Author: Matthew Schreibeis

By now settled in to the Chicago chill, I’ve had a chance to speak with Bernard Rands and for both of us to hear the first rehearsal of his new work, Dream, with the Chicago Symphony and Music Director Riccardo Muti. There are many things I’ve been struck by, having now heard the work, as opposed to what I could “hear” with my inner ear, so I offer a few of my mental notes here.

The swell, which opens the work, plays a much larger role than I expected. In fact, this swell and the many directions it takes—a hairpin, a long decay, a final surge followed by silence as in the ending—may be the key element of the work, as much or more vital than the melody upon which much of the music is based. This recurring swell—multidirectional in character—relates perhaps to what Rands meant when he spoke to me of harmonies that can go in “more than one direction.” Perhaps not just harmonies, I would add, but the gestures through which those harmonies are deployed. Taking things one step further, this swell is not just a gesture but also a structural idea or concept, for the work proceeds overall through a series of build-ups and various degrees of decay. This is a kind of “three-dimensional” thinking—and listening—to which I’m very much drawn.

Another thing I’ve been struck by is how the beautiful lyric melody, which concludes the work, permeates even more aspects of the music than I envisioned from having studied the score. It is not just the wind solos presenting melodic fragments as the piece progresses, but some of the pizzicato figures and the long-resonating punctuation of tubular bells, among many other points of references. Especially after hearing the piece a few times, these iterations emerge in a quasi-déjà vu-like fashion, creating an overall—dare I say it—dreamlike atmosphere.

The role of certain orchestrations and timbres is also more pronounced than what I imagined. Those same tubular bells, besides tolling parts of the melody, play a structural role, helping us to identify the start of several sections by “resetting”, in a sense, the pulse and focusing our momentary sense of tonic.

Hearing Rands’ work for the first time reminded me once again that our ability to perceive things aurally far outpaces our ability to detect some of them on the page. As I have often put it: “The ear is faster than the brain!” I’m looking forward to accumulating some more aural data over the coming days.

This week I’m heading to Chicago to meet with composer Bernard Rands for a series of interviews and to attend rehearsals and performances of his new work, Dream, with the Chicago Symphony and Music Director Riccardo Muti.  What a privilege it has been to spend time getting to know this score in advance of our conversations and actually hearing the music.  I first met Bernard back in 2008 at the Nevada Encounters of New Music Festival at UNLV in Las Vegas and got to know him the following year during an intensive week of performances, seminars, and—if I can recall correctly…a few drinks—at June in Buffalo.  We have kept in touch since then, and I have always been moved by his music, which speaks from the heart through the clearest technical means, and by his supportive friendship.

My visit is part of what I plan to be at least one article devoted to his new composition and related works for orchestra.  In this case, the related works have in common a melody that Rands composed decades ago during a flight from London to Sydney.  What interests me is the way this tune has found its way into three very different orchestral contexts in his compositions London Serenade and …body and shadow…, both from 1988, and now Dream.  Through our conversations, I hope to glean some hints of how and why this particular tune has stuck through all these years, as well as broader aspects of his compositional approach and philosophy.  From my initial study of the score, I can tell that the “dream” aspect of the work comes through in music that seems to move spontaneously from one idea or mood to the next, sometimes shadowy and mysterious, other times intense and rhythmic, but most often than not warm and with a slightly nostalgic underpinning.  I’m very much looking forward to hearing the work over the coming days and enjoying the splendid musical scene of Chicago in fall.

It has taken me a bit longer than I expected, but I am nearing the end of the editing process of my upcoming CD for Albany Records.  The recording, which took place last summer at Oberlin, is sounding great, but with Tony Arnold, the musicians of Zohn Collective, and intrepid conductor, Tim Weiss, this should come as no surprise.  It looks like the physical product will come into being this summer, so a CD release party sometime next fall must be in the works.  Details, details…

I’m very happy to learn that Eunmi Ko will be performing the work I wrote for her, Inner Truth, as part of her faculty recital at the University of South Florida.   Eunmi has recently performed the work at the San Francisco International Piano Festival, the World Piano Conference in Serbia, and the Dot the Line Festival in Seoul.  By now, I trust she has the piece firmly in her grasp.  Tampa friends, please check out this event on September 15, which also features USF faculty Francesca Arnone (flute) and Amy Collins (oboe) faculty.

I’ve received word from Tiffany Ng that she’ll be performing my carillon work, Resonant Memories, during her faculty recital as part of the 59th Annual University of Michigan Organ Conference on September 30 in Ann Arbor.  The theme of the conference is “Building Bach: His Foundations and Futures.”  My work, which Tiffany premiered in 2018, fits into this program because of the contrapuntal aspect of much of the piece.  As I wrote in a revised program note for this performance:

“One of J. S. Bach’s many musical “magic tricks”, especially in works for solo instruments, is the way he crafts a single musical line to imply two or more independent voices, or what is often called compound melody.  This sense of lines being woven together and apart, of going in and out of sync, is one of the marvelous qualities of his work.  In imagining my first composition for carillon, I found myself returning again and again to these woven melodies, as well as the ephemeral quality of the instrument’s sound.  No matter how large or powerful the initial attack–whether single note or complex chord–it instantly began to fade away.  There was an aspect of inevitable disappearance that I found intriguing and that suggested a certain musical character I wanted to explore.”

I’m so pleased Tiffany has programmed the piece again and look forward to hearing it person sometime soon.

I’ve received a link to video of pianist Eunmi Ko’s recent performance of Inner Truth at the Dot the Line Festival at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.  What a pleasure it is to remember this excellent interpretation!  I’m so pleased Eunmi will be playing the piece again next month at the San Francisco International Piano Festival.

I’ve received word from pianist Eunmi Ko that she’ll be performing my work, Inner Truth, at the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia on June 29.  Eunmi recently presented the work in Seoul and will be performing it in August in San Francisco.  I’m very happy to hear my work will be finding its way to Serbia for the first time!

Last week’s events with the Albany Symphony and David Alan Miller, including the premiere of my work, Unite in Song, were too big to fit into just one post, so I wanted to say a bit about the distinguished American composer, David Del Tredici, who was was one of the featured composers at this year’s American Music Festival.

I first came into contact with Del Tredici’s music as part of my weekly listening assignments during composition lessons with Christopher Rouse in my freshman year at Eastman.  The first work I heard, Final Alice (1976), is a huge, hour-plus piece and one of many connected with Lewis Carroll’s Alice tales.  During last week’s concerts, the Albany Symphony performed his Pop-pourri (1968), which Del Tredici describes as “a kind of Cantata of the Scared and Profane.”  I also got to hear a performance of his chamber work, Bullycide (2013).  Del Tredici’s work encompasses vast stylistic and sonic space, making use of massive orchestras, rock groups, crazed singing styles, Bach chorales, Schubertian harmonic progressions, noise, and everything in between.  After hearing his Pop-pourri, a non-composer but highly-informed musical amateur asked me: “Was that crazier than Ligiti?”  And, in fact, I believe it was!  (There is a whole issue of American composers not getting the “credit” the European “Masters” have more easily received.  Hint: Copland, Piston and other mid-century symphonists, Druckman, Rochberg, and others.  But I digress…)

Beyond the musical interest and joy in listening to his music, I must say that hearing David Del Tredici speak to us “young” composers about his life and work—his struggles, fears, triumphs, hopes—his Composer’s Ten Commandments—was the most touching aspect of my time in Troy.  Regardless of style, I have always felt the greatest honor in meeting composers “of a certain age.”  Anyone who has managed to survive the harshness of a creative life has my highest respect.  Especially when they are kind.

For the last week I’ve had the pleasure of working with musicians of the Albany Symphony and their music director, David Alan Miller, as part of the Orchestrating in the 21st Century Workshop and American Music Festival at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC for short) in Troy, NY.  The sheer number of events has been staggering: orchestral and chamber music performances, film screenings, lectures, orchestration workshops with Chris Theofanidis, late-night jam sessions…there’s been something for everyone and then some!  

The highlight for me was the premiere of my 10-piece ensemble work, Unite in Song, on Thursday night with members of the Albany Symphony and David Alan Miller conducting.  In writing this work, I was inspired by the festival’s theme, “Sing Out, New York!”, and wanted to write a piece that honored the role music has played throughout civil rights movements.  The piece packs a lot into its length, opening with very active flourishes, moving through syncopated rhythmic passages, giving us some—hopefully catchy—dance music, and concluding with a memorable (and singable) tune.  I would emphasize the word singable, because the score calls for most of the musicians to quietly sing the tune in the final bars atop a groove in the marimba and lower strings.  

Maestro Miller is well known for his relentless championing of contemporary music, and I believe it was this background, encompassing vastly disparate styles over many years, which caused him—with the significant support of Chris Theofanidis—to suggest trying various vowels (“ah”, “oh”, “oo”) to give different effects in the sung portion.  In the end, we settled on the more mysterious “ah” vowel, and I was very pleased with the result!*  

I was truly impressed with every aspect of this week’s events: the level of musicianship and open-mindedness of the players; Chris Theofanidis’ ability to get to the crux of any orchestral problem, the supporting staff throughout the week, the venue (EMPAC is one of the finest performing arts complexes I’ve ever seen, and the Albany region is so lucky to have it.), the town of Troy with its lovely restaurants and farmers’ market.  I definitely hope to get back here one day!

(*Thinking back to some of my recent compositions, it seems that various vocalizations are becoming a recurring aspect of my work.  The large-scale song cycle I wrote for Tony Arnold, Sandburg Songs, includes spoken text and a long hummed vocalise in addition to singing.  My guitar work, They Say, requires the player to hum a tune at one point and speak text while playing at another.  To the extent that it is possible—in many cases it is not—it’s interesting to observe one’s tendencies and their origins.)  

I’ve concluded a brief but meaningful 2-day stay in Seoul.  Having come to know this place quite well over the years, I always look forward to its energy, delicious food, and warm people.  During this visit, I enjoyed a deeply felt performance of my piano work, Inner Truth, by Eunmi Ko, as part of the inaugural Dot the Line Festival at Ewha Womans University.

Although I composed the work for Eunmi as part of her Tributes to Isang Yun centennial project, for various logistical reasons, this was the first time she performed the piece.  (It was previously performed in Chicago and Hong Kong.)  I can say without reservation that it was worth the wait, for hers was a performance of total commitment and deep emotion.  I was especially struck by Eunmi’s understanding of the work’s architecture.  Her sense of tension, drama, and pacing aligned nearly perfectly with how I conceived the piece.  Throughout her performance there was never a doubt that the climax was on the way, no matter how long it was in coming.  What a pleasure it was to hear this performance, as well as the work of so many other interesting composers.  

Later this morning I will board a plane for the US as I travel to Troy, New York for a week of workshops and a premiere with members of the Albany Symphony, conductor David Alan Miller, and composer Christopher Theofanidis.  The physics behind the reality of boarding a flight at 10am, traveling fourteen hours, only to arrive at a destination on the same day—once again around 10am—elude my pitch-and-rhythm-based brain.  Nonetheless, I look forward to catching up on some movies I’ve missed…and perhaps some sleep as well!

During all my composition lessons in graduate school, one of the few concrete pieces of advice I can recall is being told by composer James Primosch that I should read Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird.  Now, more than ten years later (I wonder if my advice taking might speed up with age?), I’m making my way through the book.  It’s brilliant!  Here I am coming across what I recalled Jim telling me about having to write a “shitty first draft” and Lamott’s recollection of John Gardner comparing writing to creating a dream and how “the dream must be vivid and continuous.”  What a perfect description of how I myself view creative work, whether written, visual, or aural!  It’s always interesting to me to note the overlap, almost never literal, but quite often completely clear, between the creative process of different artistic pursuits.  This is the kind of discussion that comes out over dinner (and drinks) at artist colonies.  Just a quarter way through this book, I now have fodder for a few more questions, discussions, and arguments with my fellow creative-types.  I wonder what dream I’ll dream up next?  

The conclusion of The Keyboard in the 21st Century means I finally had some time to finish my new Albany Symphony commission.  Part of this year’s American Music Festival, “Sing Out, New York!”, celebrating the city’s role in civil rights movements, I wanted to create an energetic, optimistic work that pays tribute to the role music has played in helping to unite people for positive change.  My work, Unite in Song, seeks to illustrate this sense of joining together for a common purpose through a singable (and hummable) tune.   

As set out in the commission, the work is scored for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, and a string quintet—an ensemble that I will admit to needing some time to wrap my head around (not quite a chamber orchestra, yet too big for chamber music).  Coming in at about three and a half minutes (The maximum length permitted was five.), I see this as a series of moments and ideas that will likely grow into a longer (ca. 7-8 minutes) and larger (full orchestra) work.  I’m so looking forward to working with Christopher Theofanidis, our mentor composer for the “Orchestrating in the 21st Century” workshops and masterclasses, and the ASO’s Music Director, David Alan Miller, a champion of contemporary orchestral music. 

After months of preparation, thousands of e-mails, and numerous rehearsals, our two-day international composition conference, The Keyboard in the 21st Century, concluded with great success.  It featured all 7 HKBU faculty composers, a dozen guest composers, and 13 musicians in a series of 5 concerts, 2 lectures, and a roundtable discussion.  I was especially pleased with the diversity of styles that were represented, including acoustic, electro-acoustic, and intermedia works for piano, harpsichord, and synthesizer.  It was wonderful to hear the music of our Featured Guest Composer, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, from Eastman (I last saw Carlos in Maccagno, Italy while teaching at the soundSCAPE Festival in 2016–where will we meet next?), as well as HKBU’s own Dr. Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Composer, George Tsontakis.  Another highlight for me was the Hong Kong premiere of my recent piano work, Inner Truth, by Linda Yim.  I hope this is the first of many such successful conferences bringing together composers and performers at HKBU in future years.

Of course, an effort like this requires countless people working behind the scenes to make it happen.  I would like to thank Johnny Poon, Chair of Music, and Grace Chan, my point person for all matters large and small in the Music office, for their tireless support.  

I’ve received word from pianist Eunmi Ko that she will include my recent solo work, Inner Truth, in her performance as part of the San Francisco International Piano Festival, which runs from August 15-24.  I will update with the precise date, time, and venue details when I have them.  For now, I’m certainly excited to hear about this event and deeply appreciative of Eunmi’s continued interest in my music.   

I’m thrilled to have been selected for the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s Orchestrating in the 21st Century workshop and reading session.  As part of this event, I will compose a new work for members of the Albany Symphony and conductor David Alan Miller, to be premiered as part of their First Draughts Reading Session, and participate in workshops and masterclasses with composer Christopher Theofanidis.  These events are part of the larger American Music Festival—“Sing Out, New York!”, honoring New York’s role in civil rights history.  Among the prominent artists participating in this year’s festival are composers John Corigliano and David Del Tredici, soprano Hila Plitmann, composer/performer Molly Joyce, the Argus String Quartet, and others.  I’m so excited to be part of this opportunity and look forward to putting pencil to paper (and eraser to paper) over the next month in what will certainly the fastest composing I’ve done in some time!

After weeks of what amounts to blood, sweat, and tears—not to mention millions of e-mails—things are beginning to come into focus for our 2-day international composition conference—The Keyboard in the 21st Century—at HKBU.  As the website now shows, the conference will explore the range of styles and breadth of expression that make up contemporary keyboard music, including acoustic, electro-acoustic, and intermedia works for piano, harpsichord, and synthesizer.  The composers whose music we will hear represent a dozen countries and were selected for their unique artistic voices and ability to communicate vivid sonic experiences.  Alongside these performances, we will hear directly from featured composers George Tsontakis, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and others through lectures and roundtable discussions.  The conference will also feature a concert of works by all HKBU faculty composers, including pianist Linda Yim presenting my recent work, Inner Truth.  I’m so looking forward to welcoming my composition colleagues to Hong Kong and HKBU this April.  As we gather from around the globe, I hope the sounds and dialogue of the conference will inspire not only deep intellectual inquiry but renewed creative fire!

I’m very pleased to share news that my solo piano work, Inner Truth, has been selected for performance at the Dot the Line Festival in Korea this May.  The performance by pianist Eunmi Ko will take place at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, a place I know well from previous visits and musical events.  Inner Truth was composed as part of a larger project honoring the centennial of Isang Yun’s birth, so it’s fitting and personally meaningful that the piece will be done in Korea. 

Inner Truth was most recently performed by Daniel Pesca at the University of Chicago and will be performed by Hong Kong pianist Linda Yim as part of The Keyboard in the 21st Century conference next month at HKBU.  I’m so happy to see the music—which I’ll admit took great pains to create—is finding favorable fingers in many parts of the world.   

What a pleasure it was to again hear pianist Daniel Pesca perform my work, Inner Truth, in Chicago.  Daniel premiered the work in June at PianoForte Chicago, recorded it in August at Oberlin, and this performance took place as part of his faculty recital at the University of Chicago.  It was clear from the start that the music was now thoroughly in his fingers, as well as his heart, and it was a thrill to hear him play again.  The program was a modified version of what he performed in June, with works by Carter, Knussen, Rands, Takemitsu, and Thomas.  This varied cast of characters was presented with natural drama and wit. Bravo, indeed!  

While in Chicago there was time to enjoy some of the city, including the glorious Art Institute.  I’ve been before, but it was time for a refresher, and I was again impressed with this cultural monument.  The two highlights from what I got to see on this visit were Calder’s Streetcar, a mobile which occasionally produces a soft clang when a small rubber tip randomly strikes a brass disk (a possible inspiration for future work?), and Chagall’s America Windows, a glorious blend of colors and light which draws us closer toward its warm, vibrant hues.  This piece alone would have been worth the trip to Chicago, but this combined with hearing music and seeing some old friends made it all the better. 

With 2019 just around the corner, I am very much looking forward to the new year. I’m also looking forward to the new semester at HKBU and especially to welcoming the fantastic American composer, George Tsontakis, as our Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Music for the spring term. George is the first faculty in the Arts to hold this esteemed professorship. I’m very happy to have “convinced” him to work with us!

George and I met in the summer of 2013 when I was a Composition Fellow at the Aspen Festival. Working with him, my late teacher, Steven Stucky, and a number of prominent guest composers, including Stephen Hartke and members of the “Class of ‘38” (John Corigliano, Joan Tower, John Harbison) was an incredible musical and personal experience. We’ve kept in touch since then, and I have learned a lot about music and the musical life from our conversations. In a field where one frequently encounters bitterness, George is a positive-thinking, forward-driving presence. Oh, and he also writes excellent—dramatic, expressive, memorable—music!

At HKBU George will teach a special topics course, work with composition students, and be part of an international conference I’m organizing, The Keyboard in the 21^st Century. His work will also be featured as part of the Beare’s Premiere Music Festival in January. With so much going on, I am hoping he has time to explore Hong Kong, both its travel guide highlights and the spots that only I (and, admittedly, a couple thousand other people) know. A happy new year indeed!

I’m very pleased that pianist Daniel Pesca will be giving a second performance of Inner Truth as part of a faculty recital at the University of Chicago on February 23.  Daniel gave the premiere of the work last June and more recently recorded the work as part of my upcoming Albany Records CD.  He is among the most committed and intelligent interpreters of new music I know.  Further details on the program, which includes works of Thomas, Rands, Carter, and Kunssen, is available here.

I’m very happy to announce The Keyboard in the 21^st Century, an international conference for composers to be held this April 4-5 at HKBU. Featuring performances by outstanding Hong Kong pianists and guest performers, the conference will showcase the breadth of creative voices working with a range of keyboard instruments. Significantly, we are interested in presenting works for piano, harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano, organ, and synthesizer, with optional electronics. In addition to performances and roundtable discussions by participating composers, we are pleased to feature lectures and performances of music by George Tsontakis, Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Music at HKBU and Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at Bard College Conservatory of Music, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Featured Guest Composer and Professor of Composition at the Eastman School of Music. This conference will be one of the highlights of George’s activities this spring at HKBU. My recent piano work, Inner Truth, will also be performed. More information on the Call-for-Scores is available here.

I was very saddened and—perhaps more important—angered and disgusted to see the news of the attack on a synagogue in my hometown of Pittsburgh on October 27. While I did not know those who were taken from us through this terrible act, I know people who knew them, and I know the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill well. It is one of the many lovely and close-knit communities in Pittsburgh and its center of Jewish life.

Watching the continued senseless slaughter of people who’ve done nothing but commit the offense of “existing in the United States” from the other side of the world (and in a place with virtually zero gun crime) has only intensified the sick sense that my country is crumbling from within, and needlessly so. Rather than feeling hopeless, however, each new act of destruction on the part of sick individuals or a minority-elected government has inspired me to fight harder in the ways that I can to move (I cannot truly say return….) the country in the right direction.

With all this in mind—and for the first time ever in my mature creative life—I have felt not just the urge but the need to compose a work with a connection to current events. My works have been inspired by aspects of history, installation art, poetry, and, of course, other music, among many other things. However, I have rarely felt comfortable with the idea of writing a work “about” something that has happened, especially something as impacting as an event like this. Therefore, this will not be a work “about” this tragic event; it will not be programmatic. But it will have something to do with tension and something to do with pain and something to do with finding something positive amidst intense struggle. It will be my artistic response to this event.

As it happens, I have recently been talking with the stellar violinist, Olivia De Prato, first violinist of the Mivos Quartet and a dynamic soloist in her own right, about writing a new work. (Mivos gave an excellent premiere of my City Lights at the VIPA Festival in Valencia, Spain last summer.)   Therefore, I have begun sketching a solo violin work, Tree of Life, for her, which I hope will represent, if only in a small way, some of my feelings about this event. Olivia will be visiting Hong Kong and HKBU this coming January for a series of lectures and demonstrations, so I hope to have the work fleshed out enough to share with her at that time. I think it is fitting that I write for violin—an instrument I studied from a young age—in a work whose expressions will be so close to my heart.

Before boarding my flight back to Hong Kong (Is there a bigger contrast than small college town-Ohio and neon-clad Asian supercity?), I have time to report that the Albany Records recording session was an excellent experience, and it was a pleasure to work with some of the best in the business during our intensive week of rehearsals and recordings. I am very much forward to the next stages of making this CD come to life and confident that the final product—musically and sonically—will be something we can all be proud of. I would like to thank all my musicians—soprano Tony Arnold, conductor Tim Weiss, and the members of Zohn Collective—for their time and talents in making this week possible. Great thanks are also due to recording engineer Paul Eachus and the entire staff in recording services at Oberlin for their incredible ears and for making the process run smoothly from start to finish. “And that’s a wrap!”

Now on to dim sum.

My three weeks at Copland House have passed with the usual flash of residencies around the world.  The opening weeks seem slow—each hour of quiet and solitude sinking in as we slowly remember there was a world before the internet and the constant interruption of e-mail.  Then, little by little, the pace speeds up until—all at once and without warning—there are two or three days left.  Time to repack!  But where am I bound?

In this case, the answer is Oberlin, Ohio, where I will spend a week recording my portrait CD for Albany Records.  The musicians are travelling from near and far.  Tony Arnold, the star soprano with whom I have been blessed to work from the beginning on my Sandburg Songs, will be finishing up her teaching and performances at Tanglewood.  Members of Zohn Collective will be hitting the road (or air?) from Chicago, Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, Seattle, Georgia (the state), and Germany (the country).  Let’s not forget my own diversion-filled round-trip from Hong Kong!  Meanwhile, the intrepid conductor Tim Weiss will be at coming home to Oberlin Conservatory immediately following his work at Aspen.  How lucky am I to have found a time and place that works for all of us?

While my work Celebrations  was included in a recent CD of contemporary kayagŭm compositions in Korea, this Albany CD will be the first devoted solely to my work.  Thus, I am excited and—I’ll admit here if you promise not to tell anyone—a bit overwhelmed about the task before me.  With rehearsals and recording sessions fairly nonstop for the following week, my ears will be used to their max.  But I trust that with these musicians the effort will be worth it!

I hesitate to write too much for fear of interrupting the cool focus of my residency here at Copland House. However, I wanted to report progress on revisions of my guitar work, They Say, as well as my recent piano work, Inner Truth. While hindsight may not always be 20/20, there is something to be said for viewing a work from some distance, perhaps more objectively than in the heat of the creative moment.

I am enjoying the quiet, positive pressure of working at Aaron Copland’s piano and sturdy wood desk, not to mention listening to unexpected finds in the CD collection. A recording of the works of Henry Brandt has struck me quite strongly. I remember playing one of his works as a young violinist in the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony and thinking how interesting it was to have winds placed throughout the hall. Outside that experience as a performer, however, I’ve had little exposure to his music. The sheer force and color of some of what I’m hearing on this disc is enough to warrant further listening and study.

In addition to my listening activities, I have appreciated the many scores of previous residents (not to mention Copland’s own work), which are always readily available for those times when I’m wondering where to turn or what else is possible. With a little under a week left, I’m looking forward to further inspiration and discoveries here in this historic landmark and living testament to the continued influence of Copland as a titan of American music.