Program #98, April 4 2002: First-timers.

The object of this program was to play only pieces by composers who had yet to make their first appearance on Prisms. As this was to be the last unthemed program before show #100, and I'd already been thinking a good deal about the embarrassingly large number of worthy composers I hadn't yet dealt with, I thought it might be fun to whittle down that number just a bit. As usual, I'm holding back some artists and pieces for other times, some scheduled already, others as yet undetermined... so, to compensate for that, and to make the program more well-rounded, I decided to use works by a variety of folks -- some not well-known, some of whom I can scarcely believe I haven't played until now, others somewhere in between.

The playlist was built in clusters rather than being tightly integrated; I deliberately tried to stay away from the continuous-segue motif this time, though a bit of it still crept in at the end. The first cluster was a loose one, incorporating themes of escape and freedom, discord and reconciliation, and some similar sonic textures.

After a couple of piano pieces, a couple of viola pieces, and a listener request for the Herbolsheimer, the last hour and fifteen minutes (or so) was kind of a continuous segue -- pulling together twelve-tone experiments of various sorts, and contemporaries linked in various ways.

Worthies all, and you may expect to hear from them again soon.