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 | 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 1, 2022 | Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
Blackwood thought to himself, “‘Uh-oh… he’s right! That is exactly the process I use.’ I never wrote another piece like that again. If someone can spot that just listening to it, then it’s too obvious.” Easley Blackwood (b.1933). Symphony No. 1 (1955) Listen on...
by Kile Smith | Feb 1, 2022 | American music, Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
A passacaglia is an ever-unfolding imagining of a single theme, over and over, like the living of a life. Richard Yardumian (1917–1985). Passacaglia, Recitatives and Fugue for Piano and Orchestra (1957) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify Hi everybody, I’m Kile...
by Kile Smith | Dec 31, 2021 | American music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Orchestral Music, Podcast
It’s debatable how much power 12-tone music held over classical music in the 20th century, but power it certainly had. Then an inside man dropped a bombshell. A look at George Rochberg. George Rochberg (1918–2005). Symphony No. 1 (1949–57) Listen on SoundCloud Listen...