Another birthday.

"Happy Jazzy, Operatic, Symphonic Birthday, Dear Teacher"
The New York Times, December 3, 2006

An article about Martin Bresnick, who celebrated his 60th birthday in November. Sure, Mozart, Shostakovich and Reich deserved all the attention paid to them this year, but Bresnick should not be overlooked. In addition to being a versatile, imaginative composer who studied with Ligeti, Von Einem and John Chowning, he is now without question one of America's most important teachers of composition.

A partial list of Bresnick's students includes those I mentioned at the beginning of the article -- Michael Torke, Stewart Wallace, Daniel Kellogg, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, Christopher Theofanidis, Marco Beltrami and Jack Perla -- as well as the two I interviewed, Evan Ziporyn and Kevin Puts. A complete list would extend to literally dozens more, including Carolyn Yarnell, Marc Mellits, Harold Meltzer, Ken Ueno, Judd Greenstein, Missy Mazzoli, Dennis DeSantis, Gordon Fitzell... after a while, the mind begins to reel at just how many of America's most original and promising composers Bresnick has helped to shape. (Okay, Fitzell's a Canadian... same continent, at least.)

New Yorkers will have two choice opportunities to hear Bresnick's music in the week ahead. On Tuesday night at Zankel Hall, the Bang on a Can All-Stars will play two of his pieces, The Bucket Rider and BE JUST! on a program titled "American Unpop." The All-Stars have recorded those pieces twice: first for the magnum opus collection Opere della Musica Povera, on CRI and sadly out of print (though Amazon apparently still has three copies in stock), and again for The Essential Martin Bresnick, a CD/DVD set just out on Cantaloupe. Also on that program, which I will sadly be missing, are premieres by Fred Frith and Don Byron, as well as music by Conlon Nancarrow, Julia Wolfe and Thurston Moore.

On Saturday night at Zankel, the Yale School of Music (where Bresnick chairs the composition department) is throwing a birthday bash with a program that offers a pretty good sense of his broad stylistic range. ***, a trio for clarinet, viola and piano, is another of the Musica Povera pieces; My 20th Century, a curiously poignant piece for narrating musicians, and Grace, a concerto for two marimbas, are both on a recent New World CD, also titled My 20th Century. Bang on a Can All-Star pianist Lisa Moore, Bresnick's wife, will play For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise, which in Bresnick's estimation is a sort of romantic song cycle for reciting pianist inspired by the etchings of William Blake, which are projected behind the performer. (That piece is on the DVD portion of The Essential Martin Bresnick.) Two more works, B's Garlands and Three Choral Songs, complete the program.

If you're not in New York City, check out Bresnick's website for information about upcoming performances hither and yon.