Modern Notebook

On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: “Imagine preparing to board a sailboat at dawn. The water is completely calm. There is hardly a sound except the occasional early morning birdcall and sound of a ripple breaking on the shore.” These perfect words were written by composer Margaret Brouwer to accompany her piece, “The Art of Sailing at Dawn.”Then: The interplay of piccolo trumpet and ambient soundscape is the focal point of Orlando Jacinto Garcia’s work “Resonating Color Fields.” It’s music where, with each ascending gesture of the trumpet, new colors in the electronics swirl to life to create an ever-evolving texture.

Coming up on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Music of life, love, and loss is coming up on the next Modern Notebook, with a work by Anna Clyne composed for her mother called “Witihin Her Arms.” It is music for strings that interweaves to form a lament that is not unlike music from the English Renaissance.Then, Tyler is joined by pianist Eunmi Ko for a discussion about her latest album, “12 Views on Life,” and music by Han Hitchen and Soobin Lee.

This week on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: hear music by Bianca Gismonti performed by pianist Andree-Ann Deschenes, as well as pieces by Danielle Eva Schwob and Ariana Grande.. And, a work by Gabriel Vicens titled “El Mattoral.”Then: Weather becomes the main character in the text set by Christopher Cerrone in his work Beaufort Scales - which takes its name from the 19th Century measuring system for wind and waves. Interestingly, the scale is also quite poetic and forms the backbone of Cerrone’s piece.

On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Microfictions [volume 1] is a set of six miniatures for string quartet composed by Caroline Shaw, in which each movement is presented in tandem with bite-size microstories written for Twitter by T.R. Darling.Then: The music of Stuart Saunders Smith can be described as “unique, eclectic, often esoteric, and always full of surprises.” We pay tribute to Smith, who we lost last month at the age of 76.

John Cage was one of - if not the - most influential composers of the 20th century, and while he was not a minimalist composer, his work “In a Landscape” could be seen a precursor to minimalist music.

Coming up on this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Damien Geter’s String Quartet No.1, titled “Neo-Soul,” is an ode to the genre of music that became popular in the 1990s that put a new spin on the classic soul sound. It’s music that revolves around creating a specific vibe.Then: Icelandic composer Bara Gisladottir’s work “Hringla” forges a fascinating sound world of buzzing multiphonics, local sonic phenomena, and fragile, shadow-like double bass harmonics. There’s also a layer of electronic elements which sample sound in real time to blur the real and the virtual.

On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: “Unity Amongst Youth of Diaspora” and “Secondline for Black Love” are the two movement names of Courtney Bryan’s “Carnival of Unity.” We’ll hear this piece as a part of a special Juneteenth lineup, plus music by Ornette Coleman, Julius Eastman, and others. And Valerie Coleman’s “Portraits of Langston,” inspired by the great Harlem Renaissance poet.

Coming up on the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: I’ll have music for cello by Jorge Sosa called “Reimagined Spring,” and pieces by Shawn Okpebholo and Julia Perry. Plus, this piece by Carmen Sandim for solo piano titled “Amanhecer ao Entardecer,” meaning “Dawn to Dusk.”Then: Composer Hannah Selin experienced some strange, deep dreams during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021… and these dreams inspired her piece “Dream Journal.” This is music composed for voices, pianos, toy pianos, and electronics, seamlessly woven together to craft a musical atmosphere like no other.

On this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: tune in for solo cello music by Canadian-Argentine composer Analia Llugdar composed for Matt Haimovitz’s Primavera project… it’s a work that captures a sense of breath via all the different sounds of the cello.Then: Jena Osman’s collection of essay-poems MOTION STUDIES is the foundation of Justine F. Chen’s piece “Shallow Breath and Stealth.” It’s a massive choral work that draws on Osman’s meditations that begin with 19th-century science and ends as research into the present day.

Coming up on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: In his work “Home,” Kevin Puts places the work within the tonal center of the key of C, which he says represents the idea of home. But, over the course of the work, he abandons this idyllic atmosphere in search of new, unfamiliar harmonic terrain: a metaphor for the refugee crisis in Europe.Plus, the Moth Quartet is a string quartet made up of composers, and we’ll hear their co-composed work Scree Scrub Mountain Sky. It’s music from a larger collection of work written in and inspired by the rugged landscapes of New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park.

Coming up on this week’s Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline, we’re celebrating Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a mix of music from US-based composers of Asian descent, like Andy Akiho, Beata Moon, Lei Liang, Emily Koh, Juri Seo, and others; plus, new music for cello and piano by Kenji Bunch titled “Broken Music.”

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.