Other Minds Festival: OM 1, Concert 1: “Early That Summer” by Julia Wolfe

Analog Audio


Event Type
Music
Origin
Kate Stenberg
Identifier
OMF.1993.11.04.c1.D
Program Series
Other Minds Festival
Program Length
13 min
Dates
| broadcast
| 1993-11-04 | created
Description
The first concert of the very first Other Minds Festival of New Music, held in San Francisco on November 4, 1993, included this string quartet by the then relatively unknown composer Julia Wolfe. Although Ms. Wolfe has gone on to a successful career as a composer, whose works have been performed by a wide variety of notable orchestras and ensembles, and as co-founder of the famous Bang-On-A-Can Festival in New York City, she still reportedly fondly remembers when, after this performance of her “Early That Summer,” fellow OM 1 composer Conlon Nancarrow reached over to shake her hand and told her how much he admired the work. And what is not to like about this kinetic yet consonant work, performed here by the Alyeska Quartet? In the composer’s own words “ While living in Amsterdam [in 1992] I began ‘Early That Summer.’ I was reading a book about U. S. political history and the author kept introducing small incidents with phrases like 'Early that summer...' The incidents would eventually snowball into major political crises or events. I realized that the music I was writing was exactly like this, that I was creating a constant state of anticipation and forward build.”

Note: Quote taken from Julia Wolfe’s website http://www.juliawolfemusic.com/music_piece.php?id=73
Genres
New music
20th century classical
Musical Selections
Early That Summer, for string quartet (1993) (12:22) / Julia Wolfe
Performers
The Alyeska Quartet:
Kathryn Stenberg, violin
Ellen Gronningen, violin
Phyllis Kamrin, viola
Melissa Burton, cello
Subjects
20th century classical
New music
Chamber music
String quartets