Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza

Andrew is a composer studying and teaching at Stanford. He is also one of the resident composers of Ensemble Pamplemousse. You can check out his music at http://www.andrewgreenwald.netIn our conversation we talk about many topics including the movie A Serious Man and a book called Foreskin’s Lament, but a good chunk of the conversation is about the importance composers place on the musical document and the purpose of complexity in Andrew’s music. So if you want to see what we‘re talking about you can download a score with this post or go to http://www.andrewgreenwald.net/scores/strquartet5compressed.pdf

Iñigo is a composer from Bilbao Spain who is now living in Berlin. As mentioned in the beginning of this podcast a lot of his work is quite theatrical, so check out the video on his website www.iginermiranda.com/In out conversation we talk about his time living in Amsterdam, what it is like working as a foreign composer in Berlin, and if it’s a positive development if music can be qualified by people’s ability to talk about it.

Philip is a composer living in New York. The piece played in this podcast uses what he calls non-linear feedback system. He is also part of duo called R We Who R We with Ted Hearne who is mentioned in the beginning of this interview.We talk about his life as a jazz guitarist in Charleston and the idea of self-sabotage during an improvisation. You can listen to more of Philip’s music at http://www.prwhite.net/

Jarkko is a composer based in Helsinki. We met while he was living in Berlin on a grant from the Finnish government. In our conversation we talk about the problems of post-grant life and what it’s like to write music for different types of audiences.You can check out more of his music on his SoundCloud page http://soundcloud.com/jarkko-hartikainen

Aaron and I talk about his time at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), his relationship to music and technology, and the difference between writing music for Europeans and Americans. Listen to more of his music at http://aaroneinbond.wordpress.com/Special thanks to Yarn/Wire and Carrier Records for permission to use Aaron’s piece Passagework.

Abel Paúl is a composer from Valladolid Spain who now lives in Berlin. If you like the piece played in this podcast you can listen to more of it on his website www.abelpaul.net/In our conversation we discuss our lives as expats in Berlin, his experience as a finalist in the Gaudeamus Music Competition, and the problems that arise when writing music with no association with an institution.

In this inaugural podcast Andrew and I talk about why he writes orchestral music as well as the problems of working with large ensembles as a young composer.You can visit Andrew’s website at andrewnormanmusic.com. Special thanks to Andrew Gourlay and the BBC Symphony for permission to use Andrew’s piece “Unstuck”