Each week, Tyler Kline journeys into new territory and demystifies the music of living composers on Modern Notebook. Listen for a wide variety of exciting music that engages and inspires, along with the stories behind each piece and the latest releases from today’s contemporary classical artists. Discover what’s in store on Modern Notebook, every Sunday night from 8 to 10 on Classical WSMR.
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On the final episode of Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Hideaki Aomori’s Split stretches the bass clarinet to its limits, exploring the full breadth of its sound world. This hour also features Baljinder Sekhon’s Drifting Seeds for cello and harp, along with music by Anna Mieke, Vivian Fung, and more.Then: chamber music by Jessica Ackerley called Spark Surge — one of the highlights of the final hour. You’ll also hear Fumiko Miyachi’s piano duo Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Strange Charm, alongside music by Shirish Korde, Oliver Knussen, and others. -
Photo courtesy of the composer's website.On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Aart Strootman’s Descend is a gentle tide of sound — slow, glassy, and immersive. Strings drift in silvery layers, surfacing and folding back on themselves in waves that feel tactile and luminous. There’s a quiet, rhythmic shimmer beneath it all, like a faraway rattle rolling in with the current.Then: How do we hold on, even as everything changes? That question lies beneath The Impermanence of Things by Michael Zev Gordon. Across thirteen brief movements, the piece slips between motion and stillness, with fleeting echoes of Couperin, Debussy, and Mahler surfacing like memories.
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On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Composer Daniel Thomas Davis calls What if We’re Beautiful an experiment in musical gift-craft — a set of movements stitched together like handmade sonic objects. With its boisterous charm and delicate sincerity, the piece includes a hurdy-gurdy tune that’s as playfully heartfelt as the friendships it honors.Then: Lila Meretzky’s For Linda Catlin Smith is a quartet written in tribute to one of her key influences. Smith’s music often lives in the realm of ambiguity — subtle, spacious, and shaped by her love of painting and literature — and Meretzky’s piece seems to breathe in that same quiet way. -
On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Drawing from the Korean folk song Jeongsun Arirang, Hyunjoo Byon’s Arari unfolds in five variations — blending traditional modes and modern textures. With oboe and piano weaving between tonalities, the piece becomes a quiet dialogue between Eastern roots and Western technique.Then: Combining solo viola and percussion might seem unlikely — but Kalevi Aho leans into that contrast in his Moonlight Concerto. Six interconnected movements unfold with shimmering sonorities, ancient ritual influences, and rare percussion instruments like waterphone, Thai gongs, and moon gong. -
On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Memories of friendship linger beneath each short movement in Hugi Gudmundsson’s Coniunctio — moments on park benches, in bars, on quiet walks. Composed for cello, the piece unfolds in brief, focused chapters that reflect intimacy through gesture, space, and shared experience.Then: Luciano Berio once described a utopian dream: to build a bridge between folk traditions and modern music-making. In Folk Songs, that vision takes shape through melodies from eight cultures — reimagined not as museum pieces, but as living, breathing connections to everyday life. -
On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Steven Mackey’s Stumble to Grace traces a journey with the piano: from clumsy beginnings to a confident, contrapuntal fugue. Inspired by his toddler’s early steps, the piece moves through stages of progress and play — a portrait of growth shaped by both joy and challenge.Then: Rhythms passed from father to son form the heart of Murmurs in Time — a rare classical percussion piece by tabla master Zakir Hussain. Rooted in Hindustani tradition but shaped through collaboration, it invites performers to internalize, transform, and return each pattern in a new voice. -
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