Interviews

I wanted to tell a story. A particular story—in fact, the story of The Little Match Girl, by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The original is ostensibly for children, and it has that shocking combination of danger and morality that many famous children’s stories do. A poor young girl, whose father beats her, tries unsuccessfully to sell matches on the street, is ignored, and freezes to death. Through it all she somehow retains her Christian purity of spirit, but it is not a pretty story…

By Galen H. Brown

On November 3rd, I sat down with David Lang at a cafe in Downtown Manhattan. I recorded the interview (on my iPod) intending to transcribe it, but the audio, while still marred by a lot of background noise, is actually listenable. (…)

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For the past several years, classical music composers have gathered to share their more eclectic scores at the ‘Bang on a Can’ festival in North Adams, Mass. Jeffrey Brown explores the origins of the event.

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The Wordless Music Series pairs rock and electronic musicians with more traditional chamber and new music performers, to create an entirely new concert experience.

Episode One: Mihailova/Electrik Company/Do Make Say Think/Greenwood
Jad Abumrad hosts, joined by David Lang

[at 09:15min]

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By Tom Huizenga

Listen to excerpts of the interview here

David Lang, a New York-based composer, has won the Pulitzer Prize for music with his piece, The Little Match Girl Passion, based on the children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen.

Lang’s music makes a big impact with small forces. The piece is scored for only four voices and a few percussion instruments, played by the singers…

Imagine that you’re a composer. Imagine getting this commission: ”Please write us a song that will allow family members to face the death of a loved one…” Well, composer David Lang had to do just that when a hospital in Garches, France, asked him to write music for their morgue, or ”Salle Des Departs.”

What do you do? What should death sound like?

Producer Jocelyn Gonzales brings us this piece about David Lang and his commission for the ”Salle Des Departs.”

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David Lang and Phil Kline re-imagine Handel with their Messiah Remix.

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A moving and inspirational feature about an extraordinary humanitarian project to create a musical and artistic space in a hospital morgue.

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On this edition of New Sounds, composer David Lang presents his CD-length ambient concerto, ”the passing measures.” The new album is a most unusual concerto for bass clarinet, chorus, and orchestra that explores mortality, time, and the function of music. As Lang explains, ”My piece is about the struggle to create beauty. A single very consonant chord falls slowly over the course of forty minutes. That is the piece.”

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Oral History of American Music (OHAM) is the only ongoing project in the field of music dedicated to the collection and preservation of oral and video memoirs in the voices of the creative musicians of our century.

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