by Kurt Knecht | Jun 17, 2011 | aesthetics, Lane Harder, music composition, Uncategorized
A few days ago on his excellent blog, Lane Harder brought up the interesting habit of contemporary composers listing the technical devices used in composition as a means of “introducing” their works to audiences. You can read the post...
by Kurt Knecht | Jun 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
(her name wasn’t really Clytemnestra)(also, it wasn’t really called Walmart Memorial) The worst decision we ever made was to move into the old parsonage of Walmart Memorial United Methodist Church. I became the Music Director at Walmart Memorial in the normal fashion....
by Kurt Knecht | Jun 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’m getting ready to get ready to work on a new song cycle for my friend Carrie Kirby. It will be a setting of selections from Rilke’s Stundenbuch. They are poem’s from the perspective of a medieval monk. In preparation, I’m...
by Kurt Knecht | Jun 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking about my mass again. It may well have been the single most amazing performing experience of my life. So many things came together at the last minute. The things that didn’t quite come together were subsumed in the...
by Kurt Knecht | Jun 2, 2011 | hope, music, Plato, Uncategorized
In a wonderful passage from Phaedrus, Plato tells us the relationship between the soul’s apprehension of truth and the corresponding occupation of the person inheriting it. He says that “the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a...
by Kurt Knecht | May 27, 2011 | Buber, epistemology, Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking once again about systems of thought. One of the things that I have always appreciated about animals like the systematic theologian is that they generally acknowledge that their system is founded on some basic assumptions. Most of the...
by Kurt Knecht | May 26, 2011 | kurt knecht, new music, radiolarians, solo piano, Uncategorized
Radiolarians was originally an orchestral piece and my masters thesis. Having never heard the orchestral version, I made a piano transcription a few years ago and decided that it worked better as a solo piano piece. I could write stuff about how it is...
by Kurt Knecht | May 24, 2011 | Chancellor Perlman, Chris Marks, organist, Uncategorized, university as corporation
Though I am delighted that the University of Nebraska – Lincoln has decided to retain the organ program and my wonderful teacher and friend Chris Marks, the entire process of budget cuts has left me quite disturbed. I know that I like to talk about the...
by Kurt Knecht | May 22, 2011 | choral music, deus noster refugium, Howard W. Blake choir, kurt knecht, Melinda Doyle, Uncategorized
In honor of my friend Dr. Melinda Doyle getting hooded and becoming director of choral studies at the University of Montevallo, I am posting our 2004 collaboration. Melinda commissioned this piece from me in 2004 for the Florida ACDA Convention. ...
by Kurt Knecht | May 19, 2011 | church work, homeless, kurt knecht, organist, social work, Uncategorized
“What do you need Joseph?” I said to the homeless man who regularly frequented the church looking for food. I was locking the outside doors of the East entrance to the church when I saw Joseph sitting on the ground.“I got a serious problem. I need to...
by Kurt Knecht | May 17, 2011 | 10 plagues, artistic collaboration, brian mcmillan, kurt knecht, leonardo lebas, Uncategorized
I’m finally getting around to posting my collaboration with visual artist Brian McMillan and conductor Leonardo Lebas. Campo Aperto is playing. Check out their stuff on youtube. The music was written when I found that my friend Leo, who is a wonderful conductor...
by Kurt Knecht | May 15, 2011 | l, Uncategorized
Here is the fabulous Anna DeGraff singing my song cycle the “Ballad of a Vocal Performance Major”. Movement 1 The letter came in early Spring. My mother beamed with pride. “You’ve been accepted into college, dear. They’re offering a full...
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