A chat with Michael Bussewitz-Quarm

Michael Kaulkin is a composer that lives in the San Francisco Bay area and whose music has been described as "exceptionally beautiful on all counts" . In here we take up his work "Cycle of Friends" for soprano, choir and chamber orchestra. If you want to know more about Michael, his website is: www.MichaelKaulkin.com. And my website is: www.SergioBarer.com

In this episode, we listen to 3 works by Andrew, the first one a choral work called Darkness Starts, then a work for strings called Nightsounds and we end with a work for piano and flute called Queen of the Night Tulip. We discuss some of the technical aspects of composing and yet, there is enough conversation happening in layman's terms that even if you don't understand the terminology, you will get something out of the episode. And one of the things that you will get for sure is getting to know the music of Andrew Maxfield, something that is definitely worth it.

Jocelyn Hagen is a well known composer in the choral world and she is a very interesting composer, as well. We explore with her a musical setting she made of Afghani poetry writtten by women. Both the poetry and the music are definitely worth listening to. Just to give you an idea of the material, one of the poems she used is called "Load Poems Like Guns". Listen and enjoy.

Michael Bussewitz-Quarm is an award winning composer who has a very unique style: It is modern, and yet, accesible. It is beautiful, yet fresh. I asked her to come to the podcast because our paths crossed at different choral conferences but when I heard her music, it really hit me in a very special way. I hope that getting to know her and her music is as powerful for you as it was for me.

In this episode, I talk with Rich about his choral composition, In Those Years, No One Slept and we talk about his composition style, his process and his ideas about composing in general.

Bernardo Feldman is my first guest of the fourth season of my podcast. The podcast, starting in this, its 4th season, is going to consist of shorter episodes that focus on one piece of music and on the composers views of that piece, in particular, and their music, in general. Bernardo brings a new piece that will be premiered September 23d at Saint Andrews Church in Pasadena. We listen to 3 minutes of the work and talk briefly about it.

Brett Abigania is a very interesting composer that I met at the Midwest Conference in Chicago in December 2022. He showed me a fugue he had done with a 12 tone row (a la Schoenberg). I was fascinated and I asked him to send me a couple of works that he would like to talk about. He sent me a movement of his first symphony called Degeneration and another work called Locrian Riffs. It has a jazzy vibe but uses one of the Medieval church modes which entail some difficulties, which is something Brett never shies away from. I hope you enjoy it. This is the sixth and last episode of Season 3 and I added a musical introduction that comes from my trio for flute, oboe and clarinet.

My oratorio The Nightmare and the Dream was premiered in Los Angeles on May 21st, 2023. This podcast was recorded 2 weeks prior to that. I asked my friend, composer Bernardo Feldman, whom I have interviewed twice for my podcast, to change roles with me and ask the questions about this work prior to its premiere. However, due to production emergencies and last minute changes, I was not able to publish this podcast until now. But no worries, we will be streaming the premiere next month in a program hosted by myself and my friend, composer and pianist Robert Remstein, and this podcast will serve as a prelude to the restreaming of the work. For this podcast, I used a version of The Pioneers, the last movement of the oratorio, that was recorded by four singers, each one separately, with music samples serving as the wind ensemble accompaniment. In the podcast, Bernardo and I discuss the political, historical and social implications of the work, as well as the musical elements involved in its composition and the texts that were used. Stay tuned for the announcement of the restreaming of the premiere.

Steve Rothstein is a composer based in L.A. that wrote Days of Awe, Symphony Judaica. It is a one hour work, in four movements, that is based on different melodies that are used in services during the Jewish High Holidays. I found the work both beautiful and interesting. It is written in a late Romantic style and Steve and I talked about composing the work, about the contents of the work, the travails of composing it and we listened to sections of the third and fourt movements. Here are the links for the full work in Youtube in case you want to listen to it. In the videos, as you hear the work you see some quotes of the lithurgy related to the music that is being used. Symphony Judaica, Days of Awe:  First Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7mlmJr02yc Second Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6y05ocXWU4 Third Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj2ztxBICt8 Fourth Movement : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Ke_E31erE Steve Rothstein web site is: https://steverothsteinmusic.com/ Come spend some time with us and get to know some new music!

In this episode, I talk with Mark about what criteria he uses to program choral music. We also chat about going outside the harmonic structures of the Common Practice Period, the XVIIII and XIX centuries, and how a convincing music can be achieved by other means. We also talk about consonance and dissonance in contemporary music and we listen to an exceprt from Stuart Greenbaum's "Brought to Light" and from Donald Grantham "La Canción Desesperada" on a poem by Pablo Neruda, as performed under Mark Shapiro's baton by Cantori New York. It is one of our longer episodes because, well, there was a lot to talk about.