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.
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Photo credit: Claire Shovelton.On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Perforation, by Alex Burtzos, is an exploration of grief, presented in a deliberately stripped-down, bare sonic environment. In this solo piano work, the composers leverage pulse, repetition, and silence to respond to the raw and direct emotionality of words by poet Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz.Then: There is a Buddhist concept that says, “if we fully accept that nothing lasts, then we may take a step - by letting go - towards finding tranquillity.” Composer Michael Zev Gordon likes this sentiment - but, in contrast, he also acknowledges his connection to things: remembered, passing, desired. -
Titilayo Ayangade/Titilayo AyangadeJamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has a new album out called “Cantabile: Anthems for Viola,” and it is a celebration of works both new and old. I’m Tyler Kline, and on the next Modern Notebook we’ll hear a world premiere recording of a wordless song that’s been composed for Bak.Then: “'Plain, quotidian, and sometimes fragile,” is the way that composer Lisa Illean describes the sound world she is aiming to create with her piece “arcing, stilling, bending, gathering.” It’s music she says leans into a non-tempered tuning system to convey “moments of kinship and tenderness that balance the immensity of the world we inhabit'.
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On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: On April 8th, 2024, a solar eclipse will sweep across North America, and over 31 million Americans are in the 100-plus mile-wide path of totality. On the next Modern Notebook, we will hear music by Jessica Meyer commissioned by the group fivebyfive and composed specifically for this monumental event.Then, Tyler will be joined by composer Roger Zare for music and conversation. Roger is a Sarasota native, and will have a new work performed by the Sarasota Orchestra April 12-14. -
On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, tune in for a work by Kerry Politzer for solo piano titled “Microclimates,” and a buzzing work by Arlene Sierra inspired by bees and a busy bee hive. And this piece by Britta Bystöm, “Images from the Floating World,” inspired by the Icelandic story known as Njals Saga.Then: Plant life germinating and flourishing; the rapid development of human activity; and the harmonious coexistence of all living things. This is the subject matter of Yue Song’s work “Senses IV:” the relationship between humans and the natural environment. It is an incredible work where chaos has its own order, and musical gestures float freely in a carefully constructed sound world. -
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.
