Mario Diaz de Leon Premieres "Sacrament" with Talea Ensemble

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 16, 2017, 5:39 p.m.

New York's Talea Ensemble, co-directed by PSNY composer Anthony Cheung, will premiere a new work by fellow PSNY composer Mario Diaz de Leon, entitled Sacrament, at National Sawdust on February 17th. Commissioned by Talea, Sacrament is scored for ensemble and electronics, bringing Diaz de Leon's signature fire and intensity to a concert program that also includes premieres by Jason Eckhardt and Joshua Fineberg. Diaz de Leon and Talea have worked together before: they commissioned his 2013 work The Chapel Abyss, and performed Trembling Time II with the Cairn String Trio. Check out that performance below. 

Ann Cleare's "eyam v (woven)" Premieres at RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 14, 2017, 12:29 p.m.

Since 2009, Ann Cleare has been composing new works for contrabass wind instruments in a series of works entitled eyam. As Cleare writes, her eyam works involve "building sonic structures and language from the visual and acoustic architectures of these large instruments, animating the peculiarity of their rich spectrums and orchestrating such qualities into vibrant sonic sculptures through a variety of acoustic, orchestral, and electronic set ups." 

On February 14th, the fifth of these works—eyam v (woven)—premeires at the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, performed with soloists Richard Craig (contrabass flute) and Carol McGonnell (contrabass clarinet). Cleare recently spoke about her eyam series, named after the so-called "plague town" of Eyam in Derbyshire, with the Contemporary Music Centre in Ireland: 

Music from Copand House: Pierre Jalbert, "Secret Alchemy"

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 13, 2017, 12:42 p.m.

On January 16th, Music from Copland House released an album of music by Pierre Jalbert, entitled Secret Alchemy. Referring to Jalbert's piece of the same name, this album title also suggests Jalbert's uncanny ability to combine musical idioms, create a singular compositional voice that emerges as completely new. The album contain recordings of works composed over a span of 15 years, including Piano Trio No. 1 (1998), String Trio (2008), Crossings (2011), and the titular piece, Secret Alchemy (2012). Check out an excerpt of Jalbert's Piano Trio No. 1, which the American Record Guide called "a new masterwork", above; and Jalbert's NewMusicBox interview below. 

Pierre Jalbert: All Music Great and Small from NewMusicBox on Vimeo.