Bresnick, Martin

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Bresnick, Martin

Bresnick, Martin, American composer and teacher; b. N.Y., Nov. 13, 1946. He studied at the H.S. of Music and Art in N.Y., and then with Arnold Franchetti at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Conn. (B.A., 1967), Leland Smith and John Chowning at Stanford Univ. (M.A., 1968; D.M.A., 1972), Einem and Cerha at the Vienna Academy of Music on a Fulbright fellowship (1969–70), and with Ligeti. After teaching at the San Francisco Cons, of Music (1971–72) and Stanford Univ. (1972–75), he became a prof, of composition at the Yale Univ. School of Music in 1975. In 1993 he was the Valentine Prof, of Music at Amherst Coll. and in 1998 the Mary Duke Biddle Prof, of Music at Duke Univ. He received grants from the NEA (1974, 1979, 1990), held the Rome Prize (1975–76) and MacDowell Colony (1977) fellowships, took first prize in the Premio Ancona (1980) and the International Sinfonia Musicale Competition (1982), and won the Elise L. Stoeger Prize for Chamber Music of the Chamber Music Soc. of Lincoln Center (1996) and the Charles Ives Living Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1998). Bresnick’s music is marked by a fine command of structure and carefully wrought expressivity.

Works

orch.:Ocean of Storms (1970); Wir Weben, Wir Weben for Strings (1978; also for Chamber Ensemble or String Sextet); One (1986); Little Suite for Amateur String Orch. (1987); Pontoosuc (1989); Angelus Novus (1991); Sinfonia (1992); On an Overgrown Path for Chamber Orch. (1996). chamber: 3 string quartets (1968, 1984, 1992); Musica for 9 Instruments (1972); B.’s Garlands for 8 Cellos (1973); Conspiracies for Flute and Tape (1979); Bread & Salt for 14 Instruments (1984); Just Time for Woodwind Quintet (1985); Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1988); The Bucket Rider for 6 Players (1995); Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano (1997); Pine Eyes for Bass Clarinet, Piano, 2 Percussion, and Narrator (1998); Bird as Prophet for Violin and Piano (1999). vocal:Where is the Way for Chorus (1970); Ants for Soprano, Mezzo- soprano, Tenor, Baritone, 5 Actor-Mimes, Woodwind Quintet, String Quartet, Double Bass, Percussion, and Harp (1976); Der Signal for Soprano, Alto, Mezzo-soprano, Narrator or Tape, and 8 Instruments (1982); 3 Choral Songs (1986); New Haven, Woodstock for Chorus (1993); Palling for Mezzo-soprano and Piano or Orch. (1994). other: Film scores, including Arthur & Lillie (1975) and The Day After Trinity (1981).