This week’s Modern Notebook will highlight four pieces by living composers, ranging from a solo piano work to music for orchestra:

• John Adams‘ floating solo piano work, China Gates.
• A work for string quartet by Gabriella Smith performed by the Aizuri Quartet which was written as a response to the Barnes Foundation’s exhibit The Order of Things – where the art collection was displayed alongside unexpected objects.
• A short tone poem by Gabriela Lena Frank called Canto de Harawi: “Amadeoso” attempts to portray a childhood dream she had where she was walking alongside Mozart.
• Stumble to Grace, a piano concerto by Steven Mackey where the pianist “evolves” over the course of five “stages,” first by playing the piano only with their thumbs, and by the end, by playing virtuosic and graceful contrapuntal music.