The Napa Valley Register - September 25, 2016: Aldag's Music at PUC (click here to read article)
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From my personal perspective, anything that can be done in the art of music composition has already been done: Nothing is completely new in our contemporary world of music. No longer needing to combat the extreme conservatism that existed in the fin de siècle Europe of the 20th century, composers are now free to displace the need for “experimentation” with a dedication to the creation of vibrant, communicative works of art. This viewpoint has been my mantra over the course of my life, inspiring me to disregard the large majority of au courant trends in favor of the development of a personal voice. While based squarely within the broad spectrum of the Western classical tradition, my music is “American” from within, having an energy and drive that one identifies with a new world style that one encounters in varied artistic disciplines.
I strive to create works that are an expression of my inner self, with the hopes of allowing each listener to establish a personal relationship with the music. It is a sense of dynamism in rhythmic energy, lyricism, and formal procedures that drives me in my life as a composer. In terms of harmonic structure, my music can best be described as inhabiting a world of free-atonality that is informed by serialism, minimalism, and neo-Romanticism, as well as a variety of classic rock. My singular goal is to create music that can be appealing to novices and cultivated listeners alike; music that evokes emotion while maintaining a foothold in the intellectual.
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-- Richard Aldag
