The MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grants” have been known to go to some pretty awful people, but on balance the fine-arts grants have tended to be…well, not altogether bad. Stephen Hough, my favorite classical pianist, got one a couple of years ago, and now Osvaldo Golijov, one of the most interesting and provocative classical composers around, is part of the latest roster of recipients.
If you’re curious about what manner of composer is thought worthy of a MacArthur these days, I can recommend two CDs. This one contains a representative and well-played sample of his chamber music. Also of interest is his extraordinary Pasion Segun San Marcos, about whose New York premiere I had this to say in the Washington Post:
Golijov’s St. Mark Passion is a rich musico-dramatic stew in which seemingly incompatible styles are jammed together like the sounds you might hear through the open window of a fast-moving car on a hot summer night. Classical strings, chattering brass, Afro-Cuban percussion, flamenco guitar, a Venezuelan chorus that struts and hollers like a black gospel choir–you name it, Golijov has stirred it in, not merely for effect but with the shrewd self-assurance of a composer who knows exactly what he’s about.
The recording, incidentally, features Luciana Souza, about whom I need only remind you that her appearance with the New York Philharmonic in Central Park this summer was the subject of “About Last Night”‘s first posting. Enough said?
(Nobody asked me, by the way, but I’d sure like to see Maria Schneider get a genius grant.)