Podcasts
TAKE THE REPEAT
Network for New Music presents Take the Repeat, podcasts that revisit some of the most interesting projects in contemporary classical music. Hear music by some of today’s most exciting composers, and interviews with the artists that bring that music to life.
Subscribing to our podcast series is easy! Simply choose one of the two following options, depending on your preference:
- Subscribe via iTunes on your computer. Click here to open iTunes and subscribe to our podcast feed.
- Subscribe via a Feed Reader, such as Google Reader. Click here to access the feed url.
We’re excited to share three new podcasts with you, that bring you the inside story behind a couple of the most exciting events from this past season celebrating Eastern and Western music:
In 2008, Andrea Clearfield’s acclaimed Lung-ta, the Windhorse moved audiences with its deep spirituality and evocation of the vanishing horse culture of Lo Monthang in a remote region of Nepal. In her continuing effort to preserve this endangered music, Clearfield returned to Nepal in 2010 to gather more Tibetan folk songs. Her recordings of that music, rarely heard outside of Nepal, became an inspiration for new works expressing the musical and human connections between Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies. Composer and radio host Kile Smith talks to Andrea and to Eric Moe, both of whom wrote new works inspired by the music on those field recordings.
Network for New Music Ensemble gave the Philadelphia premiere of Chou Wen-Chung’s Ode to Eternal Pine, an evocative work composed in the spirit and style of chong ak, the ancient Korean chamber music. Chou, widely known and acclaimed as the dean of Chinese-American composers in this country, is interviewed here by composer James Primosch about this fascinating music, and about his long life as an ambassador for cultural exchange.
Network for New Music commissioned brilliant young international star Dai Fujikura to write a new work for the ensemble; the result was the spectacular quartet Halcyon for clarinet and strings. Music writer Peter Burwasser talks to Dai about the experience of composing this piece and hearing it played for the first time.
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And some older podcasts from our 25th Anniversary Season:
THE DIABELLI PROJECT
Those of you who were able to come to Network for New Music’s 25th Anniversary party on May 2, 2010, know what a wonderful event it was — good food, good friends, and most of all, good music! The centerpiece of the evening was the world premiere of 25 new variations on the familiar waltz theme composed by Anton Diabelli, made famous by Beethoven in his masterful set of 33 variations.
Click here to listen to classical music critic Peter Burwasser chat with Linda Reichert, Artistic Director, and Jan Kryzwicki, conductor and composer, about the Diabelli project, and to hear excerpts of some of the terrific variations composed for the occasion.
Although we only had time to excerpt a few of the variations in this podcast, we’d like to acknowledge the 25 composers and the musicians whose generosity and talent made this such a special event:
Ingrid Arauco, Kyle Bartlett, Richard C. Brodhead, Robert Capanna, Andrea Clearfield, Gene Coleman, Cynthia Folio, Jeremy Gill, Jan Krzywicki, David Laganella, Gerald Levinson, David Ludwig, Robert Maggio, Philip Maneval, Andrew McPherson, James Primosch, Jay Reise, Arne Running, Kile Smith, Melinda Wagner, Joseph Waters, Anna Weesner, Richard Wernick, Thomas Whitman
featuring Charles Abramovic, piano; Edward Schultz, flute/piccolo; Arne Running, Bb/A clarinets; Jason Calloway, cello; Jan Krzywicki, conductor
KILE SMITH INTERVIEWS BERNARD RANDS
Bernard Rands was in town last year to attend the Network for New Music concert on November 1 — the first all-Rands concert ever in Philadelphia! That concert also featured four works that were subsequently recorded for Network for New Music’s latest CD, which was just released on the Albany Records label (Troy 1194).
Composer and radio host Kile Smith took some time on a rainy afternoon in late October to interview this Pulitzer Prize-winning composer about his career and about the beautiful music recorded on Now Again: Music by Bernard Rands, performed by the virtuoso members of the Network for New Music Ensemble.
Click here to hear more samples from Now Again: Music by Bernard Rands, and here to purchase this CD. It’s the only place you’ll find this music outside the concert hall–all of the works on Now Again are previously unrecorded!