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My new string quartet started off because I wanted to deal with baroque dance forms and medieval dance rhythms. There wasn't an image—it developed from purely musical ideas. This was a case where the piece turned out to be formally very different from what I first expected. I thought it would be five movements, but I started cannibalizing one movement into another and wound up with three. The first movement is like a dance medley, with a first big A section and a closing A section that is a development of the opening medley. Stuck in the middle of these two A's is a minuet and trio that originally was an entirely separate movement. While working on the first movement, I decided that the relaxation that I needed between those A sections was one of the smaller movements I'd already conceived. So I took one and squashed it in. That's one way that a piece can become significantly transformed during the act of composition.
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The Flute Concerto is a composition for flute and orchestra by the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis. The work was jointly commissioned for the flautist Marina Piccinini by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. It was first performed in Detroit on January 21, 2016, by Piccinini and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. The piece is dedicated to Marina Piccinini "with warmth and admiration."
Joshua Kosman is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Kosman was the chief classical music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle from 1988 to 2024, with a particular interest in contemporary classical music, championing composers such as John Adams and Aaron Jay Kernis. Described by the music critic Jayson Greene as having a "congenial, probing tone that blends a reporter’s instincts with a critic’s acumen," he has written for a variety of other publications.
The Piano Concerto No. 3 is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The work was jointly commissioned by China National Centre for The Performing Arts, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie de Paris - Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and the New York Philharmonic.
Aaron Jay Kernis's Viola Concerto was composed between 2013 and 2014 for the violist Paul Neubauer on a commission from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Its world premiere was given by Neubauer and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roberto Abbado in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on April 24, 2014. The score is dedicated to Neubauer "with deepest admiration."
References
- 1 2 3 Kernis, Aaron Jay (1988). "Still Movement with Hymn". G. Schirmer Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ↑ Suzuki, Dean (August 1, 2003). "View from the West: New Hope for the Pulitzer". NewMusicBox . Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ↑ Kosman, Joshua (February 25, 1996). "CLASSICAL CDS -- S.F. Delivers Kernis' 'Field'". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved June 1, 2016.
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