Leon Kirchner died today. You can read about Kirchner over at New Music Box. You can also read a very personal blog post by Jeremy Denk about Kirchner, a composer Denk obviously believed in and someone who the pianist considered a friend. Denk posted a follow up to his original post this morning.
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Gathering Note 
Kirchner will live on through his music. I’ll never forget the impact his 3rd 4tet had on me…I sat right in the middle of Sanders Theater, experiencing the floor-shaking sounds as they seemed to move right through me. I was in his Harvard office as he was arranging the sound system for the concert, then he took me up to the electronic music room, full of Moog components. It’s tough to loose these people, even though 90 is a long life.
Kirchner was probably half the reason I stayed in Harvard. I was in his chamber music seminar, the first performance class in Harvard’s history.
He was big-hearted and generous to me when I was there, having me play for Project Zero at Sanders, then inviting me to Marlboro. Happily oblivious to musical politics, I didn’t realize what an outsider I was, but I will always remember Kirchner’s kind manner, his rigorous method of getting right to the crux of chamber music, and his taking a raw freshman from Montana under his wing (literally…as we walked to his house one day, he grabbed my shoulder and hauled me back from stepping into traffic, the rush of which was completely foreign to a small-town Westerner.)
RIP, Leon Kirchner.
Philip Aaberg