Brad Turner

Daniel Kellogg, who teaches composition at the University of Colorado, loves the string quartet. Some of history’s greatest composers wrote their most extraordinary music for two violins, a viola and a cello. So Daniel took the job seriously when he set out to write a big statement that he ultimately called String Quartet No. 1. He had worked up to it. He wrote a half-dozen pieces for string quartet before he composed this one. Hear a recording of the world premiere of String Quartet No. 1 — played by the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival & School — in this episode of Centennial Sounds from CPR Classical and Colorado Public Radio.

Composer David Ludwig wrote his piece “Pangaea” as a “prehistoric ‘Carnival of the Animals.'” It’s about a time in Earth’s history when there was one supercontinent, a vast ocean and a frightening die-off that wiped out most species on the planet. Hear the haunting “Pangaea,” performed at the Bravo! Vail music festival by Anne-Marie McDermott, Calder Quartet, Lyris Quartet, Aeolus Quartet and bassist Rachel Calin — and get the story behind David’s piece — in the Season 2 premiere of Centennial Sounds from CPR Classical and Colorado Public Radio.