Hearing the Pulitzers: A piece-by-piece, episode-by-episode exploration of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Music with hosts Andrew Granade and David Thurma...
Episode 57 - 1999: Melinda Wagner, Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion
In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore a concerto featuring an instrument not often put into a concerto setting: the flute. But its title also promises a balance among three forces instead of a featured soloist. What will they think of this contradictory piece?
If you'd like more information about Melinda Wagner, we recommend:
Frank Oteri's excellent interview with Melinda Wagner from 2015
Yujia Xia's dissertation "Melinda Wagner and Her Piano Concerto: Extremity of Sky" from 2021.
Mark Alburger, "Winning the Pulitzer Can Brighten Your Whole Day: An Interview with Melinda Wagner," 20th-Century Music 6, no. 6 (1999): 1-7.
In this episode, Dave and Andrew return to the venerable string quartet for a piece that mixes tonality, modernist music, Baroque dances, and Medieval modality. But will this mixture work for them?
If you'd like more information about Aaron Jay Kernis and the String Quartet #2, we recommend:
Leta Miller's book Aaron Jay Kernis, the first biography of the composer that we reference several times in the episode.
A conversation between Kernis and Frank Oteri right after the biography was published.
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Episode 55 - 1997: Wynton Marsalis, Blood on the Fields
In this episode, Dave and Andrew go deep into the tangled history surrounding the first jazz piece to ever win the Pulitzer Prize in Music, Wynton Marsalis's Blood on the Fields. But what will they think of the changes to the Pulitzer that allowed a largely-improvised piece to win an award previously reserved for notated music?
If you'd like more information about Wynton Marsalis, we recommend:
Wynton Marsalis's official website
Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward
David Stowe's article "The Diasporic Imagination of Wynton Marsalis," in The Black Urban Community, edited by Gayle T. Tate and Lewis A. Randolph (Palgrave, 2006)
Matthew Alan Thomas's dissertation "Dynamic canons: How the Pulitzer Prize, documentary film, and the U.S. Department of State are changing the way we think about jazz," University of Southern California, 2011
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Episode 54 - 1996: George Walker, Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra
In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a song cycle in all but name, George Walker's Lilacs. From the outside, this win looks like another lifetime achievement award, but is it? And does Lilacs remind them of music from an earlier period in the Pulitzer's history?
If you'd like more information about George Walker or Lilacs, we recommend:
Ginger Sharnell Jones-Robinson's DMA document, "An Analysis of Selected Vocal Works by George Walker" from the University of South Carolina, 2023.
Mikey Thomas Terry's interview with George Walker, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 84, No. 3 (2000), pp. 372-88
This short documentary on Walker and his music
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Episode 53 - 1995: Morton Gould, Stringmusic
In this episode, Dave and Andrew discuss a composer from an earlier generation winning a Pulitzer in the twilight of his career. What will they think of Stringmusic?
If you'd like more information about Morton Gould, we recommend:
J. Wesley Flinn's article, "Developing Variation in the Late Work of Morton Gould and Why It Matters" Gamut vol. 10. no. 1 (2021)
Lee Evan's dissertation, "Morton Gould: His Life and Music," Columbia University, 1978.
Peter Goodman's book, Morton Gould: American Salute (Amadeus Press, 2003).
Hearing the Pulitzers: A piece-by-piece, episode-by-episode exploration of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Music with hosts Andrew Granade and David Thurmaier.
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