Turn On, Tune In, Drop into New Music. Living Composers Speak Out
25 contemporary composers helping to push string music to new heights
Paul Yeon Lee, Lowell Liebermann, Ljova (Lev Zhurbin), Paul Moravec, Nico Muhly
Paul Yeon Lee
paulyeonlee.com
Korean-American composer Paul Yeon Lee counts among his influences figures ranging from Beethoven to Miles Davis to traditional Korean music. He asserts that he is committed to writing “the most poignant, eloquent, and passionate music” that he can imagine.
Challenges & rewards of string writing
“I love the sound of strings and my favorite instrument is cello. Writing for strings is difficult because it has a long history in Western music and much of it has made a big impact on me. For example, Bach’s cello suites are always dear to my heart. Beethoven’s late string quartets are impeccable and heartbreaking. Schubert’s string quartets are charming, yet profound. Mahler’s Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 and Barber’s Adagio for Strings are highly emotional. Bartok’s string quartets are intriguing and mesmerizing. Lutoslawski’s and Crumb’s string quartets are idiosyncratic and expressive. Knowing these great string literatures, I always challenge myself to do well when I compose for strings. I try my best within my ability to follow these composers I admire.”
Characteristic works
“Strings play a significant role in my music. I composed Nocturne for string orchestra in 2000. Inspired by Mahler’s Adagietto, my Nocturne is intensely personal, poignant, and expresses heartfelt emotion. It is still one of the best pieces I have composed up to now. For me, if full orchestra music produces many vibrant colors, like in a color photograph, string orchestra music is like a rich black-and-white photograph that captures special intimate subtlety of tones.”
Lowell Liebermann
lowellliebermann.com
Until a few years ago, Lowell Liebermann, 50, was thought of as mainly a flute composer, simply because the success of one flute piece led to flutists asking for another, and another. In reality, he has written in the full range of genres, including four string quartets to date. His four years as composer in residence for the Dallas Symphony stirred some controversy in the press because his music was too traditional and immediately likeable for the taste of some critics.
Challenges & rewards of string writing
“The biggest challenge for me in writing for strings is that I am not a string player. To write truly idiomatically for an instrument that one does not play oneself is always a challenge and a lifelong learning experience. I have tried teaching myself violin as an adult, but the results were much too painful for my own ear to bear. But sometimes I will take my violin out of its case to try out a particular fingering or awkwardly grope through a passage. But even with instruments at hand, I still find it helpful and necessary to run things past a trusted string-playing colleague. Among the rewards of writing for strings is that there is a level of expressivity and a range of color that few other families of instruments (if any) can match. I think this is why many composers reserve their most intimate musical utterances for string chamber music.”
Characteristic works
“A good place to start might be my four cello sonatas and four string quartets. The cello sonatas of Beethoven and the string quartets of Beethoven and Shostakovich are some of my favorite works, and are among the most personal works of these treasured composers. I was greatly influenced by these pieces and because of them I see my cello sonatas and string quartets as being among my more ‘personal’ and intimate scores. If I had to choose one work from each of these sets, I would probably choose my Second Cello Sonata, written for Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough, two close friends and colleagues, and my Fourth Quartet, written for the Orion Quartet, again, great friends and colleagues. I suppose I feel I came closest in these to achieving my musical ‘vision,’ whatever that might have been.”
Ljova (Lev Zhurbin)
ljova.com
Violist, violinist, arranger, and film composer Ljova, 33, born in Russia and based in New York, has been praised for his music’s “rustic dances and evocative soundscapes” crafted from “the gorgeously grainy purr of his fiddle,” often blending Eastern European folk rhythms with classical, jazz, and whatever else tickles his fancy. His compositions and arrangements were featured on Yo-Yo Ma’s Grammy-nominated album Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizons.
Challenges & rewards of string writing
“The main challenge of writing for strings is having an immense heritage of incredible writing staring me in the eye. Each time I write a note, I see the ghosts of Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, and Shostakovich—composers who didn’t play strings yet knew how to make magical sounds come alive on our instruments. I see the ghosts of Richard Strauss’ incredibly complex string parts in his operas, the ghosts of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Then, I see the smile of Stéphane Grappelli. I stand, eyes twitching, in the hall of heroes, and try to find something small, personal, and worthwhile to say, something that would be meaningful to them, to the performers, and to myself.”
Characteristic works
“It would be Plume, written as theme music for The Team, a BBC documentary by Basia Winograd and Oscar-winner James Marsh. It was also inspired by longing for my ex-girlfriend, who was studying abroad. She—Inna Barmash—became my wife, and we have two beautiful sons, Benjy and Yosi.”
Paul Moravec
paulmoravec.com
Ebullience characterizes much of the music of this 2004 Pulitzer Prize–winner (for his Tempest Fantasy for clarinet and piano trio), a “new tonalist” who teaches at Adelphi University.
Challenges & rewards of string writing
“I have quite a few chamber works featuring solo stringed instruments, especially the violin. There are so many reasons that the violin is such a joy to write for: the incomparable flexibility, virtually limitless expressive range, and the huge variety of technical effects. One of the most compelling qualities of a stringed-instrument ensemble (for instance, a string quartet or a string orchestra) is the acoustic homogeneity of the instruments, in the way they all blend, reinforce, and enhance one another. My favorite sonority in the world is that of an a cappella SATB chorus singing in tune, expertly blended, but that of an excellent string ensemble runs a close second. It’s such a gorgeous sound—I love the way it sings. I find it remarkably moving. Among the great things about the piano trio ensemble is its economy of means: with just three instruments, you have essentially an entire little orchestra at your command, and you can create a comprehensively self-sufficient musical universe.”
Characteristic works
“My most substantive string quartet is Anniversary Dances, commissioned and recorded by the Ying Quartet. Of all my quartets, it covers the greatest variety of technical and emotional territories. I consider Mood Swings and Passacaglia, both commissioned and recorded by Trio Solisti, my most representative piano trios. My recent Piano Quintet, commissioned for Jeremy Denk and the Lark Quartet, opened up for me some very interesting aesthetic avenues which I find myself exploring in my current projects. As for violin/piano duets, I would single out Ariel Fantasy, composed for Maria Bachmann in 2001, and Blue Fiddle, recently commissioned and premiered by Hilary Hahn.”
Nico Muhly
nicomuhly.com
One of the hippest of young American composers, the Juilliard-trained Nico Muhly turned 30 last year, and has already cranked out dozens of classical pieces, collaborated with Björk, and written an opera for the English National Opera that will be performed at the Met in 2013–14.
Challenges & rewards of string writing
“When you write for strings, you tap into a long thread of technique that stretches back thousands of years. There’s a shifting sense of idiomatic-ness that is bolstering but sometimes oppressive: Why is this one thing easy and this other, seemingly identical thing so hard?”
Characteristic works
“Keep in Touch, for viola and pre-recorded electronics. I wrote it for a specific player, and tailored it around her technique, but now it’s gone off and has a life of its own. It is fiercely idiomatic at times, and at other times proudly awkward.”
