by Kile Smith | Aug 1, 2022 | Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
He threw spitballs at Rasputin. He escaped the Soviets. He wrote concertos and symphonies for the biggest names. For a time he was bigger, some said, than Copland. But it didn’t last. Nicolai Berezowsky (1900–1953). Symphony No. 4 (1942) Listen on SoundCloud...
by Kile Smith | Jul 1, 2022 | American music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
Aaron Copland became the leading voice of his generation, led there by Damrosch, Koussevitzky, and a composition teacher who happened to play the organ, Nadia Boulanger. Aaron Copland (1900–1990). Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on...
by Kile Smith | Jun 1, 2022 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
Bloch would take the path down from his cottage to Agate Beach, and there he would write out the expositions to all 48 fugues in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, from memory. Gene Gutchë (1907–2000). Epimetheus USA (1968) Ernest Bloch (1880–1959). Suite modale (1956)...
by Kile Smith | May 3, 2022 | Classical music, Podcast
With $500 from his father for school, the 18-year-old ran away from home, leaving Europe on a ship to the US, and ending up in Galveston, Texas. He knew six languages, but not one of them was English. Gene Gutchë (1907–2000). Symphony VI (1970) Listen on SoundCloud...
by Kile Smith | Apr 3, 2022 | Choral music
Where the Mind Is Without Fear. SATB, 4’30”. Text by Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), from Gitanjali (Song Offerings), No. 35 (1912). Commissioned by the University of New Mexico Concert Choir, Dr. David Edmonds, Conductor. Premiered by them 22 Apr 2022. Ever since...
by Kile Smith | Apr 1, 2022 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Orchestral Music
This was the last completely original piece of music he would ever write. He was 31 years old and he told people that he was Icarus. Igor Markevitch (1912–1983). Icare (1932–43) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify Hi everyone, I’m Kile Smith, and welcome to...
by Kile Smith | Mar 11, 2022 | Art songs, new music, Vocal music
Sometimes It Happens So. 2022. Five-song cycle for baritone, piano, 18′. Poems by Jane Flanders. Commissioned by the Estate of Jane Flanders for Benjamin Flanders, baritone and Nell Flanders, piano. “Blue Lobster” premiered 9 January 2021 at Cincinnati SongSlam....
