Claude Baker (1948- )
Claude
Baker attained his doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music,
where his principal composition teachers were Samuel Adler and Warren
Benson. He has received a number of professional honors, including
an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters; two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards; a "Manuel de Falla" Prize
(Madrid); the Eastman-Leonard and George Eastman Prizes; the inaugural
"Barto Prize"; BMI-SCA and ASCAP awards; commissions from the Fromm and
Koussevitzky Music Foundations; and grants from the John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts,
the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bogliasco Foundation and the state arts
councils of Indiana, Kentucky and New York. Among the many
orchestras that have performed his music are those of Saint Louis, San
Francisco, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Louisville, as well as
the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the
Orquesta Sinfonica de RTV Espaņola and the Orquesta Nacional de Espaņa.
Other ensembles include the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Esprit
Orchestra, the Aeolian Chamber Players, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
and the Pacifica String Quartet (with pianist Ursula
Oppens). Baker's compositions have earned a reputation for
excellence, sophistication, and beauty, especially in the area of
orchestral music. Internationally acclaimed conductor, and recent
Jacobs faculty appointee, Leonard Slatkin has declared Baker to be one
of the three "best young symphonic composers in America."COMPOSITIONS Baker Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre ~ ~ ~ Baker on Baker
Three Bagatelles, 2 horns and 2 trombones (1969)
Concertino, 3 quintets, piano and percussion (1970)
How Tyll Got His Name Ulenspiegel, horn and narrator (1971)
Three Songs on Poems by Kenneth Patchen, soprano and chamber ensemble (1971)
Canzonet, tuba (1972)
Four Songs on Poems by Kenneth Patchen, soprano and orchestra (1973; rev, 1975)
Jeu de cartes, a theater piece for woodwind quartet, 4 tape recorders and dealer (1974)
Capriccio, band (1974)
Speculum Musicae, string quartet, woodwind quartet, brass trio, percussion and piano (1975)
Elegy, solo violin (1979)
Divertissement, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1980)
Omaggi e fantasie, tuba and piano (1981; rev, 1987; arr. for double bass and piano, 1984)
The Glass Bead Game, orchestra (1982)
Vier Nachtszenen, harp (1985; rev, 1990)
Three Pieces, 5 timpani, 5 roto-toms and orchestra or wind ensemble (1989)
Shadows: Four Dirge-Nocturnes, orchestra (1990)
Awaking the Winds, orchestra or chamber orchestra (1993)
Blow Out ... , orchestra (1994)
Whispers and Echoes, orchestra (1995)
Yet Another Set of Variations . . . , orchestra (1996) [written jointly with Bolcom, Erb, Schwantner, Slatkin and Tower]
Into the Sun, high voice and orchestra (1996)
Sleepers Awake, mezzo-soprano, percussion and string orchestra (1998)
Flights of Passage: From Silent Sun to Starry Night, piano (1998)
The Mystic Trumpeter, orchestra (1999)
Symphony No. 1, "A Whitman Cycle", orchestra (2000)
Aus Schwenengesang, orchestra (2001)
Tableaux funčbres, piano and string quartet (2003)
Three Phantasy Pieces, viola and percussion (2003; rev, 2005)
Märchenbilder, orchestra (2005; rev, 2008)
Lamentations (pour la fin du monde), alto/soprano saxophones and orchestra (2005-06)
String Quartet No. 2, "Capriccio" (2007)
Burlesque, alto saxophone, violin, cello and piano (2008)
WORKS BY GENRE Baker Links ~ ~ ~ Baker on Baker ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
Jeu de cartes, a theater piece for woodwind quartet, 4 tape recorders and dealer (1974)
Orchestra
The Glass Bead Game, orchestra (1982)
Shadows: Four Dirge-Nocturnes, orchestra (1990)
Awaking the Winds, orchestra or chamber orchestra (1993)
Blow Out ... , orchestra (1994)
Whispers and Echoes, orchestra (1995)
Yet Another Set of Variations . . . , orchestra (1996) [written jointly with Bolcom, Erb, Schwantner, Slatkin and Tower]
Into the Sun, high voice and orchestra (1996)
Sleepers Awake, mezzo-soprano, percussion and string orchestra (1998)
The Mystic Trumpeter, orchestra (1999)
Symphony No. 1, "A Whitman Cycle", orchestra (2000)
Aus Schwenengesang, orchestra (2001)
Märchenbilder, orchestra (2005; rev, 2008)
Lamentations (pour la fin du monde), alto/soprano saxophones and orchestra (2005-06)
Band
Capriccio, band (1974)
Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Three Pieces, 5 timpani, 5 roto-toms and orchestra or wind ensemble (1989)
Chamber
Three Bagatelles, 2 horns and 2 trombones (1969)
Concertino, 3 quintets, piano and percussion (1970)
How Tyll Got His Name Ulenspiegel, horn and narrator (1971)
Jeu de cartes, a theater piece for woodwind quartet, 4 tape recorders and dealer (1974)
Speculum Musicae, string quartet, woodwind quartet, brass trio, percussion and piano (1975)
Divertissement, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1980)
Tableaux funčbres, piano and string quartet (2003)
Three Phantasy Pieces, viola and percussion (2003; rev, 2005)
String Quartet No. 2, "Capriccio" (2007)
Burlesque, alto saxophone, violin, cello and piano (2008)
Solo Instrument
Canzonet, tuba (1972)
Elegy, solo violin (1979)
Omaggi e fantasie, tuba and piano (1981; rev, 1987; arr. for double bass and piano, 1984)
Vier Nachtszenen, harp (1985; rev, 1990)
Piano
Flights of Passage: From Silent Sun to Starry Night, piano (1998)
Vocal
Three Songs on Poems by Kenneth Patchen, soprano and chamber ensemble (1971)
Four Songs on Poems by Kenneth Patchen, soprano and orchestra (1973; rev, 1975)
BAKER LINKS Works by Genre ~ ~ ~ Baker on Baker ~ top of page ~
Claude Baker Named Composer-in-Residence at American Academy in Rome (IU News Room, Indiana University)
Composer Claude Baker Receives Two Major IU Distinctions (Indiana University)
Composer's website . . . contact Claude Baker: bakerwc@indiana.edu
Baker @ Wikipedia
Baker @ Dilettante Music
Baker @ Indiana University/Jacobs School of Music also here also here
Baker @ InstantEncore
Publisher
Baker @ Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
Baker @ Carl Fischer
Streaming Audio
Baker @ Indiana Public Media/Profiles
Baker @ Indiana University/Jacobs School of Music
Recordings
Baker @ Composer's website
Baker @ ArkivMusic
Video
[none at the moment]
Baker on Baker: Profiles - Indiana Public Media (streaming audio)
Composers
Speak on the Web at Pytheas~ click on composer picture to listen ~
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