Hearing The Pulitzers

In this special bonus episode, Dave and Andrew talk with 2011 Pulitzer Winner Zhou Long. Where did he find the libretto for Madame White Snake? What does he think of people analyzing the opera's music? And what role did Bedřich Smetana play in the opera's creation? We hope you enjoy hearing from him about these insights and more!

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore an opera by the composer of our podcast theme, Zhou Long. It's been fifty years since another staged opera won the prize. Is this a worthy work to break that streak? They discuss the opera's synopsis, the music, and how Zhou Long blends Eastern and Western music and themes in the opera.

If you'd like more information about Zhou Long and Madame White Snake, we recommend:

Tong Cheng Blackburn, “In Search of Third Space: Composing the Transcultural Experience in the Operas of Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and Zhou Long” PhD diss., Indiana University, 2015.

Fang Bo [方博], “The Transtextual Gender Construction in the Opera Madame White Snake.” Asian-European Music Research Journal 7 (Summer 2021): 1–18.

Lu Tan, “The Integration of Chinese and Western Elements in Zhou Long’s Opera Madame White Snake” DMA essay, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2024.

Zhou Long's publication site.

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore a concerto by one of the most-performed living composers, Jennifer Higdon. Will they think the concerto deserves more play? How does it fit with the other Pulitzer concerto winners?

If you'd like more information about Jennifer Higdon, we recommend:

This series of YouTube interviews between Higdon and Hilary Hahn

Christina Reitz's book Jennifer Higdon: Composing in Color (McFarland, 2018)

Laura Dallman's article "Considering autonomy and collaboration in three concerti by Jennifer Higdon" in The Routledge Handbook of Women's Work in Music (2021)

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore Steve Reich's Double Sextet, but can't help but talk about his earlier work. How does this later piece stack up to classics like Music for 18 Musicians? Could we also view this as a lifetime achievement award for a composer whose music would not have been considered for the Pulitzer Prize in the 1970s? 

 

 

If you'd like more information about Steve Reich, we recommend:

Steve Reich, Writings on Music, 1968 - 2000 (Oxford University Press)

Steve Reich, Conservations (Hanover)

Keith Potter, Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Cambridge University Press)

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore an oratorio for voice and percussion that mingles minimalism, Bach, and a fairy tale. Will that mixture prove potent for them? And has Andrew ever been more excited for a particular winning piece? 

If you'd like more information about David Lang and The Little Match Girl Passion, we recommend:

David Lang's website

Dominic Wells's "In the Footsteps of Bach's St. Matthew Passion: The Passion Setting of David Lang and James MacMillan" Tempo 67, no. 264 (2013): 40–51.

Tom Service's BBC podcast "The Listening Service" on The Match Girl Passion

William Robin's Industry: Bang on a Can and New Music in the Marketplace New York: Oxford University Press, 2021