Late 20th Century America

This program features two works written in the late 20th century — William Bolcom’s Three Rags for String Quartet, an arrangement of his famous piano rags written in 1989, and Ned Rorem’s twelve-movement Winter Pages for clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, and piano written in 1987. Both composers trained with and took plenty of inspiration from their French predecessors and yet both works are distinctly American. Bolcom’s Rags are part of his efforts to revive the ragtime music of the early 1970s while Rorem’s Winter Pages delves into the emotions of the changing winter weather in the American northeast.