Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor; Adam Phan, harp; Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, piano. Program Elliott Carter Mosaic George Lewis Ikons Morton Feldman Madame Press Died Last Week at Ninety Philip Glass The Hours: A Suite for Three Movements About the Program Elliott Carter's Mosaic is a tribute to French-born harpist Carlos Salzedo, who was a member of the small group of modernists that surrounded Edgard Varese and Charles Ives in the 1920s and '30s. The work was commissioned by the Nash Ensemble. Carter wrote in his note, "The score is formed by many short mosaic-like tessera that I hope make one coordinated impression." Trombonist, computer musician, and Columbia University professor George Lewis is one of the most forward-thinking musicians of our time. His Ikons, which was commissioned by the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad, is a two-part interactive piece that he wrote in association with an Eric Metcalfe sculpture. Composed in 1970, Morton Feldman's Madame Press Died Last Week at Ninety is a work for a small, unusual ensemble of two flutes, horn, trumpet, trombone, tube, celesta, bells, two cellos and two double basses. Madame Press (Vera Maurina-Press), to whom the work is dedicated, was Feldman's childhood piano teacher. She was a Russian emigre, and a one-time member of the circle of Scriabin. In a short essay from the early 1960s, Feldman wrote: "It was because of her--only, I think, because she was not a disciplinarian--that I was instilled with a sort of vibrant musicality, rather than musicianship."
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