STRIKING GOLD IN THE MUSICAL YUKON
ROHNERT PARK, CA—A composer can still strike gold. Yet today. I had Michael Daugherty, 68, pegged for a 21st-century Ferde Grofé—-a skilled tone painter in music for our times. Until, that is, we got to the finale of his new suite for and about Sonoma County, “Valley of the Moon.” That finale segment, “Call of the Wild,” was immensely engrossing. Instead of the expected happy music, Daugherty here turned troubled, unsettled and enigmatic, much like the adventurous author of said…