Aranjuez Piano

[Malcolm Lozada]

Celebratingthe music of Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999), one of the greatest composers of piano music from Spain. Although becoming blind at age three, he wrote highly original piano music of great brilliance and passion and is best known for Concierto de Aranjuez and the Fantasia para un gentilhombre.

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), is perhaps the most important Spanish poet and dramatist of the twentieth century. Lorca is credited with revitalizing Spanish poetry and theater, and composed such masterpieces as Romancero gitano ( Gypsy Ballads) and Llanto por Ignacio Snchez Mejas ( Lament for a Bullfighter), Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) and Yerma.

Our special guests: Hsin-Jung Tsai, is a musician, composer & pianist. She studied at CUNY graduate center in New York and performed at Carnegie Hall. Hsin-Jung has collaborated for films & theater throughout Asia and the U.S. and received composition awards and grants from the Asia American Research Institute. Ms. Tsai resides in Houston and for several years served as the administrator for the Houston Composers Salon. She is an educator and an incredible pianist with great natural eloquence. Currently, Hsin-Jung is the Artist-in-Residence for The Flamenco Poets Society, Caf Cantante Series.

Mr. Shawn Renzoh Head, musician, composer and Master Shakuhachi performer. Shawn earned his Shihan degree at 22 and became the youngest non-Japanese Shihan in shukahachi. He graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has traveled throughout Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S. as a soloist and lecturer. He continues to build a bridge between the east & west by composing his own works and commissioning others to build the repertoire for shakuhachi.

In 1935, William Grant Still wrote a musical picture of the journey of a human spirit after death. It's a suite for piano called Three Visions. On today's show, we'll hear pianist Andrew Armstrong play Still's suite at a concert presented by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

When clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gloria Chien met in 2006, they bonded over their love of Johannes Brahms's music, a bond that can be felt when they play together. They'll play a clarinet sonata by Brahms for us on today's show.

Composer James Stephenson imagined what might have happened before Aaron Copland's iconic Appalachian Spring. Stephenson turned to the myth of Persephone as his inspiration and created a musical journey into the underworld and back. We'll hear the world premiere of James Stephenson's Persephone on today's show.

Simply put, Dora Pejačević was a trailblazer. She became the first Croatian composer to write a concerto in 1913. Then, while serving as a nurse in World War One, she wrote what is considered to be the first modern symphony in Croatian music. On today's show, we'll hear Pejačević's Piano Quartet in D minor from a concert presented by the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, New York.

Violinist Leila Josefowicz has forged a tremendous career specializing in 20th and 21st-century music. At times, Josefowicz has faced reluctance or resistance from what she sees as the somewhat stodgy traditions in some parts of the classical music world. Still, she believes that the greatest music happens when one overcomes fear and pushes the traditional boundaries. On today's show, Leila Josefowicz plays Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, backed by conductor Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra.

When deadlines are tight and work is stressful, the baby also starts crying, but for composer Valerie Coleman, her newborn's need for comfort created "unexpected serenity." On this episode of PT, we'll hear a trio written with a baby in one hand and a pen in the other: Rubispheres by Valerie Coleman.

Pretty quickly he discovered he could be a classical guitar player, and that journey took him out of the Balkans to the Royal Academy of Music in London. "My parents, instead of objecting to it, said something to me which remained with me: 'If you choose to be a musician, you have to understand that it's only worth it if you become the best musician you can be.'"

The only problem: there are no other famous guitar concertos. It's a relatively young instrument, Miloš explains: "Classical guitar, unfortunately, doesn't have as long of a tradition, in terms of repertoire, as a violin, cello or piano. I would meet with conductors and promoters [and] say, 'Okay, what are we doing next?' And there wouldn't be so many things that they would be excited about."

The other composer Miloš set his sights on was the man who brought Middle Earth to life. He felt composer Howard Shore could bring some of that Lord of the Rings magic into the concert hall. "Please make it signature Howard Shore," the guitarist recalls telling the composer. "Please give me all those wonderful ideas and colors and textures, and please make the imagination of the people that are listening to it go wild."

Shore named his concerto The Forest because he wrote it in a forest near his home in New York. He wrote each of the three movements during a different season, and orchestrated it during the fourth.

The inspiration, Shore says, "was Miloš' virtuosity, the world of classical guitar recordings that I love, and nature. Milos and I talked about his home country as well." The composer even included a brief quote of the famous Rodrigo concerto. "By the time I got to the third movement," he says, "and I'd been working on it for almost about nine months, I realized I wanted to pay a little debt of gratitude to the works that I've heard and that I love."

"No doctor in this world understands how you make music," he says, "how you make something so godly with your ten fingers, and your six strings, or your piano or your violin. And it's impossible to understand that, and to control that and to miraculously fix that with an injection or with this or with that or the other."

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Pop music has a whole lot of hits where guitar is the star, but in the classical music world, there aren't many concertos that make the six-string the centerpiece. A guitarist named Milos is hoping to change that. Tim Greiving has the story.TIM GREIVING, BYLINE: Milos Karadaglic was 8 when he noticed the dusty guitar sitting on a shelf in his house in Montenegro.MILOS KARADAGLIC: I think my father had this guitar when he was young and when he tried to seduce my mother. And once he got her, I don't think he played it ever again - typical sort of behavior. I got this guitar, and seriously, the moment I held it in my hands, I felt I found my best friend.GREIVING: Pretty quickly, he discovered he could be a classical guitar player. And that journey took him out of the Balkans to the Royal Academy of Music in London. Before long, Milos, who just goes by his first name, was signed to a prestigious record label and playing major concerts, from the Royal Albert Hall to the Hollywood Bowl. He was typically booked to play the most famous concerto for guitar and orchestra, the "Aranjuez" by Joaquin Rodrigo.(SOUNDBITE OF MILOS KARADAGLIC PERFORMANCE OF JOAQUIN RODRIGO'S "CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ")GREIVING: The only problem was there are no other famous guitar concertos.KARADAGLIC: Classical guitar, unfortunately, doesn't have as long of a tradition in terms of repertoire as a violin, cello or piano. I would meet with conductors and promoters. You would say, OK, what are we doing next? And there wouldn't be so many things that they would be excited about.GREIVING: Milos made it his mission to fix that, and he started talking to composers whose mainstream reputation might do the trick. He told Joby Talbot, the British concert and film composer, that he wanted something grand. Talbot responded with "Ink Dark Moon."(SOUNDBITE OF MILOS KARADAGLIC PERFORMANCE OF JOBY TALBOT'S "INK DARK MOON")GREIVING: The other composer Milos set his sights on was the man who brought Middle Earth to life. He felt composer Howard Shore could bring some of that "Lord Of The Rings" magic into the concert hall.(SOUNDBITE OF MILOS KARADAGLIC PERFORMANCE OF HOWARD SHORE'S "THE FOREST: I")HOWARD SHORE: I named the piece "The Forest" because I wrote it in a forest.GREIVING: Shore even included a little quote of the famous Rodrigo concerto.SHORE: By the time I got to the third movement and I'd been working on it for almost about nine months, I realized I wanted to pay a little debt of gratitude to the works that I've heard and that I love.(SOUNDBITE OF MILOS KARADAGLIC PERFORMANCE OF HOWARD SHORE'S "THE FOREST: II")KARADAGLIC: It's like his hat off to the great master who gave the greatest guitar concerto of the 20th century. But like now, let's hope that we discover and premier the "Aranjuez" for the 21st century. If there is one great wish in my whole career, it will be to do exactly that.GREIVING: Milos' career was actually in jeopardy while those commissions were going on. Around 2016, when he was playing 120 concerts a year and recording albums in between, he developed a serious hand injury. It was diagnosed as a muscle disorder, although he emerged from his year of cancelled concerts, treatment and reflection believing it was simply physical and psychological burnout.KARADAGLIC: No doctor in this world understands how you make music, how you make something so godly with your 10 fingers and your six strings or your piano or your violin or whatever you're doing. And it's impossible to understand that and to control that and to miraculously fix that with an injection or with this or with that or the other.GREIVING: The whole experience gave Milos a new mission to go along with finding the next great guitar concerto - erasing the taboo of injury for classical musicians.KARADAGLIC: I wanted to talk about it because I feel that too many of my colleagues suffered the same thing and were not able to find the support that they need and were not able to go onto the right path with treatment and with help.GREIVING: For NPR News, I'm Tim Greiving.(SOUNDBITE OF MILOS KARADAGLIC PERFORMANCE OF HOWARD SHORE'S "THE FOREST: II")

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