Hearing The Pulitzers

Episode 42 - 1984: Bernard Rands, Canti del Sole

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a composer associated with New Romanticism. But is that label reductive or does it accurately describe Bernard Rands's music? How about this song cycle based on poems about the sun?

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

1. Will Robin's article "Horizons ’83, Meet the Composer, and
   New Romanticism’s New Marketplace" in Musical Quarterly, Vol. 102, nos. 2-3 (2019): 158–99.
2. Benjamin Rivera's thesis "An Introduction to the Musical Language of Bernard Rands, as Demonstrated in Canti d'Amor" from Roosevelt University in 2005.
3. Bruce Duffie's interview with Bernard Rands.

Bonus: An Interview with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

In this special bonus episode, Dave and Andrew talk with Pulitzer Winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. What did she learn studying at Florida State University and with former Pulitzer winners Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter? And why does she have a framed "Peanuts" cartoon in her studio? We hope you enjoy hearing from her about these insights and more!

 

Episode 41 - 1983: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Symphony No.1 (Three Movements for Orchestra)

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss the first female Pulitzer Prize winner, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who wrote a symphony of all things. What will they think about the first symphony to win the prize since Walter Piston's Symphony No. 7 back in 1961?

 

As promised in the episode, here's Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's appearance in Peanuts.

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

1. Julie Schnepel's article "Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Symphony No. 1: Developing Variation in the 1980s" in Indiana Theory Review Vol. 10 (Spring and Fall 1989): 1-19
2. Anthony J. Palmer's "Interview with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich" in Philosophy of Music Education Review Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2011): 80-99.
3. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's website.

Episode 40 - 1982: Roger Sessions, Concerto for Orchestra

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss the third winner of the Pulitzer Prize to study with Horatio Parker at Yale, Roger Sessions, for his Concerto for Orchestra. Since the other two winners were Charles Ives and Quincy Porter, it isn't a shock that Sessions was 85 years old when he won. What will they think about this blast from the past?

 

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

1. Roger Sessions on Music: Collected Essays, edited by Edward T. Cone (Princeton University Press, 1979).
2. Andrea Olmstead's book Roger Sessions: A Biography (Routledge, 2008).
3. The Correspondence of Roger Sessions by Andrea Olmstead and
   Roger Sessions (Northeastern University Press, 1992)
4. The Roger Sessions Society

Episode 39 - 1981: No Winner

In this episode, Dave and Andrew cover the fourth and final time (so far) that the Pulitzer Board decided not to award a music prize. Unlike 1965, which was the last year they didn't award the prize, 1981 wasn't mired in controversy. So why did the Pulitzer Board not award a prize and what should have won? As a bonus, Dave and Andrew also discuss lessons learned after covering 40 years of the Pulitzer Prize and make predictions for what's to come!

 

Episode 38 - 1980: David Del Tredici, In Memory of a Summer Day

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a composer Aaron Copland called a "rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift." Will they agree with Copland about David Del Tredici's In Memory of a Summer Day?

 

If you'd like more information about David Del Tredici, we recommend:

1. Contemporary Music Review's issue on New Tonality, volume 6, issue 2 (1992), including Paul Moravec's interview with Del Tredici.
2. J. D. Dolan's article on Del Tredici in BOMB, No. 60 (Summer 1997): 42-45
3. James E. Chute's dissertation "The reemergence of tonality in contemporary music as shown in the works of David Del Tredici, Joseph Schwantner, and John Adams" (University of Cincinnati, 1991)
4. A recent interview with Del Tredici

Episode 37 - 1979: Joseph Schwantner, Aftertones of Infinity

In this episode, Andrew and Dave explore a composer they first encountered with his music for wind band. In his Pulitzer-winning work, Schwantner fashioned a composition critics have described as creating a "poetic illusion—but only an illusion— of movement." Will this illusion win them over?

 

If you'd like more information about Schwantner we recommend:

1. James Chute's dissertation "The reemergence of tonality in contemporary music as shown in the works of David Del Tredici, Joseph Schwantner, and John Adams" (University of Cincinnati, 1991)
2. Schwantner's website

3. Cynthia Folio's article "The synthesis of traditional and contemporary elements in Joseph Schwantner's 'Sparrows,'" Perspectives of New Music, vol. 24, no. 1 (1985): 184-96.

Episode 36 - 1978: Michael Colgrass, Déjà Vu

In this episode, Dave and Andrew record their first live podcast event! In front of the Kansas City Conducting Symposium, they discuss an unusual work for the Pulitzers in that Michael Colgrass featured the percussion section of the orchestra. Will they enjoy this departure from standard orchestration?

 

 

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

1. Colgrass's autobiographies Adventures of an American Composer and My Lessons with Kumi 
2. James Donald Broadhurst's dissertation "The early drum-melodic music of Michael Colgrass and the evolution of the Colgrass drum" (The Ohio State University, 2005)

Episode 35 - 1977: Richard Wernick, Visions of Terror and Wonder

In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a Pulitzer winner that has so fallen out of the repertoire that there is no commercially available recording. But that doesn't mean there aren't interesting things to learn about the state of music in the late 1970s! For example, why was there an extra meeting of the jury, and did all the members participate in the deliberations? Listen to find out! 

 

If you'd like more information about Richard Wernick, we recommend:

1. This interview with Wernick from 2021 with the Network for New Music
2. Michael Rose's dissertation "Unity in diversity: the synthesis of compositional approaches in Richard Wernick's Vision of terror and wonder"
3. Bruce Duffie's interview with Wernick

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Episode 34 - 1976: Ned Rorem, Air Music

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore a composer better known for his songs who won for an orchestral work, Ned Rorem. They may enjoy The Nantucket Songs but what will they think about Air Music?

And was Air Music actually supposed to win the Pulitzer Prize??? Tune in to find out.

If you'd like to know more about Ned Rorem, we recommend:

1. Ned Rorem, The Paris and the New York Diaries, 1951-1961, Open Road Media
2. J.D. McClatchy's 1999 interview with Ned Rorem in The Paris Review, Issue 150
3. A Ned Rorem Reader (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001)