aworks :: "new" american classical music

quartetto ricercare (1999/2003). Dan Coleman

This is a "songspot" of the Cypress String Quartet playing the first movement of Dan Coleman's quartetto ricercare. I'm still working out the mechanics but this enables me to legally stream the track. I'm guessing it won't appear in a feed aggregator so go here to see/hear it.

The composer:

I took my cue from Mozart and Beethoven, and wrote a series of variations. But in my quartet the "theme" upon which these variations are based is never explicitly stated.

Wondrous Night (2003). Dan Coleman

Daniel Buckley comments on a new piece, Wondrous Night,  by Dan Coleman:

Lovely and thoroughly tonal, the work sported a recurring whirling undercurrent created by layers of looped arpeggios, played by several string subgroups, slightly out of sync, suggesting a rippling pool. Several episodes of piccolo trumpet interjected a slightly oblique, almost Middle Eastern-sounding aside into the warm, sparkling soundscape. The work recalled John Adams at his energetic and unpredictable best, and clearly got across its celebratory intent.

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra premiered the work, George Hanson conducting.  Garrick Ohlsson was also on the program playing Beethoven.

The review popped up via google news re: john adams.