Prizes, Prizes, Prizes...

by Ted Gordon on April 16, 2012, 3:36 p.m.

It's been an unbelievable past few days: first, the Guggenheim Foundation announced their 2012 Fellows, which included PSNY Composers Keeril Makan, Kate Soper, and Alex Mincek, as well as Schott composer Xiaogang Ye. And just this afternoon, the Pulitzer Prize board announced that Andrew Norman's "The Companion Guide to Rome" was a 2012 Finalist! 

It's not hard to hear why the panel liked Andrew's work so much... 

Oh, and did I mention that you can purchase performance material right here on PSNY? String quartets, get on this!

Morton Subotnick on PSNY

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 2, 2012, 11:27 a.m.

For the first time ever, the music of Morton Subotnick – complete digital editions, with scores, parts, software, and samples – are available for immediate download. Subotnick, widely considered one of the first and most eloquent voices of electronic music, has made six of his works available through Project Schott New York. Though these works have been available from Schott in the past, the PSNY edition allows for immediate download of all materials, including standalone software applications, and patches for Max/MSP and Ableton Live.

The works include Axolotl, A Fluttering of Wings, In Two Worlds, The Key to Songs, Passages of the Beast, and Then and Now and Forever. More information and excerpts after the jump...

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Fred Lerdahl’s String Quartets Now Available on PSNY

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 13, 2011, 12:06 p.m.

It's been an exciting month-and-a-half here at PSNY since our launch - and we're not letting the cold weather hold us back. We have been adding more and more works to our catalogue, and we're extremely proud to announce that all three of Fred Lerdahl's string quartets are now available!

Lerdahl writes:

"The First Quartet takes the form of 15 geometrically expanding variations...Its sequel, the Second Quartet, continues the expansion with two more variations of 9 and 13 minutes. The Third Quartet constitutes in its entirety a last expanded variation. At the same time, it interposes reminiscences from the two earlier quartets."

Listening to these quartets (and I would suggest you do so by checking out the recent complete recording on Bridge Records) is both an aural and an intellectual investigation into our emotional response to musical form. Starting from the first chord of the first quartet, and going until the last variation of the third, one can hear Lerdahl's tonal theory in practice, a rich exploration of the possibilities of the string quartet. All three works can be programmed in sequence or performed separately. 

Here's the first part of the first quartet, which sets the precedent for the following two works:

These quartets will make a great holiday present to the Violist in your life! (See what I did there?)