PRISM’s Hit Parade: Beloved Classics & Electrifying Commissions

PRISM Quartet’s most popular program, Hit Parade, features a cross-section of traditional and contemporary music. The program includes three stunningly beautiful arrangements: Schumann Bouquet, selections from Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young, adapted for the PRISM Quartet by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom; selections Pagine (Pages), a book of adaptations of works by J. S. Bach, George Gershwin, Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (and more) by Salvatore Sciarrino; and a reimagining of Stephen Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns by PRISM’s own Matthew Levy, endorsed by Sondheim himself, who said, “I love it!” New works include electrifying PRISM Quartet commissions from Jennifer Higdon, Melissa Aldana, Emma O’Halloran, Renee Baker, and Michael Daugherty.

PROGRAM (drawn from the following repertoire)

Bop (2004) by Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962)+

Salvatore Sciarrino (b. 1947) Pagine (Pages, 1998)+
Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1564–1619) Madrigal: Itene miei sospir
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Fughetta (super Diess sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot) and Kyrie (Gott Vater in Ewigkeit)
George Gershwin (1898–1937) Who cares?
Domenico Scarlatti Sonata L. 215

Pratigraha by Renee Baker (b. 1957)+

Steamboat (2014) by Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)+

Reflections (2021) by Melissa Aldana (b. 1988)+

Schumann Bouquet by Robert Schumann (1810-1856), arr. 2015 by William Bolcom (b. 1938)+
I. Lieber Mai (The beautiful month of May)
II. Knecht Ruprecht (The bogeyman)
III. Sheherazade
IV. Ländler (a sort of German waltz)
V. Sehr langsam (Very slow)
VI. Lied italienischer Marinari (Song of the Italian boatmen)

Night Music (2014) by Emma O’Halloran (b. 1985)+

Send in the Clowns (1973, from A Little Night Music) Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930) arr. 2019 by Matthew Levy (b. 1963)+

Pueblito Viejo by Jose Alejandro Morales (1913-1978), arr. by Alvaro Rojas
Paqueta by Roberto Saghini

+ denotes commissioned by and/or composed/arranged for the PRISM Quartet