A black day for admirers of Easley Blackwood. The composer, pianist, theorist, and teacher has died at the age of 89. Blackwood, who taught at University of Chicago for 40 years, studied with Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger. He was a founding pianist of the chamber group Chicago Pro Music, otherwise made up of musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Among his original compositions are five symphonies, sundry concertos, and “Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media.” His book, “The Structure of Recognizable Diatonic Tunings,” was published by Princeton University Press. A cross-section of his music and recordings of his performances of other composer’s piano works are available on Cedille Records. And yes, his father was the famed contract bridge player. R.I.P.
Symphony No. 2, with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra
Microtonal Compositions
String Quartet No. 3
Chaconne for Carillon!
Blackwood’s arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio espagnol”
Interview with Bruce Duffie