In this episode, Dave and Andrew dive into a work inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. Will the work live up to the Bard's reputation? And does this piece fit into the typical mold of a Pulitzer Prize winning work?
If you'd like more information about Paul Moravec, we recommend:
Paul Moravec's personal website
Dialogue with Moravec for the Kansas City Lyric Opera's production of The Shining
Paul Moravec's short article “Tonality and Transcendence.” Contemporary Music Review vol. 6. no. 2 (1992): 39–42.
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Episode 61 - 2003: John Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls
In this episode, Dave and Andrew go back to the events of 9/11 and listen to a piece memorializing the day. But will they find the piece moving or maudlin? And how does the piece hold up some 20+ years later? By this point, John Adams was a famous composer, but should this particular piece of his have won the prize?
If you'd like more information about John Adams, we recommend:
His memoir Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life (you can read an excerpt at NPR).
Dan Blim's article referenced in the show, "Disunity and the Commemoration of 9/11 in John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls" Journal of the Society for American Music, 7, no. 4 (November 2013): 382-420.
Kalle Puolakka's article "Public Art and Dewey’s Democratic Experience: The Case of John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls" The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 74, No. 4 (2016): 371-81.
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Episode 60 - 2002: Henry Brant, Ice Field
In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the first experimental composer to win the Pulitzer since Charles E. Ives. With that pedigree, what will they think of Henry Brant's Ice Field? And why is this piece called a "spatial" composition?
If you'd like to learn more about Henry Brant and Ice Field, we recommend:
This video of the work with commentary from Michael Tilson Thomas and organist Cameron Carpenter
Maria Anna Harley's article “An American in Space: Henry Brant’s ‘Spatial Music.’” American Music 15, no. 1 (1997): 70–92.
Frank Oteri's 2002 interview with Henry Brant in New Music Box
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Episode 59 - 2001: John Corigliano, Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra
In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the symphony of John Corigliano they don't know. After appreciating Corigliano's first and third symphonies, what will they think of the second? This piece, a rescoring and revision of Corigliano's String Quartet, is another in a recent stretch of winning works that began in a different form.
If you'd like to learn more about Corigliano, we recommend:
This interview with Corigliano by Living the Classical Life
Corigliano's composer's note about the Symphony No. 2
Elizabeth Bergman's “Of Rage and Remembrance, Music and Memory: The Work of Mourning in John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and Choral Chaconne.” American Music 31, no. 3 (2013): 340–61
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Episode 58 - 2000: Lewis Spratlan, Life is a Dream, Opera in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version
In this episode, Dave and Andrew talk about a curious winner for the year 2000 since it was originally composed 25 years earlier! What will they think about this blast from the past? It's also the first opera to win the Pulitzer Prize in many decades.
If you'd like more information about Lewis Spratlan, we recommend:
This video of Spratlan talking about the origins of the opera before the full premiere by the Santa Fe Opera.
This video of Spratlan detailing the opera's history with the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
A. Robert Lauer's article "The Santa Fe Opera’s Life Is a Dream" Bulletin of the Comediantes, Volume 63, Number 2 (2011): 155-60.
Hearing the Pulitzers: A piece-by-piece, episode-by-episode exploration of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Music with hosts Andrew Granade and David Thurmaier.
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