Jan Swafford

==Works==

==Works==

Swafford has written columns on music and other subjects in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', and is heard as a commentator on [[NPR]] and the [[BBC]]. He is a regular program annotator for orchestras and venues including the [[Boston Symphony]], [[Cleveland Orchestra]], [[Chicago Symphony]], [[San Francisco Symphony]], the Metropolitan Opera, and [[Carnegie Hall]]. He provided liner notes for two [[DGC Records|DGG]] collections of the complete Beethoven symphonies.

Swafford has written columns on music and other subjects in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', and is heard as a commentator on [[NPR]] and the [[BBC]]. He is a regular program annotator for orchestras and venues including the [[Boston Symphony]], [[Cleveland Orchestra]], [[Chicago Symphony]], [[San Francisco Symphony]], the Metropolitan Opera, and [[Carnegie Hall]]. He provided liner notes for two [[DGC Records|DGG]] collections of the complete Beethoven symphonies.

His writing honors include a 2012 Deems Taylor Award for internet writing, a Mellon Fellowship at Harvard, and an honorary Harvard Phi Beta Kappa. His Brahms and Ives biographies were end-of-year Critics' Choices in ''[[The New York Times]]''. The Ives biography was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award in biography and won the Pen-Winship prize for a book on a New England subject. His biography ''Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph'' in its first week appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.

His writing honors include a 2012 Deems Taylor Award for internet writing, a Mellon Fellowship at Harvard, and an honorary Harvard Phi Beta Kappa. His Brahms and Ives biographies were end-of-year Critics' Choices in ''[[The New York Times]]''. The Ives biography was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award in biography and won the Pen-Winship prize for a book on a New England subject. His biography ''Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph'' in its first week appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.

Swafford's music, which is highly lyrical and moves freely between [[tonality]] and [[atonality]], has been called [[Neoromanticism (music)|New Romantic]] in style.{{by whom|date=September 2014}} There are equal if less overt contributions from [[world music]], especially [[Music of India|Indian]] and [[Music of Bali|Balinese]], and from [[jazz]] and [[blues]]. The titles of his works reveal a steady inspiration from nature and landscape. The composer views his own work as a kind of [[Neoclassicism (music)|classicism]]: a concern with clarity, directness, and expression, or as he puts it, "music that sounds familiar though it is new, works that sound like they wrote themselves."{{Cite quote|date=September 2014}}

Swafford's music, which is highly lyrical and moves freely between [[tonality]] and [[atonality]], has been called [[Neoromanticism (music)|New Romantic]] in style.{{by whom|date=September 2014}} There are equal if less overt contributions from [[world music]], especially [[Music of India|Indian]] and [[Music of Bali|Balinese]], and from [[jazz]] and [[blues]]. The titles of his works reveal a steady inspiration from nature and landscape. The composer views his own work as a kind of [[Neoclassicism (music)|classicism]]: a concern with clarity, directness, and expression, or as he puts it, "music that sounds familiar though it is new, works that sound like they wrote themselves."{{Cite quote|date=September 2014}}

Notable are his [[orchestra]]l works ''Landscape with Traveler'' (1979–80), ''After Spring Rain'' (1981–82) ''From the Shadow of the Mountain'', (2001), and "Late August," the [[piano quintet]] ''Midsummer Variations'' (1985), the [[piano quartet]] ''They Who Hunger'' (1989), and the [[piano trio]] ''They That Mourn'' (2002), the last in memoriam [[September 11, 2001 attacks|9/11]]. In 2012 [[cello|cellist]] Rhonda Rider premiered his solo cello work ''The Silence at Yuma Point'', part of a commissioning project of pieces inspired by the [[Grand Canyon]] (where Swafford has been a frequent hiker). In 2024 Orchestra New England premiered his "Late Autumn - First Snow." His recordings include "They Who Hunger" by the Scott Chamber players and the solo piano work "Music Like Steel and Like Fire" by pianist Adam Golka.

Notable are his [[orchestra]]l works ''Landscape with Traveler'' (1979–80), ''After Spring Rain'' (1981–82) ''From the Shadow of the Mountain'', (2001), and "Late August," the [[piano quintet]] ''Midsummer Variations'' (1985), the [[piano quartet]] ''They Who Hunger'' (1989), and the [[piano trio]] ''They That Mourn'' (2002), the last in memoriam [[September 11, 2001 attacks|9/11]]. In 2012 [[cello|cellist]] Rhonda Rider premiered his solo cello work ''The Silence at Yuma Point'', part of a commissioning project of pieces inspired by the [[Grand Canyon]] (where Swafford has been a frequent hiker). In 2024 Orchestra New England premiered his "Late Autumn - First Snow." His recordings include "They Who Hunger" by the Scott Chamber players and the solo piano work "Music Like Steel and Like Fire" by pianist Adam Golka.

His compositional awards include a [[National Endowment for the Arts]] Composer Grant, two Massachusetts Artists Foundation Fellowships, and a Tanglewood Fellowship. His work is published by [[Peermusic|Peermusic Classical]] and [[Meridian Records]].

His compositional awards include a [[National Endowment for the Arts]] Composer Grant, two Massachusetts Artists Foundation Fellowships, and a Tanglewood Fellowship. His work is published by [[Peermusic|Peermusic Classical]] and [[Meridian Records]].

[[Category:Mozart scholars]]

[[Category:Mozart scholars]]

[[Category:Ives scholars]]

[[Category:Ives scholars]]

[[Category:21st-century American male composers]]