In Thursday’s (10/15) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Andrew Druckenbrod writes, “The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra named Richard Danielpour its composer-of-the-year for this season, but the American composer feels he works with the PSO every year. ‘It is the sound I hear in my head when I write for orchestra,’ he says. ‘They are the prototypical orchestra in my mind.’ … The PSO will perform four of his works this season, starting with the premiere of ‘A Woman’s Life’ (Friday and Saturday); ‘Zoroastrian Riddles, Part I’ (Nov. 13 and 15); ‘Pastime’ (Feb. 19 and 21, 2010); and ‘Rocking the Cradle’ (April 29-May 1). Yet even with his love of the PSO’s play, the best performance Danielpour has heard in recent years was in the townhouse of Maya Angelou in New York. He had worked with the esteemed poet in the mid 1990s for a piece called ‘Portraits’ and wanted to engage her again for a new song cycle he was to write for singer Angela Brown, which would become ‘A Woman’s Life.’ ”
Posted October 15, 2009
