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Steve Reich MacDowell Colony Medal Day Speech

August 14, 2005
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I want to begin this speech with a little aphorism translated from the Hebrew: ”Say little, and do much.” This is from an early book of the Talmud called Sayings of the Fathers. I wish I could say that I learned it from my own Hebrew studies, but I
can’t. I learned it from Steve Reich. This little phrase — say little and do much — is the entire text of the last movement of Steve’s most recent and remarkable piece, You Are Variations

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Salles des Departs

January 29, 2008

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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shade EP

Fueled by inspired performances from Mammoth Trio (pianist Lisa Moore, cellist Ashley Bathgate and violinist Elly Toyoda) and the NYC-based Contemporaneous ensemble (conducted by David Bloom), shade presents premiere recordings of two works by Lang. The title work, shade, is a virtuosic and emotionally wide-ranging concerto for piano trio and string orchestra. The second work, wed, is an arrangement for string orchestra of a short tragic work Lang originally composed for string quartet…

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