Compositions by Bill McGlaughlin
Encyclopedia
Conductor and radio commentator Bill McGlaughlin
began composing in 1997, whereupon he left his conducting position at the Kansas City Symphony
and moved to New York City to concentrate on composing. The outcome of the move was a flurry of creativity, and he has been composing successfully, although more intermittently, since then. Well over half of his works have been commissioned. In 1998 McGlaughlin signed a contract with Subito Music, which now publishes all of his work.
For a millennial celebration, McGlaughlin was chosen from a field of 350 composers to write a major new work for Continental Harmony, a nationwide cultural initiative commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts
and the American Composers Forum
. The composition, Walt Whitman's Dream, premiered in July 2000, and celebrated the new millennium with a combined chorus of nearly 800 singers from around the world, accompanied by orchestra.
On December 15, 2005, the national two-hour daily NPR
classical music radio program Performance Today
announced that out of all of the music aired that week, McGlaughlin's new commissioned composition Remembering Icarus garnered the most, and the most heartfelt, listener response.
McGlaughlin describes his compositional style as more intuitive than intellectual, and says that he does not shun tonality: "I think when composers turn completely away from tonality, they lose a big part of storytelling." Some of his work incorporates or references elements of jazz — for instance Bela's Bounce, an homage to Béla Bartók
and Charlie Parker
.
Biographical
Bill McGlaughlin
William "Bill" McGlaughlin is an American composer, conductor, music educator, and Peabody Award-winning classical music radio host...
began composing in 1997, whereupon he left his conducting position at the Kansas City Symphony
Kansas City Symphony
The Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...
and moved to New York City to concentrate on composing. The outcome of the move was a flurry of creativity, and he has been composing successfully, although more intermittently, since then. Well over half of his works have been commissioned. In 1998 McGlaughlin signed a contract with Subito Music, which now publishes all of his work.
Selected major works; musical style
McGlaughlin's first major work was Three Dreams and a Question: Choral Songs on e.e. cummings, prompted by the death of a friend — which he debuted with the Kansas City Symphony on April 28, 1998, to an enthusiastic audience and press. It was quickly followed by five more premieres within a ten month span.For a millennial celebration, McGlaughlin was chosen from a field of 350 composers to write a major new work for Continental Harmony, a nationwide cultural initiative commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
and the American Composers Forum
American Composers Forum
The American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composers and their music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States...
. The composition, Walt Whitman's Dream, premiered in July 2000, and celebrated the new millennium with a combined chorus of nearly 800 singers from around the world, accompanied by orchestra.
On December 15, 2005, the national two-hour daily NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
classical music radio program Performance Today
Performance Today
Performance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...
announced that out of all of the music aired that week, McGlaughlin's new commissioned composition Remembering Icarus garnered the most, and the most heartfelt, listener response.
McGlaughlin describes his compositional style as more intuitive than intellectual, and says that he does not shun tonality: "I think when composers turn completely away from tonality, they lose a big part of storytelling." Some of his work incorporates or references elements of jazz — for instance Bela's Bounce, an homage to Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
.
1990s
- Solstice: Fantasy on Old English Carols (premiere December 10, 1997 – Kansas City SymphonyKansas City SymphonyThe Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...
) Orchestra. Christmas piece.
- Crooked Timber (premiere January 23, 1998 – Kansas City Symphony) Orchestra. A celebration of the irregular, based on Immanuel Kant's words, "Out of timber so crooked, as that from which man is made, nothing entirely straight can be built."
- Three Dreams and a Question: Choral Songs on e.e. cummings (premiere April 28, 1998 – Kansas City Symphony) Chorus and orchestra. Written in memory of the late young composer and pianist Kevin Oldham. The text is the following untitled e.e. cummings poem:
-
- "o purple finch
- please tell me why
- this summer world(and you and i
- who love so much to live)
- must die"
-
- "if i
- should tell you anything"
- (that eagerly sweet carolling
- self answers me)
- "i could not sing"
- Aaron's Horizons (premiere June 18, 1998 – Saint Paul Chamber OrchestraSaint Paul Chamber OrchestraThe Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra...
) Chamber orchestra. A tribute to composer Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, with whom McGlaughlin worked in the 1970s. Heard nationwide in a broadcast performed by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
- Three Mile Table (premiere July 18, 1998 – Music at GretnaMount Gretna, PennsylvaniaMount Gretna is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 242 at the 2000 census...
festival; commissioned) Sextet of flute, oboe, violin, cello, guitar, and piano. In honor of the recently completed, 11-mile-long Vasco da Gama Bridge, the longest bridge in Europe, in LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The title refers to a table constructed and placed on the bridge to celebrate its opening. The piece utilizes Portuguese folk melodies in a whimsical and buoyant way.
- Bela's Bounce (premiere October 4, 1998 – Camerata Orchestra of Bloomington, IndianaBloomington, IndianaBloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
; commissioned) Orchestra. An homage to Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and Charlie ParkerCharlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
.
2000–2003
- Walt Whitman's Dream (premiere July 15, 2000 – International Choral Festival, in Missoula, MontanaMissoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
; commissioned) Chorus and orchestra. Commissioned by a national program called Continental Harmony — a Millennium Celebration sponsored by the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
and the American Composers ForumAmerican Composers ForumThe American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composers and their music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States...
. The premiere of Walt Whitman's Dream celebrated the new millennium with a combined chorus of nearly 800 singers from around the world, accompanied by the Missoula Symphony. McGlaughlin explained that his composition "... would allow the audience to feel the power of the human voice to bridge over language and culture." The text is from Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
.
- Aunt Eva Suite (Surveying Lake Wobegon) (premiere September 3, 2000 – Ravinia Festival) Narrator and orchestra or chamber ensemble. Narration written by Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
.
- Carol Antiqua (premiere December 23, 2000 – A Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
, from Town Hall, New YorkThe Town HallThe Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
) Ensemble of neglected instruments. Christmas piece.
- Angelus (premiere March 17, 2002 – Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis; commissioned) Orchestra. A 9/11 remembrance. Composed in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra.
- Three Pieces for Wind Trio, also known as Three Sketches for Three Winds (premiere June 1, 2002 – Kemper Museum in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
) Flute, oboe, bassoon.
- Echoes (premiere summer 2003 – The Chamber Music Festival of the East, in Bennington, Vermont; commissioned) Horn trio.
- Three by Six (premiere summer 2003 – The Chamber Music Festival of the East, in Bennington, Vermont; commissioned) Chamber ensemble.
- Theme to Exploring Music (premiere October 3, 2003 – Exploring MusicExploring MusicExploring Music is an internationally syndicated radio program featuring classical music, with commentary and analysis by host Bill McGlaughlin. It is a daily, one-hour show with a single in-depth theme each week. The show, which debuted in 2003, is produced by WFMT Radio Network...
)
- The Bells of St. Ferdinand (premiere October 2003 – Tucson Symphony OrchestraTucson Symphony OrchestraThe Tucson Symphony Orchestra, or TSO, is the primary professional orchestra of Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1928, when the season consisted of just two concerts, the TSO is the oldest continuously running performing arts organization in the Southwest...
; commissioned) Orchestra. Orchestral variations, in celebration of Tucson Symphony's 75th anniversary.
2004–present
- Remembering Icarus (premiere October 2005 – Las Cruces Symphony, Las Cruces, New MexicoLas Cruces, New MexicoLas Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 97,618 in 2010 according to the 2010 Census, making it the second largest city in the state....
; commissioned) Orchestra. Honors local radio pioneer Ralph Willis Goddard, who was electrocuted in 1929 while checking a radio transmitter during a thunderstorm. Las Cruces public radio station KRWG (which commissioned the piece) uses his initials as its call letters. Remembering Icarus was subsequently aired nationally on NPR's Performance TodayPerformance TodayPerformance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...
on December 9, 2005, and again on July 4, 2007.
- Bagatelles: 1. Antique Dance with Ground Round 2. Fast and Loose (premiere February 22, 2008 – Washington Saxophone Quartet, at Wolf TrapWolf Trap National Park for the Performing ArtsWolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, known locally in the Washington, D.C. area as simply Wolf Trap, is a performing arts center located on 130 acres of national park land in Wolf Trap, Virginia...
; commissioned) Saxophone quartet. Co-commissioned by Wolf Trap and the Washington Saxophone Quartet.
- The Heart's Light: An Essay for Orchestra (premiere March 30, 2008 – Temple UniversityTemple UniversityTemple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
Symphony Orchestra; commissioned) Orchestra. Also performed at Carnegie HallCarnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on April 2, 2008.
- Old American Songs (mostly) for G.K. (premiere May 13, 2008 – Boston Pops with Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
, Symphony Hall, Boston; commissioned)
Composer-in-residence engagements
McGlaughlin has had three composer-in-residence engagements. There are as follows:- Music at GretnaMount Gretna, PennsylvaniaMount Gretna is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 242 at the 2000 census...
(1998)
- International Choral Festival, Missoula, MontanaMissoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
(2000) — Continental Harmony commission for Millennial Celebration
- The Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, Bennington CollegeBennington CollegeBennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
, Bennington, Vermont (2003)
See also
- Bill McGlaughlinBill McGlaughlinWilliam "Bill" McGlaughlin is an American composer, conductor, music educator, and Peabody Award-winning classical music radio host...
- Exploring MusicExploring MusicExploring Music is an internationally syndicated radio program featuring classical music, with commentary and analysis by host Bill McGlaughlin. It is a daily, one-hour show with a single in-depth theme each week. The show, which debuted in 2003, is produced by WFMT Radio Network...
- Saint Paul SundaySaint Paul SundaySaint Paul Sunday is a Peabody Award-winning weekly classical music radio program, hosted by Bill McGlaughlin. It is America's most widely listened to weekly classical music program produced by public radio, and airs on approximately 200 stations nationwide. Programs since 1997 are also available...
- Performance TodayPerformance TodayPerformance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...
External links
Audio- Audio interview and performance of Remembering Icarus on Performance Today, December 2005
- Bela's Bounce performed in 2003 by the TMEA Symphony Orchestra
- 1-minute audio sample of Walt Whitman's Dream
- Theme to Exploring Music
Biographical