listen to complete piece

composer	Fred Lerdahl (b. 1943)
performers	eighth blackbird: Molly Alicia Barth, flute Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinet Matthew Albert, violin Nicholas Photinos, cello Matthew L. Duvall, percussion Lisa Kaplan, piano
publisher	Boelke-Bomart (ASCAP)http://www.musicassociatesofamerica.com
label	eighth blackbird 00000http://www.eighthblackbird.com
duration	13:19

about the music

Fantasy Etudes was commissioned with the support of an NEA consortium commissioning grant by several ensembles: Musical Elements, Alea III, the Arch Ensemble, and the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago. Fred Lerdahl:

"The form of Fantasy Etudes is built up from twelve interlocking 'etudes,' each having its own characteristic musical idea and texture. This sequential profusion of material results in an overall sense of 'fantasy.' Against this surface variety there exists an underlying similarity of procedure. Each etude is cast in the form of expanding variations: it starts with a simple event and progressively elaborates into complexity. Each time, as the material of an etude begins to collapse under the weight of its elaborations, a new etude enters. These overlaps produce moments of dramatic tension -- changes, if you like, from one fantasy to another."

about the composer		back to top

Fred Lerdahl (b. 1943) characterizes his music as "both tonal and highly organized in a fresh rather than retrospective way ... I have the mind of a Classicist and the heart of a Romantic" (Lerdahl).

Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Lerdahl studied at Lawrence University in Wisconsin and Princeton University in New Jersey, where his principal teachers were Earl Kim and Milton Babbitt. He also studied with Wolfgang Fortner the Freiburg Hochshule für Musik, Germany. His many teaching positions include the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is currently the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University in New York.

Lerdahl has received numerous honors for his music, including grants from the Koussevitzky and Guggenheim Foundations. His commissions include the Fromm Foundation, Spoleto Festival, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others. His works have been performed by many major orchestras across the US, as well as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Speculum Musicae, Juilliard Quartet, and Pro Arte Quartet. He has been a resident composer at the Marlboro Music Festival, IRCAM, American Academy in Rome, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, and Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, California. Upcoming performances include the chamber work Marches as part of the Mosaic ensemble's European tour in November, and the premiere in New York and Boston of a new chamber work entitled Time After Time. Lerdahl's music has been recorded on the CRI and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

Lerdahl is also known as a music theorist, most prominently for his book A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (written with the linguist Ray Jackendoff), which models musical listening from the perspective of cognitive science. He has continued to develop this theory in numerous articles, and has recently completed a second book entitled Tonal Pitch Space (Oxford University Press).

related websites
http://www.fredlerdahl.com

about the performers		back to top

eighth blackbird is a chamber ensemble of young musicians who perform contemporary music primarily from the United States. The ensemble has worked closely with such composers as Joan Tower, Fred Lerdahl, Donald Martino, Andrew Imbrie, and Michael Torke. In 1998, eighth blackbird was the first contemporary ensemble ever to win First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition; it was recently honored as the winner of the 2000 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Award. The ensemble has performed at venues and festivals throughout the United States, and has appeared with the Opera Theatre in Lucca, Italy. The members of eighth blackbird founded the ensemble at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and hold an Artist Diploma in Chamber Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Ohio. Their debut CD Round Nut Tool was released in 1999.

related websites
http://www.eighthblackbird.com