#2519: Mellits, the "Post-Minimalist"

For this New Sounds episode, listen to “Brick” by Marc Mellits. The Baltimore-born composer wrote the piece for his mother, and most of the piece relates directly to her. Some movements seem to have been drawn from Mellits’ life experiences like “Purple Dandelion,” about the weeds that he’d picked for her when he was small; “Red Hammer,” so named after the Arnold Schwarzenegger of hammers, which was passed to him from his grandfather. Other movements might be entirely play, as Mellits likes to play rhythmic games, of which he says, “in a way, it is they that actually hold the music together, like the bricks in a house that are positioned in certain patterns, and still support the structure.” This new work, co-commissioned by WNYC through the Cheswatyr New Music Initiative, has already been taken on tour by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

PROGRAM #2519, WNYC Commissions (First aired on Tues, 3/7/06)

ARTIST(S)	RECORDING	CUT(S)	SOURCE
Steve Reich	The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1	Know What Is Above You [3:30]	This CD is not commercially available. It was made for a WNYC fundraiser in 2001.
Philip Glass	The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1	Now So Long After That Time [5:00]	See above. This Glass work is now part of Glass’s “Etudes,” recorded on Orange Mountain Music www.orangemountainmusic.com see also www.philipglass.com
Marc Mellits	Orpheus Chamber Orchestra @ Carnegie Hall, 2/4/06	Brick [22:30]	Not yet commercially available. See www.marcmellits.com for info
Derek Bermel	Alarm Will Sound on New Sounds Live @ Merkin Hall, 1/16/03	Three Rivers, excerpt [10:00]	Not yet commercially available. A recording by The Kitchen House Blend is on The WNYC Commissions, Vol. 1, above.

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