Michael Hersch
Encyclopedia
Michael Nathaniel Hersch (born June 25, 1971) is an American
composer
and pianist
.
Born in Washington, D.C.
, and raised in Reston, Virginia
, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg Solti
conducting Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony. This "shook me," Hersch has written. "It scrambled everything. That's when I knew that I was to be a composer... My whole life started over at that moment."
He almost immediately began studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music
in Baltimore. Hersch has stated that "with Morris Cotel - the teacher I spent the most time with during my studies at the Peabody Conservatory - lessons consisted only of week after week coming into the teacher's studio, playing and singing through the latest work at the piano and his saying nothing more than, 'Okay. Fine. See you next week.' He believed that a composer confronting his or herself in this manner would force the composer to look in the mirror seeing, along with the good, all the flaws." Hersch moved on to the Moscow Conservatory
, where he worked with Albert Leman
and Roman Ledenev, and received a Certificate in Composition in 1995. He also worked with John Corigliano
, John Harbison
and George Rochberg
at a program for young composers in 1995. Hersch then returned to Peabody for graduate studies.
Early success
His first success came when Marin Alsop
selected Elegy for Strings as winner of the American Composers Prize, and conducted it at Lincoln Center in New York in 1997. That year also saw Hersch win a Guggenheim Fellowship
and become a fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center
, where he worked with Christopher Rouse, followed by fellowships at the Norfolk Festival for Contemporary Music and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan in 1998. In 2000 Hersch won the Rome Prize, where he worked with Luciano Berio
, and in 2001 the Berlin Prize, where he worked with Hans Werner Henze
.
A CD
of orchestral works with Marin Alsop
conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
has been released on the Naxos Records
label, and another disc on the Vanguard Classics
label features Mr. Hersch as a pianist, performing not only his own work, but works of Morton Feldman
, Wolfgang Rihm
, and Josquin des Prez
(Hersch's own arrangements of Mille Regretz
and De Profundis Clamavi
). The disc was selected by The Washington Post
and Newsday as among the most important recordings of 2004-05.
Music
His music increasingly recorded, Vanguard Classics is in the midst of an acclaimed three volume survey of Hersch’s complete music for solo strings. This project comes several years after the 2007 release of Hersch’s, The Vanishing Pavilions, with the composer at the keyboard. Critic David Patrick Stearns of The Philadelphia Inquirer
wrote on the premiere of "The Vanishing Pavilions," a work lasting over 2 hours, premiered on October 14, 2006: "Everything unfolds in open-ended, haiku-like eruptions, though built on ideas that recur throughout the 50 movements... Overtly or covertly, The Vanishing Pavilions is about the destruction of shelter (both in fact and in concept) and life amid the absence of any certainty. And though the music is as deeply troubled as can be, its restless directness also commands listeners not to be paralyzed by existential futility."
Composer Christopher Theofanidis on Hersch's music:
“I am always cognizant of Hersch’s formal rigor, not in the usual way, i.e., developmental, but more modernistic in terms of relationship of materials. There is a juxtaposition of something violently virtuosic and something Spartan. If you are not following the line you could be shocked. There is a volatility from movement to movement. It is very personal...”
“...it is also clear that it represents a single person in dialogue with himself. The listener must begin with a premise that involves a different way of thinking about materials. Most composers’ compositions are modulated by influences from the outside world. Michael begins with his own internal struggle.”
Piano performance
Michael Hersch has appeared on the Van Cliburn Foundation
’s Modern at the Modern Series, the Romaeuropa Festival, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Festival of Contemporary Music Nuova Consonanza, the Warhol Museum, the Network for New Music Concert Series, the Left Bank Concert Society, the American Academy in Berlin Series, Festa Europea della Musica, St. Louis' Sheldon Concert Hall, and in New York City at Merkin Concert Hall
, the 92nd St. Y - Tisch Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall
’s Weill Recital Hall, among others.
Michael Hersch's public debut took place in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1999. Also on the program was noted composer Jason Eckardt
. Both Hersch and Eckardt had received commissions from Carnegie Hall
. Eckardt recalls that "as part of the commission we were asked to coach pieces that we had written in open rehearsals. As it happened, the pianist for Michael’s Piano Quartet had dropped out, and Michael stepped in to play the part himself. When Michael played, it was clear that he was very technically accomplished, as the writing in his piece was quite virtuosic. But what really impressed me was his command of the music and the musical ideas of his work. I was startled when, without the music, Michael would rehearse and be able to recall from memory not just entire passages but also the specific music that occurred at a particular measure number that another performer would use as a point of reference during practice. For the performance, Michael played the complete piece—which was quite long—from memory and with bravura. It never occurred to me that Michael did any of these things to impress the audience or his colleagues but rather were just a natural extension of his musicality."
Michael Hersch rarely performs in public, but commands a wide repertoire from Josquin to Boulez. Since 2000 he has primarily focused on performances of his own work.
Concertante
Chamber
Solo instrumental
Piano
Vocal
Choral
Michael Hersch: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 for Unaccompanied Cello
Michael Hersch - The Vanishing Pavilions
Michael Hersch: Chamber Music
Hersch – Josquin – Rihm – Feldman
Michael Hersch • Naxos American Classics • Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
Biography
Initial inspiration and musical educationBorn in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and raised in Reston, Virginia
Reston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
conducting Beethoven's
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Fifth Symphony. This "shook me," Hersch has written. "It scrambled everything. That's when I knew that I was to be a composer... My whole life started over at that moment."
He almost immediately began studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
in Baltimore. Hersch has stated that "with Morris Cotel - the teacher I spent the most time with during my studies at the Peabody Conservatory - lessons consisted only of week after week coming into the teacher's studio, playing and singing through the latest work at the piano and his saying nothing more than, 'Okay. Fine. See you next week.' He believed that a composer confronting his or herself in this manner would force the composer to look in the mirror seeing, along with the good, all the flaws." Hersch moved on to the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
, where he worked with Albert Leman
Albert Leman
Albert Semionovich Leman , — 3 December 1998, Moscow ) was a Russian and Soviet composer of classical music.Albert Leman received his music education in the Leningrad Conservatory under Michail Fabianowitsch Gnessin and Vladimir Vladimirovich Nil'sen. In 1941-42 he was the chief of musical...
and Roman Ledenev, and received a Certificate in Composition in 1995. He also worked with John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
, John Harbison
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
and George Rochberg
George Rochberg
George Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
at a program for young composers in 1995. Hersch then returned to Peabody for graduate studies.
Early success
His first success came when Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
selected Elegy for Strings as winner of the American Composers Prize, and conducted it at Lincoln Center in New York in 1997. That year also saw Hersch win a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and become a fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, where he worked with Christopher Rouse, followed by fellowships at the Norfolk Festival for Contemporary Music and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan in 1998. In 2000 Hersch won the Rome Prize, where he worked with Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, and in 2001 the Berlin Prize, where he worked with Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
.
A CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
of orchestral works with Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is an English orchestra. Originally based in Bournemouth, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole in 1979....
has been released on the Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
label, and another disc on the Vanguard Classics
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
label features Mr. Hersch as a pianist, performing not only his own work, but works of Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
, Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
, and Josquin des Prez
Josquin Des Prez
Josquin des Prez [Josquin Lebloitte dit Desprez] , often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance...
(Hersch's own arrangements of Mille Regretz
Mille Regretz
Mille Regretz is a French chanson which in its 4 part setting is usually credited to Josquin des Prez. Josquin's version is in the Phrygian mode...
and De Profundis Clamavi
Psalm 130
Psalm 130 , traditionally De profundis from its Latin incipit, is one of the Penitential psalms.-Commentary:...
). The disc was selected by The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and Newsday as among the most important recordings of 2004-05.
Music
His music increasingly recorded, Vanguard Classics is in the midst of an acclaimed three volume survey of Hersch’s complete music for solo strings. This project comes several years after the 2007 release of Hersch’s, The Vanishing Pavilions, with the composer at the keyboard. Critic David Patrick Stearns of The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
wrote on the premiere of "The Vanishing Pavilions," a work lasting over 2 hours, premiered on October 14, 2006: "Everything unfolds in open-ended, haiku-like eruptions, though built on ideas that recur throughout the 50 movements... Overtly or covertly, The Vanishing Pavilions is about the destruction of shelter (both in fact and in concept) and life amid the absence of any certainty. And though the music is as deeply troubled as can be, its restless directness also commands listeners not to be paralyzed by existential futility."
Composer Christopher Theofanidis on Hersch's music:
“I am always cognizant of Hersch’s formal rigor, not in the usual way, i.e., developmental, but more modernistic in terms of relationship of materials. There is a juxtaposition of something violently virtuosic and something Spartan. If you are not following the line you could be shocked. There is a volatility from movement to movement. It is very personal...”
“...it is also clear that it represents a single person in dialogue with himself. The listener must begin with a premise that involves a different way of thinking about materials. Most composers’ compositions are modulated by influences from the outside world. Michael begins with his own internal struggle.”
Piano performance
Michael Hersch has appeared on the Van Cliburn Foundation
Van Cliburn Foundation
The Van Cliburn Foundation is host to the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™, Musical Awakenings® education programs, and Cliburn Concerts.-Mission:...
’s Modern at the Modern Series, the Romaeuropa Festival, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Festival of Contemporary Music Nuova Consonanza, the Warhol Museum, the Network for New Music Concert Series, the Left Bank Concert Society, the American Academy in Berlin Series, Festa Europea della Musica, St. Louis' Sheldon Concert Hall, and in New York City at Merkin Concert Hall
Merkin Concert Hall
Merkin Concert Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Special Music School , a New York City public school for...
, the 92nd St. Y - Tisch Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
’s Weill Recital Hall, among others.
Michael Hersch's public debut took place in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1999. Also on the program was noted composer Jason Eckardt
Jason Eckardt
Jason Eckardt is an American composer. He began his musical life playing guitar in heavy metal and jazz bands and abruptly moved to composing after discovering the music of Anton Webern.-Compositions:...
. Both Hersch and Eckardt had received commissions from Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. Eckardt recalls that "as part of the commission we were asked to coach pieces that we had written in open rehearsals. As it happened, the pianist for Michael’s Piano Quartet had dropped out, and Michael stepped in to play the part himself. When Michael played, it was clear that he was very technically accomplished, as the writing in his piece was quite virtuosic. But what really impressed me was his command of the music and the musical ideas of his work. I was startled when, without the music, Michael would rehearse and be able to recall from memory not just entire passages but also the specific music that occurred at a particular measure number that another performer would use as a point of reference during practice. For the performance, Michael played the complete piece—which was quite long—from memory and with bravura. It never occurred to me that Michael did any of these things to impress the audience or his colleagues but rather were just a natural extension of his musicality."
Michael Hersch rarely performs in public, but commands a wide repertoire from Josquin to Boulez. Since 2000 he has primarily focused on performances of his own work.
Selected works
Orchestral- Elegy for string orchestra (1993)
- On Sorrow, Anger and Reflection (1998); premiered by the CBC Vancouver Symphony
- Ashes of Memory (1998–99); premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony OrchestraPittsburgh Symphony OrchestraThe Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
, Mariss JansonsMariss JansonsMariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto...
conducting - Recollections of Fear, Hope and Discontent (1998); premiered by the New York Chamber Symphony
- Symphony No. 1 (1998); commissioned and performed as part of the Dallas Symphony OrchestraDallas Symphony OrchestraThe Dallas Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States....
's centennial season, Alan Gilbert conducting - Umbra (2000); written for the Brooklyn PhilharmonicBrooklyn PhilharmonicThe Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, commonly known as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, is an American orchestra based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City...
and Robert SpanoRobert SpanoRobert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. Since 2001 he has been Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra , and he served as Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1996 to 2004... - Symphony No. 2 (2001); commission by the Pittsburgh SymphonyPittsburgh Symphony OrchestraThe Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
and Mariss JansonsMariss JansonsMariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto... - Fracta (2002); commission by the Pittsburgh SymphonyPittsburgh Symphony OrchestraThe Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
- Variations on a Theme of Hugo Wolf for chamber orchestra (or full orchestra) (2004)
- Arraché (2004); commission by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Concertante
- Piano Concerto (2002); premiered by Garrick OhlssonGarrick OhlssonGarrick Ohlsson is an American classical pianist.Ohlsson was the first American to win first prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada...
and a co-commission of the Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Oregon symphonies - Chamber Concerto for piano and 13 instruments (2007)
Chamber
- Elegy for Strings (1993); winner of the American Composers Prize, conducted at Lincoln Center by Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
- Trio No. 1 for violin, clarinet and piano (1995)
- Trio No. 2 for violin, clarinet and piano (1998); commission by the Verdehr Trio
- Piano Quartet (1999); commission and premiered by the Ellen Taafe Zwilich Young Composers Workshop at Carnegie HallCarnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
- Quartet for horn, violin, cello and piano; commission by the Orchestra of St. Luke'sOrchestra of St. Luke'sThe Orchestra of St. Luke's is an American chamber orchestra based in New York City.It was founded in the summer of 1979 at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, New York....
- After Hölderlin's Hälfte des Lebens for clarinet and cello (2000); written for the Belgian clarinetist Walter Boeykens for the Romaeuropa Festival
- Two Pieces for cello and piano (2000)
- Octet for Strings for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos (2001); commission by Boris Pergamenschikow and the Kronberg Akademie, premiered at the Schloss Neuhardenberg Festival in Berlin
- After Hölderlin's Hälfte des Lebens for viola and cello (2002)
- the wreckage of flowers: twenty-one pieces after poetry and prose of Czesław Miłosz, Sonata for violin and piano (2003); commission by MidoriMidori Gotois a Japanese American violinist. She made her debut at the age of 11 in a last-minute change of programming during a concert highlighting young performers by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. When she was 21, she formed the philanthropic group Midori and Friends to help bring music to...
- Variations on a Poem for piano, violin and cello (2003); commission by Sequenza
- Last Autumn for horn and cello (2008)
Solo instrumental
- Sonata for unaccompanied viola (1993)
- Sonata No.1 for unaccompanied cello (1994)
- Sonata for unaccompanied violin (1999)
- Sonata No. 2 for unaccompanied cello (2001); written for American cellist Daniel Gaisford
- Five Fragments for violin solo (2004)
- Fourteen Pieces for unaccompanied violin (2007)
- Caelum Dedecoratum for unaccompanied double bass (2006)
Piano
- Tramontane (2000)
- Reflections on a Work of Henze (2001); performed by Hersch for Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
on the occasion of Henze's 75th birthday - Recordatio (in memory of Luciano BerioLuciano BerioLuciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
) (2003) - Two Pieces for Piano, a transcription of the first two movements of the Piano Concerto
- Miłosz Fragments (2003)
- The Vanishing Pavilions (2005); work after poetry of Christopher MiddletonChristopher Middleton (poet)Christopher Middleton is a British poet and translator, especially of German literature.-Life:He was born in Truro, Cornwall, in 1926. He studied at Merton College, Oxford. He then held academic positions at the University of Zürich and King's College London. He became Professor of Germanic...
- Fantasy on Samuel Scheidt's "Es wolle Gott uns gnaedig sein" (2005)
Vocal
- Two Songs for soprano and piano (1993)
- Elegy for baritone and piano (2000); poem by Theodore RoethkeTheodore RoethkeTheodore Roethke was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm, rhyming, and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking.-Biography:...
- It Was Beginning Winter for baritone and piano (2000); poem by Theodore RoethkeTheodore RoethkeTheodore Roethke was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm, rhyming, and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking.-Biography:...
Choral
- From Ecclesiastes for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1997)
Audio recording
Michael Hersch - the wreckage of flowers - Works for Violin- Michael Hersch: Complete Works for Solo String Instruments - Volume II
- Label: Vanguard Classics (MC-105 )
- Miranda Cuckson, violin; Blair McMillen, piano
- Release Date: November 2010
- Features Hersch's Five Fragments, Fourteen Pieces after texts of Primo Levi, both for unaccompanied violin, and the wreckage of flowers: 21 pieces after poetry and prose of Czeslaw Milosz
Michael Hersch: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 for Unaccompanied Cello
- Michael Hersch: Complete Works for Solo String Instruments - Volume I
- Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 for Unaccompanied Cello
- Label: Vanguard Classics (MCS-CD-104)
- Daniel Gaisford, cello
- Release Date: 2009
- Review: by Vivien Schweitzer of The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Michael Hersch - The Vanishing Pavilions
- Label: Vanguard Classics / Musical Concepts (MC-101) [2 CD Box Set]
- Michael Hersch, piano
- Release Date: 2007
Michael Hersch: Chamber Music
- Label: Vanguard Classics (ATM-CD-1240)
- String Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic
- Michael Hersch, piano
- Release Date: 2003
Hersch – Josquin – Rihm – Feldman
- Label: Vanguard Classics (ATM-CD-1558)
- Michael Hersch, piano; Daniel Gaisford, cello
- Release Date: 2004
Michael Hersch • Naxos American Classics • Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is an English orchestra. Originally based in Bournemouth, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole in 1979....
- Conductor: Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
- Includes:
- Symphony No. 2 (2001)
- Fracta (2002)
- Symphony No. 1 (1998)
- Arraché (2004)
- Label: NaxosNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
8.559281 (1 CD, 64 min). Released October 2006. - Recording location and date: The Concert Hall, Lighthouse, Poole, UKThe Lighthouse (Poole)The Lighthouse is an arts centre in Poole, Dorset, England. According to the Arts council of England it is the largest arts centre in the United Kingdom outside London....
; 6–7 June 2005. - Review: Phillip Scott of FanfareFanfare MagazineFanfare is a magazine devoted to reviewing classical music performance and recordings.Fanfare's contributors have a range of expertise from the medieval to contemporary work...
says "It is not difficult to hear why conductors of the caliber of Alsop and Jansons have championed the work of the young American composer Michael Hersch (b. 1971). He writes for orchestra with a sure hand. His Symphony No. 1 in one movement (1998) is indisputably a promising first essay in the genre; over a 27-minute span, the thematic material is developed with subtlety and imagination."