Last winter, a major new work by Christopher Rouse was premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Titled "Odna Zhizn (A Life)," it's an "homage to a person of Russian ancestry who is very dear to me," the extraordinary Baltimore-born composer wrote. The score, which Rouse called "a public portrait" and "a private love letter," was generated in part by a personal code, with letters of the alphabet given specific pitches and time-durations. I'm hoping that the Baltimore Symphony, an ardent champion of the composer's music, will soon program the piece. Meanwhile, here's a guest blog post by composer Joel Puckett, a good friend of Rouse's who was in New York for the premiere and who recently sent me some recollections of the event that he agreed to share on this space -- it's a wee bit after the fact, I know, but the fact that he's still so enthusiastic about a February premiere says a lot. (I'd like to see the BSO program some of Puckett's powerful music soon, too, by the way.) -- TIM