‘Ghostly Chorus’ Childhood trauma is such alluring material for writers. It’s also fiendishly hard to render it with real impact. Kids’ frights tend to fall apart in the wry view of adult hindsight. As a friend once said to me with a shrug, everything is hell on wheels when you’re little. When it works, however,… Read More
Music For Writers: Martin Bresnick And The Terrible Beauty Of Sorrow
‘We Will Always Sing Such Songs Of Longing’ Each time I visited, my grandmother wept bitterly about the murder of her parents, her brother, her two sisters, and all their children. Can a child comfort a grandmother, a grandfather? I became a witness, a musician, and a composer. Martin Bresnick is a native New Yorker.… Read More
Music For Writers: Caleb Burhans’ Leap Of Faith
Thinner Air “Between 1959 and 1960, Joe Kittinger went to the top of the atmosphere in a helium balloon three times and performed record-breaking sky dives.” So what were you expecting composer Caleb Burhans to talk about? Music? Actually, he is talking about music. His newly released Excelsior is named for Kittinger’s 1960 Project Excelsior. What Burhans has done… Read More