Harmonious

Anna Clyne (1980) is an English composer. At only 11 years old she won a prize for her own score. She writes both acoustic and electro-acoustic music. Clyne was described in an article in The New York Times from 2015 as ‘a composer with uncommon gifts and unusual methods’. She is now among the top 10 most performed contemporary composers.

Michael Hersch (1971) is an American composer and pianist who first encountered classical music at the age of eightteen. About eight years later, in 1997, his first premiere was featured on the program at the Lincoln Center in New York. Marin Alsop conducted Hersch’ Elegy for string orchestra, which won him the American Composers Prize, which was followed by several grants, prizes and commissions (including one from Mariss Jansons). His style is predominantly traditional, somber, but also claustrophobic and exciting at the same time.

Playlist:

1) Anna Clyne: (pictured above) Dance. cello concerto] [2019]:

I: Dance, when you’re broken open;

II: Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off;

III: Dance in the middle of the fighting;

IV: Dance in your blood;

V: Dance, when you’re perfectly free.

London Symphony Orchestra; Inbal Segev (cellist); Marin Alsop (conductor); (recorded: 2020).

2) Michael Hersch: Symphony No. 2 [2001]:

I: Prestissimo;

II: Adagio;

III: Largo;

IV: Moderato.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop (conductor); (recorded: 2005).

3) Michael Hersch: Fracta [2002]. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop (conductor); (recorded: 2005).