. The story takes place in very-north America, near the Artic circle, and tells the story of a bored young man who slips into a dream, thinking he is dead. The libretto, by Tim Wynne-Jones, shows a fusion of cultures, combining folklore and present-day ideas (like Star Wars and Miami Vice). The score is atmospheric. Using a piano and percussion, along with a children’s chorus, the textures move the text (and I

Many apologies for going silent for several weeks (I just KNOW you’ve been losing sleep without this column). Without giving excuses, I’ll move right along to three recordings you may not hear about anywhere else: Mark Zuckerman New Music for Strings Seattle Sinfornia; Joel Eric Sueben Momenta Quartet (MSR Classics 1223) Much of Mark Zuckerman’s music is infused with dance figures and folk melodic ideas, and makes us of titles in Hebrew and stories from the Old Testament. One such work, Out of the Wilderness, is a five-movement “symphony” based on a passacaglia and is “a metaphor for the continuing

New York City – On Friday afternoon, March 9, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, music critic Tim Page of The Washington Post hosted a panel discussion between five Grawemeyer-winning composers: John Corigliano (1991), Sebastian Currier (2007), Karel Husa (1993), Aaron Jay Kernis (2002), and Joan Tower (1990). Grawemeyer Symposium: (left to right) Tim Page, Aaron Kernis, Sebastian Currier, Karel Husa John Corigliano, and Joan Tower. Tim Page began with a quote from Virgil Thomson stating that to be an American composer, one must simply be in America and compose. All five composer/panelists contributed their thoughts

The University of Louisville descended on to New York City this week for a big event, and I don’t mean the Big East tournament (well, they did that also and lost). Musicians from the School of Music, the symphony orchestra and wind symphony, filled Carnegie Hall with music from Grawemeyer-winning composers and the 2007 Grawemeyer winner. To begin the concert, the University of Louisville Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kimcherie Lloyd, presented two very distinct works by Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994) and Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960). Fanfare for Louisville by Lutoslawski surrounded the concert stage with brass, winds and percussion in

Garden of Dreams David Maslanka Dallas Wind Symphony Jerry Junkin Writing for a large ensemble, especially a traditional, professional orchestra, can be a dangerous venture for today’s composer. Hours, days, and years (sometimes) of composition, orchestration, preparation of parts, and personal anguish over a score that may get two hours of concert hall rehearsal before a world premiere. However, should a wind ensemble ever ask for a commission, quickly say yes. Wind ensembles (symphonies, bands, etc), particularly collegiate groups, are gifted with practice time enviable by any orchestra and their directors tend to be excited about new music. Jerry Junkin

Ecce Cor Meum Paul McCartney Kate Royal, soprano London Voices; Boys of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford; Boys of King’s College Choir, Cambridge Colm Carey, organ Mark Law, piccolo trumpet Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Gavin Greenaway EMI Classics 094637042427 That Paul McCartney was a member of the Beatles should be ignored for the next few minutes as you read the following. Our expectations are immediately met within the first thirty seconds of music: Bland choral writing, sophomoric orchestrations (not by McCartney, I assume), and predictable melodies that are served with cliché “lyrics” in English (interspersed with Latin). To