This week, the Cassatt String Quartet is having its annual Cassatt in the Basin residency, through which they bring the abiding principles of chamber music -- effective communication, responsibility to the group, mutual respect, and intimate musical expression – to young people in West Texas. They began yesterday with a concert that included music by Melinda Wagner and Lev 'Ljova Zhurbin. They … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2018
Music by the Second
Sometimes I’m amazed when I realize the number of clocks I encounter every day: on the wall, on the stove, on the phone, on the screen I’m typing on now. Reminders of the passage of time seem ever present. But it’s not really the passage of time, is it? It’s the current time. Unlike the clocks I grew up with -- clocks with faces and arms and reference points around a circle – the clocks … [Read more...]
Eighth Blackbird Records Student Compositions
Last week I wrote about a recording session we had with soprano Lindsay Kesselman on March 15th. Two weeks later we brought Eighth Blackbird here to record seven student chamber pieces: Oliver Glynn: A Couple of Ogden Nash Poems Nicholas Karr: Sulcus Thomas Little: Invasion of the Minor Seconds Thomas McMillan: Prime Gaps Algernon Robinson: Spring Luis Sanz: Transiciones … [Read more...]
Recording songs by student composers
I wrote here about the recording session we had in February with the Attacca String Quartet. We had another this past month, this time with soprano Lindsay Kesselman and pianist Daniel Pesca collaborating on four student songs: Kyrie Antoinette: Old News Derek Wesley Arnold: The Song of the Shirt Alicia Bachorik: How Do I Love Thee? Jessica Buford: They Were Miners Jessica’s song … [Read more...]