Hearing The Pulitzers

Episode 64 - 2006: Yehudi Wyner, Piano Concerto: 'Chiavi in Mano'

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a piano concerto that the composer, Yehudi Wyner, said "permits expression of the raunchy as well as the refined." How will that duality sit with the hosts? Why doesn't a distinguished composer like Wyner get more performances?? And what former PP winners make an appearance in the episode? 

 

 

If you'd like more information about Yehudi Wyner, we recommend:

• June Yin-Hsuan Chen's dissertation, "Analysis of Yehudi Wyner's Piano Concerto, 'Chiavi in Mano'"
• Chapter 17: "A Tale of Two Concertos: The Piano Concertos of Yehudi Wyner and Bernard Rands" in Observations on Music, Culture, and Politics by Daniel Asia
• David Cleary's "An Intoxicating Wyner at 70" in The New Music Connoisseur 8, no. 2 (2000) 9–10.

Bonus: Giants in the Earth Revisited

In 2020, Dave and Andrew released their 9th episode, covering Douglas Moore's forgotten opera Giants in the Earth without being able to hear it or even see the score. Now, after 50 years after the last performance, Giants in the Earth has appeared again in a new production by the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Will it be a hit or a miss?

If you'd like to know more about the performance, we recommend:

1. Information about the live performance by the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra
2. The streaming performance of Giants in the Earth
3. Joshua Barone's coverage of the performance in the New York Times, "An Operatic ‘Diamond on the Side of the Road’ Catches Light Again."

Episode 63 - 2005: Steven Stucky, Concerto for Orchestra, No. 2

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore a concerto for orchestra that achieved great heights by, in the words of its creator Steven Stucky, "standing on the shoulders of those who have already cleared the path ahead." But will our hosts appreciate the view? And who were some of the other nominees this year? We also discuss a rule change within the Pulitzer Prize award process that took effect with this year's winner. 

 

If you'd like more information about Steven Stucky, we recommend:

1. "Stucky, Hartke, Crockett: Conversations in Los Angeles." Contemporary Music Review, 10, no. 1 (1994): 51–73.
2. Franklin Crawford, "Steal this concerto, please: An interview with Steven Stucky" Cornell Chronicle, April 21, 2005.
3. Steven Stucky, Lutosławski and his Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981).
4. This Washington Post article about the changes to the music prize from June 2004.

Episode 62 - 2004: Paul Moravec, Tempest Fantasy

In this episode, Dave and Andrew dive into a work inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. Will the work live up to the Bard's reputation? And does this piece fit into the typical mold of a Pulitzer Prize winning work? 

 

If you'd like more information about Paul Moravec, we recommend:

1. Paul Moravec's personal website
2. Dialogue with Moravec for the Kansas City Lyric Opera's production of The Shining
3. Paul Moravec's short article “Tonality and Transcendence.” Contemporary Music Review vol. 6. no. 2 (1992): 39–42.

Episode 61 - 2003: John Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls

In this episode, Dave and Andrew go back to the events of 9/11 and listen to a piece memorializing the day. But will they find the piece moving or maudlin? And how does the piece hold up some 20+ years later? By this point, John Adams was a famous composer, but should this particular piece of his have won the prize? 

If you'd like more information about John Adams, we recommend:

1. His memoir Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life (you can read an excerpt at NPR).
2. Dan Blim's article referenced in the show, "Disunity and the Commemoration of 9/11 in John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls" Journal of the Society for American Music, 7, no. 4 (November 2013): 382-420.
3. Kalle Puolakka's article "Public Art and Dewey’s Democratic Experience: The Case of John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls" The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 74, No. 4 (2016): 371-81.

Episode 60 - 2002: Henry Brant, Ice Field

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the first experimental composer to win the Pulitzer since Charles E. Ives. With that pedigree, what will they think of Henry Brant's Ice Field? And why is this piece called a "spatial" composition?

If you'd like to learn more about Henry Brant and Ice Field, we recommend:

1. This video of the work with commentary from Michael Tilson Thomas and organist Cameron Carpenter
2. Maria Anna Harley's article “An American in Space: Henry Brant’s ‘Spatial Music.’” American Music 15, no. 1 (1997): 70–92.
3. Frank Oteri's 2002 interview with Henry Brant in New Music Box

Episode 59 - 2001: John Corigliano, Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the symphony of John Corigliano they don't know. After appreciating Corigliano's first and third symphonies, what will they think of the second? This piece, a rescoring and revision of Corigliano's String Quartet, is another in a recent stretch of winning works that began in a different form. 

If you'd like to learn more about Corigliano, we recommend:

1. This interview with Corigliano by Living the Classical Life
2. Corigliano's composer's note about the Symphony No. 2
3. Elizabeth Bergman's “Of Rage and Remembrance, Music and Memory: The Work of Mourning in John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and Choral Chaconne.” American Music 31, no. 3 (2013): 340–61

Episode 58 - 2000: Lewis Spratlan, Life is a Dream, Opera in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version

In this episode, Dave and Andrew talk about a curious winner for the year 2000 since it was originally composed 25 years earlier! What will they think about this blast from the past? It's also the first opera to win the Pulitzer Prize in many decades.

 

If you'd like more information about Lewis Spratlan, we recommend:

1. This video of Spratlan talking about the origins of the opera before the full premiere by the Santa Fe Opera.
2. This video of Spratlan detailing the opera's history with the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
3. A. Robert Lauer's article "The Santa Fe Opera’s Life Is a Dream" Bulletin of the Comediantes, Volume 63, Number 2 (2011): 155-60.

Episode 57 - 1999: Melinda Wagner, Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore a concerto featuring an instrument not often put into a concerto setting: the flute. But its title also promises a balance among three forces instead of a featured soloist. What will they think of this contradictory piece?

 

If you'd like more information about Melinda Wagner, we recommend:

1. Frank Oteri's excellent interview with Melinda Wagner from 2015
2. Yujia Xia's dissertation "Melinda Wagner and Her Piano Concerto: Extremity of Sky" from 2021.
3. Mark Alburger, "Winning the Pulitzer Can Brighten Your Whole Day: An Interview with Melinda Wagner," 20th-Century Music 6, no. 6 (1999): 1-7.

Episode 56 - 1998: Aaron Jay Kernis, String Quartet #2 (musica instrumentalis)

In this episode, Dave and Andrew return to the venerable string quartet for a piece that mixes tonality, modernist music, Baroque dances, and Medieval modality. But will this mixture work for them?

If you'd like more information about Aaron Jay Kernis and the String Quartet #2, we recommend:

1. Leta Miller's book Aaron Jay Kernis, the first biography of the composer that we reference several times in the episode.
2. A conversation between Kernis and Frank Oteri right after the biography was published.