from the Summer 2001 issue

How Different Is Modern Music?

Helen Smith Tarchalski's article (NEWS) continues . . .

"Pianist MARTHA BRADEN on modern music"

n our NEWS section for this issue, we thought it appropriate to conclude the column with some views on modern music by pianist Martha Braden, who previously recorded the complete works of Ross Lee Finney and Alexander Tcherepnin, and most recently recorded the more advanced piano works of David Kraehenbuehl. Coached by the composer, Martha has masterfully made available the recorded music on CD (RANDOM WALKS, New World Records #80584) and the correlating sheet music (RANDOM WALKS: The Collected Works for Solo Piano). Of particular interest to both pre-college and college teachers is Looking Back: Twelve Images from My Past (also sold separately), which ranges in level from intermediate to early advanced. The composer refers to the set as "a 20th century equivalent of Kinderscenen," and provides background paragraphs to support the already evocative titles and music. (For more information and purchasing details, see the ad on page 47 of the print magazine.)

To hear MARTHA BRADEN perform some of this music, click below:
(Used with the permission of New World Records, © 2000)

From Looking Back: Twelve Images from My Past			From Diptych
"Castles in the Air": 663k, WAV sound file	"Playing in the Rain": 488k, WAV sound file	"Roughhouse": 611k, WAV sound file	"Quickmarch": 403k, WAV sound file

Martha Braden describes how her passion for modern music was kindled during her 17 years of piano study with Frances Clark. "Frances always promoted modern music by programming it on student recitals. She commissioned major composers to write easy pieces for the Contemporary Piano Literature series of the FRANCES CLARK LIBRARY." Martha further remembers that Frances treated her advanced high school students to college-level courses in Hindemith's music theory, Vengerova's piano technique, and newly available concert works; "she engaged experts to tutor us-professors at Kalamazoo College and Westminster Choir College, as well as various contemporary composers, and Frances often sat in on those sessions."

"Over the past 30 years, I learned from David Kraehenbuehl exactly how modern music works to help listeners evolve the way they see our world today-including its humor, pain, and joy! Well-crafted new music must sing and dance and must be devised of new musical structures that "re-present" new human experience. Through new sonorities and forms, composers provide the performer with a fresh glimpse of what we live today. Though enjoyable even for children, these compositions are not just telling entertaining stories! This is the exciting, dynamic shaping of time. As a child performer, I could sense the privilege of assisting the human process. Without sacrificing the wonderful traditions of classical music, it is imperative to emphasize modern music as a bridge to 21st century life."

October, 2000 marked the opening of the David Kraehenbuehl Papers at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library at Yale University. Archival materials donated by his widow, Marie Marek Kraehenbuehl, include manuscripts, published scores, published and unpublished articles, pedagogical materials, recordings, and memorabilia.