American composer Fred Lerdahl has been named the Classical Recording Foundation’s Composer of the Year, for his 2008 recording “Music of Fred Lerdahl, Vol. 2,” on the Bridge label. That recording, featuring the Odense Symphony Orchestra, includes Lerdahl’s Cross-Currents; Waltzes; Duo for Violin and Piano; and Quiet Music. Lerdahl received the honor at the Eighth Annual Classical Recording Foundation Awards at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall on November 24. Lerdahl’s works have been performed by orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and eighth blackbird. Lerdahl has been a professor of music at Columbia University since 1991; previous music honors include the Koussevitzky Composition Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Lerdahl’s Waves and Time after Time were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Lerdahl, a music theorist, is also the author of two books: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (with linguist Ray Jackendoff) and Tonal Pitch Space.
Posted December 4, 2009
