Quand je regarde son palmarès depuis 1943, je me rends compte qu'il n'a pas particulièrement mauvais goût, le jury du Prix Pulitzer.
Jugez plutôt:
1943Secular Cantata No. 2. A Free Song by William Schuman
1944Symphony No. 4. Opus 34 by Howard Hanson
1945Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland
1946The Canticle of the Sun by Leo Sowerby
1947Symphony No. 3 by Charles Ives
1948Symphony, No. 3 by Walter Piston
1949Music for the film Louisiana Story by Virgil Thomson
1950Music in The Consul by Gian-Carlo Menotti
1951Music in "Giants in the Earth" by Douglas S. Moore
1952Symphony Concertante by Gail Kubik
1953(No Award)
1954Concerto For Two Pianos and Orchestra by Quincy Porter
1955The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian-Carlo Menotti
1956Symphony No. 3 by Ernst Toch
1957Meditations on Ecclesiastes by Norman Dello Joio
1958Vanessa by Samuel Barber
1959Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by John LaMontaine
1960Second String Quartet by Elliott Carter
1961Symphony No. 7 by Walter Piston
1962The Crucible by Robert Ward
An opera in three acts, Libretto by Bernard Stambler, based on the play by Arthur Miller. First performed at New York City Center, on October 26, 1961 by the New York City Opera Company.
1963Piano Concerto No. 1 by Samuel Barber
1964(No Award)
1965(No Award)
1966Variations for Orchestra by Leslie Bassett
1967Quartet No. 3 by Leon Kirchner
1968Echoes of Time and the River by George Crumb
1969String Quartet No. 3 by Karel Husa
1970Time's Encomium by Charles Wuorinen
1971Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sound (1970) by Mario Davidovsky
1972Windows by Jacob Druckman
1973String Quartet No. 3 by Elliott Carter
1974Notturno by Donald Martino
1975From the Diary of Virginia Woolf by Dominick Argento
For medium voice and piano, premiered January 5, 1975 in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis.
1976Air Music by Ned Rorem
1977Visions of Terror and Wonder by Richard Wernick
For mezzo-soprano and orchestra, premiered at the Aspen Music Festival, July 19, 1976.
1978Deja Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass
1979Aftertones of Infinity by Joseph Schwantner
First performed by the American Composers Orchestra on January 29, 1979 in Alice Tully Hall New York City.
1980In Memory of a Summer Day by David Del Tredici
A work for soprano solo and orchestra, commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony for its 100th anniversary and premiered by that orchestra on February 23, 1980.
1981(No Award)
1982Concerto for Orchestra by Roger Sessions
1983Symphony No. I (Three Movements for Orchestra) by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
1984"Canti del Sole" for Tenor and Orchestra by Bernard Rands
1985Symphony, RiverRun by Stephen Albert
1986Wind Quintet IV by George Perle
1987The Flight Into Egypt by John Harbison
Premiered by the Cantata Singers and Ensemble on November 21, 1986, at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
198812 New Etudes for Piano by William Bolcom
First complete performance by Marc-Andre Hamelin, pianist, on March 30, 1987 at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.
1989Whispers Out of Time by Roger Reynolds
Premiered on December 11, 1988, at Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Massachusetts.
1990"Duplicates": A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Mel Powell
Premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on January 26, 1990.
1991Symphony by Shulamit Ran
Commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra and premiered by that orchestra on October 19, 1990 .
1992The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark by Wayne Peterson
Premiered on October 17, 1991, by the San Francisco Symphony
1993Trombone Concerto by Christopher Rouse
Premiered December 30, 1992, in New York by the New York Philharmonic.
1994Of Reminiscences and Reflections by Gunther Schuller
Premiered on December 2, 1993, in Louisville, Ky. Performed and commissioned by The Louisville Orchestra.
1995Stringmusic by Morton Gould
Premiered on March 10, 1994 by the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
1996Lilacs, for voice and orchestra by George Walker
Premiered on February 1, 1996, in Boston by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was commissioned by that orchestra.
1997Blood on the Fields by Wynton Marsalis
premiered on January 28, 1997 at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1998String Quartet #2 (musica instrumentalis) by Aaron Jay Kernis
Premiered on January 19, 1990, at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City, by The Lark Quartet.
1999Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion by Melinda Wagner
Premiered on May 30, 1998 in Purchase, New York by the Westchester Philharmonic, and commissioned by that orchestra for Paul Lustig Dunkel.
2000Life is a Dream, Opera in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version by Lewis Spratlan
Premiered on January 28, 2000 by Dinosaur Annex in Amherst, Mass. Libretto by James Maraniss.
2001Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra by John Corigliano
Premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on November 30, 2000 at Symphony Hall, Boston, MA.
2002Ice Field by Henry Brant
Premiered by the San Francisco Symphony on December 12, 2001 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA.
2003On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams (Boosey & Hawkes)
Premiered by the New York Philharmonic on September 19, 2002 at Avery Fisher Hall.
2004Tempest Fantasy by Paul Moravec
Written for and premiered by the Trio Solisti and clarinet soloist David Krakauer on May 2, 2003 at the Morgan Library, New York City.
2005Second Concerto for Orchestra by Steven Stucky (Theodore Presser Company)
Premiered March 12, 2004 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA.
2006Piano Concerto: 'Chiavi in Mano' by Yehudi Wyner (Associated Music Publishers, Inc.)
Premiered February 17, 2005 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
2007Sound Grammar by Ornette Coleman
En revanche, on se rend compte aussi que l'obtention de ce prix est bien loin d'être une garantie de voir sa musique enregistrée. De même, on ne peut pas dire que les oeuvres ont envahi les salles de concert après avoir obtenu de prix.
Je propose, si cela intéresse certains, qu'on parle de certaines de ces oeuvres - si on les connait, bien entendu - et qu'on en dise quelques mots, et - le cas échéant - quelques repères discographiques.
Bonne journée,
Tahar