PSNY Remembers John Duffy (1926-2015)

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 6, 2016, 11:19 a.m.

John Duffy was truly a monumental figure in American music. From humble beginnings in the Bronx, where he was one of 14 children to an Irish immigrant family, he went on to compose over 300 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, television, film, and stage, and is largely responsible for the concept of a composer-in-residence, now adopted by nearly every major orchestra, through Meet the Composer (now New Music USA)—an organization he started in 1974 and ran for several decades. Duffy's musical compositions tread a path between a distinct sense of Americanness, evident in his interest in American history, politics, and culture, and a sense of Modernity, made audible in his unique compositional voice. We've featured some of his works before on PSNY, and encourage you to take a second listen. 

Duffy's passing this past December has lead to an outpouring of remembrances, memorials, and personal stories about this truly amazing figure. In the New York Times, William Grimes writes of Duffy's days as a night guard in a department store, when he would go to jazz clubs to see composer/performers such as Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, leading him to a life-long advocacy for jazz composers in America. In New Music Box, current New Music USA president Ed Harsh writes,

A gathering of voices would be entirely appropriate to John’s devotion to the American ideals of democracy and pluralism. He was known to list the quality of “tolerance” at the top of his list of values he appreciated most. The example of his own life suggests something broader, more positive and more proactive than mere tolerance. He was omnivorously curious about and respectful of all music. Even if a given artist’s work might not have been to his taste, he would be interested to know more about it, to understand a bit better what drove its creation. What’s more, he wanted others to be interested, too.

The comments on Harsh's memorial reveal Duffy's deep and long-reaching influence on a wide section of American music. Composers, performers, educators, and presenters such as Charles Wuorinen, Ursula Oppens, Charles Amirkhanian, and many others have added their voices to Harsh's rememberance. With this short tribute, we hope to add ours, too. 

Anthony Cheung's "Twin Spaces, Intertwined" Premieres in Chicago

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 10, 2015, 11:24 a.m.

The University of Chicago has long been held as the paragon of "the life of the mind." Established as a graduate research university in 1890, it has graduated classes of students every three months in quarterly convocation ceremonies; these ceremonies have taken place in the 1,800-seat-capacity Rockefeller Chapel since its construction in the 1920s. On December 11th, the newest class of graduates will mark the completion of their degrees by hearing the world premeire of Anthony Cheung's Twin Spaces, Intertwined — a new work for spatialized chamber ensemble, written specifically for the gothic cathedral space.

Performed by members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago under the baton of Michael Lewanski, Twin Spaces, Intertwined consists of separate wind and brass quintets spread out throughout the interior space of the chapel, along with two percussionists above the altar. Cheung writes: 

The idea is to fill the chapel with echoes and refrains, with the sensation of calls and responses, especially in the horns. […] The tone of the piece, while in many ways celebratory because of this specific occasion and reflected in quite jubilant passages at its climaxes, is also one of contemplation, reflection, and mystery.
 

 Check out a few excerpts from Cheung's recent work for ensemble, Time's Vestiges:

Andrew Norman Premieres "Split" at the New York Philharmonic

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 8, 2015, 11:24 a.m.

As Will Robin writes in his recent in-depth profile on Andrew Norman in The New York Times, a premiere of a new work by Norman is "a major event in the music world." Describing his somewhat hermetic, labor-intensive compositional practice, Norman reveals his dedication to the orchestral institution: "I love the orchestra, and I believe in it, and I think there’s a future there, and I think we should all be trying as hard as we possibly can to figure out where that medium can go." 

On the heels of his successful premiere of Switch at the Utah Symphony, and in anticipation of a new commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Norman will see his new work for the New York Philharmonic, entitled Split, premiere on December 10th, performed by pianist Jeffrey Kahane. Picking up on ludic cues from Switch, Split also involves a game-like architecture of percussive activation of large swaths of instruments—a feature that Norman culls from our saturated world of media, games, and screens. 

Clearly, Norman's vibrant, interactive musical style has resonated strongly with the contemporary orchestral landscape. In 2015, he has been one of the top ten most performed living composers in America, with nineteen performances of his orchestral works alone. And, only a few years after his Companion Guide to Rome was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Norman's Play, recently recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Of course, Play has already shown up on year-end top-ten lists from NPR, Rhapsody, and others; Alex Ross and other critics have hailed it as "a modern classic".