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watch Gustavo Dudamel, So Percussion and the LA Philharmonic rehearse ‘man made’!

I have worked with So Percussion for a very long time now and I know them really well. When I got the opportunity to write a concerto for them I wanted to make it specifically for them, for the things that they have been concentrating on for the past few years. The are frequently theatrical, they invite found objects into their performances, they build their own instruments, etc. I wondered if I could make the unusualness of their musicality the centerpiece of this concerto, but how could an orchestra of ‘normal’ instruments doing mostly ‘normal’ things find common ground with them?…

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news

Tallis Scholars premiere ‘sun-centered’

Tallis Scholars

In April and May, The Tallis Scholars premiered sun-centered, a work commissioned to share a program with Antoine Brumel’s monumental Missa “Et ecce terræ motus” — a Renaissance mass for 12 voices that gets its name from a scrap of chant whose text means ‘and the earth moved.’

Lang describes the connection:

This scrap of text immediately reminded me of Galileo’s trial for the blasphemy of proving the Earth revolves around the Sun, which seemed to contradict the Bible…

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writing

NYT Op-Ed Article

June 3, 2012

I didn’t like it.

School was over and I was sick of it, and I thought it was about time to go to work. I had gone straight from high school to college to graduate school, and I was pretty burned out. I had loved everything I had been doing in school, but as I got further along I became confused.

The paradox of a musical education is that the more sophisticated you become about how it all works, the further away you move from the things normal listeners actually hear…

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interviews
interviews

The Passing Measures

June 7, 2003
Read more…

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.”

Listen here

news
news

2013-2014 Carnegie Hall composer-in-residence

[video:http://youtu.be/EZhi0ta-v90 width:300 height:169 align:left]

http://www.carnegiehall.org/lang/

http://www.carnegiehall.org/Subscriptions/2013-2014-Season/David-Lang/

David Lang — Carnegie Hall’s 2013–2014 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair — embodies the restless spirit of invention with his creation of new forms that defy categorization. The musically omnivorous creator references folk, pop, and jazz influences in his compositions, while at the same time being deeply rooted in the classical tradition.

His cultural openness also informs the performers with whom he collaborates…

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news

BBC Broadcasts ‘man made’ world premiere from May 2013

Hi Everyone!

I am really excited that my piece ‘man made’ for So Percussion and orchestra is now up on the BBC site, ready to be heard. ‘man made’ was co-commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and it premiered this past May at the Barbican, played by So and the BBC Symphony, conducted by Jayce Ogren.

You have to listen fast – the recording is only posted this week!…

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news

‘the public domain’ at Mostly Mozart Festival

On August 13, The Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center gives the world premiere of David Lang’s the public domain — a performance that not only welcomes the public as a free and open event, but will also be performed by the public. A piece inspired by the theme of the collective knowledge shared amongst us all, the new work is performed by 1,000 volunteer vocalists from throughout New York City, conducted by Simon Halsey, Choral Director of the London Symphony Orchestra…

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news

WaPo Best of 2019: Classical Music

Revisiting Beethoven

[article link]

By Anne Midgette
Classical music critic
Dec. 10, 2019

People often ask: Why can’t we update old operas for our time? With “Prisoner of the State,” David Lang has done just that. He remakes Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” a problem child of the repertory, into a new work that hews to the original in form while underscoring its relevance to today’s society…

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