CCC 026 - Richard Danielpour

Richard Danielpour is an American composer, and the next to be featured in our  Consonant Classical Challenge. Danielpour studied with Vincent Persicetti and Peter Mennin at Julliard. Although originally a serialist, Danielpour's mature style owes much to Persicetti, and is cast in a decidedly tonal and accessible language.

His work, Vox Populi is representative of this style. It was originally composed for orchestra, but the symphonic band version has gained wide acceptance.



Danielpour maintains that "music [must] have an immediate visceral impact and elicit a visceral response." And his music achieves that. His Concerto for Orchestra vividly illustrates this concept.

 

Danielpour is an accomplished pianist as well as composer. In addition to an impressive amount of music for solo piano and chamber groups that include piano, Danielpour has written four piano concertos, the latest one premiered in 2009. Listen carefully to this excerpt, and you'll hear how Danielpour not only references classical music traditions, but also American jazz, and George Gershwin in particular, while maintaining an original and unique compositional voice.



Richard Danielpour creates distinctively American-sounding music. His works are well-received internationally, and orchestras and artists regularly commission music from him. Danielpour embodies the cosmopolitan excitement of New York City, and his music should electrify even the most staid blue-hairs (without terrifying them).


Recommended Recordings

 Richard Danielpour: Concerto for Orchestra; Anima Mundi

 Danielpour: First Light; The Awakened Heart; Symphony No. 3

Premieres
(includes Danielpour's first cello concerto with Yo Yo Ma)