In my heyday of podcast binging, one of my regulars was New Sounds, a WNYC Studios production. “New Sounds is New York Public Radio’s home for the musically curious, since 1982. It’s a hub for discovering weird and wonderful music from artists, composers and traditional musicians.” If you haven’t listened, absolutely add them to your podcast rotation. This playlist is bouncing off of one of my favorite New Sounds episodes, Strings… Plus. Themes add intention to searching for works to share and this week I’ve selected several string quartets, some with a little extra flavor. My most recent string quartet was premiered by the Bergamot Quartet in 2023 but has yet to be professionally recorded, so I am not yet including it in playlists. You can hear Remember Me here, but it’s better if it is both seen and heard.
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I give this playlist a Difficult Listening Hour rating of 5/10.
1. the promise of the far horizon by Jeffrey Mumford performed by the Corigliano Quartet. Album: the promise of the far horizon. “Jeffrey Mumford was born in Washington, D.C. and has been conspicuously active in that city’s musical life. His music has been performed throughout the United States and abroad and the present CD was preceded by one on the CRI label, similarly devoted to his chamber music. Honors, awards, fellowships and commissions have come to him from many prestigious sources. Following a year as composer-in-residence at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts, Mumford joined the faculty of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2000. Two of Mumford’s orchestral works – the celebratory fanfare Within a cloudburst of echoing brightness (1995) and Amid the light of quickening memory (2003) were commissioned and introduced by the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. These titles are characteristic for Mumford. He has shunned traditional sonatas and symphonies in favor of music that tends to define its own shape and substance, and his titles allude to the impressions or moods behind the creative impulse. References to light, radiance and resonance…
2. Stay Soft by Yve performed by the Bergamot Quartet, String Noise, and Yve. (Released as a single.) “Yve believes that genre as a concept can be limiting to the creative process so his work generally crosses between styles. He’s still developing his voice as a composer but his passion and affective intentions are tangible in his journey of making music with feeling.”
3-5. The Eggman Variations by Dmitri Tymoczko performed by Corigliano Quartet and John Blacklow. Album: Crackpot Hymnal. “This diverse collection of Dmitri Tymoczko’s music is introduced by the composer: “These days, we can carry the whole history of music in our pockets, Beethoven, Nancarrow, Coltrane and the Beatles rubbing shoulders on our phones. What sort of music should we write? Whatever we want, of course, but for me the answer has to involve this new diversity. I want to make music that weaves between stylistic poles in a way that is unexpected and entertaining – not pastiche, but an attempt to find hidden roads connecting the familiar places we love.”
6. Four Marys by Julia Wolfe performed by the Cassatt String Quartet. Album: Julia Wolfe the String Quartets.
7. Individuate (Sō Percussion & Bergamot Quartet Version) by Darian Donovan Thomas. Album: Individuate. “I cannot find program notes about this work, but it seems to be a response to the increased anti-Asian hate in America and globally around the COVID-19 pandemic. To give more context, watch this video. “Individuate was commissioned through the Sō Percussion New Work Development Program by Sō Percussion and Bergamot Quartet. It is composed in a way that allows any instrumentalist to perform the piece, and the piece can also be performed by groups of multiples of four players. On this album, there are three versions – by Sō Percussion, by Bergamot Quartet, and by Sō Percussion and Bergamot together.”
8-10. Sweet Hardwood by John King performed by ETHEL. Album: ETHEL.
11. It Is My Heart Singing by Tina Davidson performed by the Cassatt String Quartet. Album: It Is My Heart Singing.
12. A Room of Her Own by Anne Cawrse performed by the Australian String Quartet. (Released as an EP).