New Works from Evan Ziporyn, Lei Liang, René Leibowitz, Christopher Cerrone, and Hannah Lash

April 15, 2014, 8:54 a.m.

We're excited to announce that an amazing new batch of works are now available on PSNY!

From Evan Ziporyn, we have Tsmindao Ghmerto for solo bass clarinet and the Suite from ShadowBang. ShadowBang, a theater piece that combines aspects of traditional Balinese shadow puppetry with Western staging and music, has been recorded by the Bang on a Can.

From Lei Liang, just in time for spring, we have Listening for Blossoms. Check out a recording here: 

Newly available from René Leibowitz: Chanson Dada, the serialist's answer to anti-art. These short monodramas, for child's voice and small ensemble, are somewhere between Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge, with a decidedly French touch. 

Continuing with dramatic works, Christopher Cerrone's I Will Learn To Love A Person, in a new version for soprano voice and piano. Containing settings of five poems by Tao Lin, this piece is a rumination on time, love, and communication.  

And finally, Hannah Lash's This Ease, for Chamber Orchestra, commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and slated to be premiered on April 26, 2014. Grab a copy of the score before the piece is premiered! 

The British Are Coming! To PSNY!

April 9, 2014, 1:57 p.m.

Steve Martland (1954-2013) and Gavin Bryars (1943-) are two of the most interesting British composers of the 20th and 21st century, bringing unique compositional voices to the concert hall and beyond. Both innovators, they bent the rules of what concert music could be to introduce a plurality of musical aesthetics into their work, and into the lives of their listeners. And now, for the first time, select pieces of chamber music by both of these composers are available for immediate digital download from PSNY. 

Steve Martland, whose voracious appetite for musical influence knew no boundaries, and whose work involved groups as diverse as Manchester's Factory Records and the King's Singers, brings us two works: Kick, for flute, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and cello; and Starry Night, for string quartet and marimba. 

Bryars' works on PSNY include It Never Rains, for electric guitar, viola, cello, and double bass; and The South Downs, for cello and piano. Listen to a recording of The South Downs here. 

A Keeril Makan Premiere, Conducted by Richard Carrick

by Ted Gordon on April 4, 2014, 10:25 a.m.

Boston has always been a strong home for new music, and this weekend, across the Charles River, MIT hosts the world premiere of Keeril Makan's Letting Time Circle Through Us, for percussion, cimbalom, acoustic guitar, piano, violin, and cello. Makan's meditative, crystalline music has been recorded by ICE, the Kronos Quartet, and the Either/Or Ensemble-- and on Saturday, April 5th, fellow PSNY composer Richard Carrick leads the Either/Or ensemble in the performance of Makan's new piece. No stranger to performing Makan's work, Either/Or has recorded several of his works, and are a Visiting Artist ensemble at MIT for the 2013-2014 season. Check out some of our favorite works be Keeril Makan over at his Soundcloud page. 

Richard Carrick is also releasing a new CD on New Focus Recordings of compositions for solo electric guitar, entitled Stone Guitars. A preview of material on the forthcoming album can be seen below.