Classical Gas

The composer Joan Tower has won many awards, including the prestigious and lucrative Grawemeyer award in 1990. But for her, the biggest honor came when the Library of Congress announced that they would hold her manuscripts, papers and photos in their archives, in a collection called “The Joan Tower Papers.” She said that was the biggest award she ever got, because it means that her music will have an institutional home, forever. At age 87, Joan Tower is as active and vibrant as ever. In this episode of Classical Gas, Tower talks with podcast host Gail Wein about challenges and rewards of composing, her best piece of advice for composition students and how she worked through her grief on the loss of her husband of 50 years.    

Flutist Claire Chase embarked on a herculean project a few years ago – to expand the repertoire for flute by commissioning nearly 100 new works over 24 years. She calls the project Density 2036. It's inspired by a four-minute piece for solo flute by Edgar Varese, Density 21.5, that has fascinated Chase since childhood.   For the project, Chase is determined to create an entirely new program for flute each year, ending in 2036, the centennial of Varese's work. Her intent is to “reimagine solo flute literature over a quarter-century through commissions performances and recordings.” She's at the midpoint of the project, and there are already dozens of new compositions by Terry Riley, Pamela Z, Vijay Iyer, Lisa Lim and others. Chase will perform a world premiere by Annea Lockwood at The Kitchen in New York City in December 2025.   In this conversation, Chase talks with Gail Wein about the special properties of a flute made of platinum, what she still doesn’t know about her own instrument, how she chooses composers to commission for Density 2036, the non-profit organization she created called Density Arts, and more.

Colin Jacobson is a violinist, composer and co-founder of the Knights Chamber Orchestra and the string quartet Brooklyn Rider. I spoke with Colin earlier this year about Brooklyn Rider’s new concert program, Citizenship Notes, which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence; and about the group's 20th anniversary. Brooklyn Rider premieres the Citizenship Notes program at Tippet Rise on September 14, 2025 and will perform it in Australia, Paris, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, New York City and other locations in the coming season.

Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate talks about his unofficial role as an unofficial ambassador Indian country to the fine arts world, a new work recorded by the Dover Quartet and encouraging the next generation, including his young son, to be involved in music. I first heard Tate’s music in 2005, when I wrote about the National Symphony’s premiere of his work “Iholba” for The Washington Post. That composition for chamber orchestra and chorus took my breath away, and in the review, I praised Tate’s “ability to effectively infuse classical music with Native American nationalism.”

The legendary soprano Lucy Shelton gives us an inside look at Arnold Schoenberg's groundbreaking composition "Pierrot Lunaire."

Welcome to Classical Gas, a new podcast by radio host and producer Gail Wein. Episode 1 is an interview with Donald Berman about Charles Ives (1874-1954). Berman is a pianist and president of the Charles Ives Society. “Ives was interested in rubbing consonant music with dissonant music, so there was a feeling of jostling,” said Berman. “He felt that his music should not come easily.”