Anthony Cheung Builds a "Bridge to Beethoven"

by Ted Gordon on March 18, 2016, 12:30 p.m.

As early as ten years after his death, Beethoven had already achieved the status of a Greek God. 

In this famous painting from 1840 of Liszt at the piano (joined by Chopin, Berlioz, George Sand, and others), Beethoven's marble bust, floating on top of the piano in a hazy sunset, looks down upon the composers assembled—or perhaps they look up to it. Beethoven's legacy would be felt throughout the 19th century, through the 20th, and indeed is still felt in the 21st. 

The "Bridge to Beetoven" commissioning project, led by violinist Jennifer Koh, has commissioned contemporary composers (including Vijay Iyer, Andrew Norman, and Anthony Cheung) to write works in dialogue with Beethoven, showing his influence on a diverse group of musicians nearly two centuries after his death.



Anthony Cheung's "Elective Memory", written for Koh and pianist Shai Wosner, evokes Beethoven's Opus 96 violin sonata, written in the same year that Beethoven first met with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Cheung writes, 

This is a piece about the selective affinities that Jenny and I share for this particular Beethoven sonata – it is our favorite amongst the cycle – and the elective memories I have chosen to guide my response to it.

Cheung's orchestral work Lyra, which was written partially in response to Beethoven's fourth Piano Concerto, will also see a performance with The Cleveland Orchestra later in the month. You can listen to the New York Philharmonic's premiere of Lyra from their live broadcast here.

"Elective Memory" will be performed, along with the Op. 96 sonata that inspired it, at the 92nd Street Y on March 21st, following its premeire on March 13 at the Kreeger Auditorium in Rockville, MD. Be sure to check out the final installment of the Bridge to Beethoven series, which features new works by Andrew Norman. 

Alvin Singleton's 75th Birthday at Roulette

by Ted Gordon on March 10, 2016, 2:52 p.m.

Alvin Singleton has always been a singular voice in contemporary composition, and has been composing music throughout the post-war era. Now in his 75th year, Singleton is celebrated at Roulette with an evening of performances of seven of his most interesting works. In addition to the US premiere of Argoru IV for viola, part of his "Argoru" series for solo instrumentalists, the Momenta Quartet will perform two string quartets, pianist Joseph Kubera will play three solo piano works, and the trio of Meaghan Burke, Stephanie Griffin, and James Ilgenfritz will perform Be Natural.

Check out Singleton's comments on the concert below. 

Adrian Knight's "Obsessions"

by Ted Gordon on March 1, 2016, 10:15 a.m.

Adrian Knight's music is not afraid of dwelling. Knight composes music that stays, explores, and perhaps expands the associations that music previously had into new ways of being in the world. Not afraid of long-form, iterative compositions, Knight has composed sonic meditations for a vareity of instruments—including string quartet, piano and electronics, and the guitar-percussion duo The Living Earth Show. 

The pianist R. Andrew Lee was perhaps a natural fit for Knight's interest in long-form, evolving treatments of sonic space. Lee's recent commissioning project seeks to expand the repertoire for solo piano of compositions that are 45 minutes or longer—a rarity in a musical landscape dominated by short, easily digestible new pieces of music. Instead, Lee's commissions seek to dominate a concert program, or serve as the basis for single recording projects.

Knight's piece for Lee, Obsessions, has recently been released by Irritable Hedgehog recordings, and is freely available for streaming at I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. In the liner notes to the album, William Robin writes, 

“Obsessions” is at once abstract and deeply felt. The compulsive repetitions of the music sound, at times, less peaceful than indignant, irritated, regretful. As Knight remarked, “It’s probably my most personal piece, because, like life, its trajectory wasn’t predetermined. All I knew was that it would have to end.” 

Lee will perform Obsessions on March 2nd in Brooklyn at Roulette, and on March 4th in Boston at the Goethe-Institut.