When Henri Dutilleux received the hefty Kravis Prize from the New York Philharmonic last year, he generously announced that he would be sharing the money with three other composers. Peter Eötvös was named at that time; last night, at a concert honoring the venerable Frenchman, Anthony Cheung and Franck Krawczyk were revealed as the others. In addition, Sean Shepherd, whom Philharmonic listeners already know from his vibrant CONTACT! commission, These Particular Circumstances, was announced as the Kravis Emerging Composer, and will write a piece for the 2013-14 season. (This prize is to be bestowed every other year, when the main award is not given.) Cheung, a sharp writer as well as composer, said of Dutilleux, "Every time I return to his work, I rediscover what made me want to pursue composition in the first place: music that is brilliantly conceived, heard, and articulated, but filled with mystery, ambiguity, and spirituality."
In the video above, Matthias Pintscher conducts Cheung's Fog Mobiles. Another piece of new-music news this week is that Pintscher has been chosen as the next music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, succeeding Susanna Mälkki. Pintscher will be one of the three conductors of Gruppen at the Philharmonic, on Friday and Saturday.
