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Modern Notebook

Modern Notebook

Each week, Tyler Kline journeys into new territory and demystifies the music of living composers on Modern Notebook. Listen for a wide variety of exciting music that engages and inspires, along with the stories behind each piece and the latest releases from today’s contemporary classical artists. Discover what’s in store on Modern Notebook, every Sunday night from 8 to 10 on Classical WSMR.
  • Composer Andrew Noseworthy.
    Photo credit: Chloe Kendell.
    On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: States of discord: like struggle, disagreement, dispute, and division - is the subject matter of Clarice Assad’s “CLASH.” Composed between 2020 and 2021, the music responds to what was, for many, a turbulent period of health crises, the collapse of the economy, political turmoil, and more.Then, it’s a work by Andrew Noseworthy for cello and electronics that draws on elements of shoe gaze music. Titled “GomL_V7FinalMix_LessVox_MoreVerb_Dec13_MASTERED_48k24b_FINAL.wav,” it’s music that cloaks quiet acoustic gestures behind a thick, My-Blood-Valentine-esque foreground of bit-crushed cello.
  • Composer Anthony Cheung.
    Ben Gebo Photography www.bengebo
    On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, tune in for a new recording from composer Nova Pon, with a piece called “World Within.” It’s music that melds Romantic and Post-Minimalist sounds and derives its entire thematic material from a well-known symphonic theme.Then: While it might not necessarily sound like jazz on the surface… Anthony Cheung’s “All Roads” is music that draws on jazz influences, like Billy Strayhorn’s song “Lotus Blossom.” It’s a work full of complicated harmony, jaunting rhythms, and - in the composer’s words - “distant transformations and ‘detours’.”
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Sun Keting’s acapella work, “Mang Gu,” draws on the Yunnanese tribal dance of the same name. It’s music that incorporates elements of the song and dance that people in the ethnic minority areas of China would use to communicate with one another through the echoes of the mountains.Then, we’ll hear new saxophone music from composer Maria Kaoutzani as well as a duet for cello and electric guitar by Rose Connolly. And Carrie Frey’s “Seagrass/Reed:” it is music full of sparkling, fleeting, and noisy gestures, exploring the array of techniques and sounds that the viola is capable of making.
  • Coming up on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. It’s when an object becomes more beautiful for having been broken. On this week's program, hear Salina Fisher’s work “Kintsugi.” It’s a fragile sound world of musical fragmentation and finding beauty in the “cracks,” a metaphor for embracing strength in imperfection.Then, listen for new music from Shelley Washington that is a musical depiction of her neurodivergent experience of “time blindness.” Titled “Eternal Present,” it’s music that explores two kinds of timelessness: the “now,” and the “always.”
  • On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Composer Outi Tarkiainen grew up in the northernmost region of Finland, most of which sits above the Arctic Circle and is known for the Summertime Midnight Sun. We’ll hear a work by Tarkiainen inspired by the infinitely-nuanced hues that this phenomenon produces: her orchestral work, “Midnight Sun Variations.”Then, it’s music that draws inspiration from the Vijñāna school of yoga with Osnat Netzer’s Contrapose. Scored for viola and piano, it’s music that is all about balance, with the two instruments constantly equalizing one another throughout the piece.
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Liliya Ugay is a composer who is also a mother, and she says that composer-mothers have been vastly underrepresented in the history of music,past and present. Her piece “Mother Tales” is inspired by the routines of motherhood, with the first movement depicting lulling a baby to sleep, and a second movement which captures the curiosity, awkwardness, and wonder of play.Then: There is an effervescence and turbulence to artist Gwen O’Dowd’s abstract sea paintings, which serves as inspiration for Jane O’Leary’s work “underneath the dark blue waves.” It’s music that moves in waves of sound, at times capturing the brightness of the ocean’s surface, other times its peacefulness, and even its fury.
  • On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Just a fraction of the music written by composer Julia Perry survives in a way that we’re able to enjoy through performance and listening today. Born in Lexington, KY in 1924, she was a prolific composer whose work would eventually evolve into a highly European-influenced, post-modern style. Her 1969 “Violin Concerto” is no exception, and we will discover it on the next program.Then: join Tyler for music and conversation as he’s joined by Anthony R. Green. Anthony is a composer, performer, and artist whose broad body of work comments on many issues related to social justice. A new work of his will be premiered in March while he is in residency with the Tampa-based Contemporary Art Music Project.
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Shawn Okpebholo’s work “lullaby | ballad | spiritual” is a work in which he sought to highlight the rich musical tradition of Alabama. And in exploring the region’s broad artistic heritage, he would discover three Alabama folk songs that would form the basis of the three movements of this work.Then: Dorothy Rudd Moore lived from 1940 until 2022, and is considered by many to be one of her generation's leading composers of color. We’ll hear work by Moore from 1974 titled “Dream and Variations,” considered one of her major solo piano works.
  • On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, we kick off a series of programs for Black History Month highlighting excellent music by Black composers. Listen for a work by Hannah Kendall titled “The Sparkcatchers,” as well as “...a tiny dream…” by Anthony R. Green. Plus, Kevin Day’s Cello Sonata, which explores the various colors of the instrument and the way in which it blends with the piano.Then: Dancing was a part of composer KiMani Bridges’ youth, along with acting and music. It’s only natural, then, that dance would make its way into her work as a composer, like in this piece: “Warmth,” which evokes the intricacies of footwork in partner dancing.
  • The Lunar New Year is coming up on February 10, and on the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline we are celebrating with music about the moon and works by composers from the Asian diaspora. Tune in for solo piano music by Zhiliang Zhang inspired by Chinese Opera; a work by Narong Prangcharoen named after the colors of Thai porcelain; and a piece by Naoko Hishinuma titled “On a Full Moon Night.”Then, a solo flute work by Hee Yun Kim; music for prepared piano by Vivian Fung inspired by Balinese music; and a piano concerto by Toshio Hosokawa titled “Lotus under the moonlight.”
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, we are headed to the Grammys! Tune in for a preview ahead of the awards ceremony, with Grammy-nominated music, performances, and recordings.
  • On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Caroline Shaw’s work “The Wheel,” is music inspired in part by Baroque music - opening with a Baroque solo cello line which is gradually encircled by other ideas. But it’s also music that the composer describes as giving “the feeling of walking alone through the city at night accompanied by one’s inner voices and reflections”.Then: “The Named Angels” is a string quartet work by Mohammed Fairouz inspired by the angels that are named and recognized in the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions; angels that embody justice, power, kindness, healing, death, and other universals that the composer says have made them pervasive in many of the world’s cultures.
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, it’s music that evokes the imagery of red-tinged hues running across the sky, with a work by Angela Elizabeth Slater titled “Unraveling the Crimson Sky.” It’s music that moves through explosions of orchestral color, offering both moments of introspection and strident thematic material.Then: If you are a fan of the band Radiohead, you may recognize the name Jonny Greenwood as the band’s longtime lead guitarist. What you might not know is he has composed extensively for the orchestra as well as film scores. On the next Modern Notebook, we’ll hear a piece by Greenwood titled “Popcorn Superhet Receiver,” which explores a variety of unusual string sounds.
  • On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Growing up, composer Daniel de Togni would often spend summers in the Northern Italian region of Veneto, where he would visit his relatives and friends. Many years later, as an adult, he would return there - and the journey of traveling across time would inspire his work “Postcards from Veneto,” featured on this week’s program.Then: “Outshifts” is a word used to describe the fringes and boundaries of a town, and it’s found in Robert Macfarlane’s list of forgotten words - a list that is essentially a metaphor for the natural world being lost in favor of evolving technology. It’s also the name of this piece by Emily Hall composed for violin and vocoder, in which the vocoder represents that man made ‘city glow’ and the violin represents nature.