From May 7 through 12, 2012, WQXR presented six live broadcasts from the second annual Spring for Music festival at Carnegie Hall, a lively showcase for creative programming by North American orchestras. This year's edition featured the orchestras of Houston, Edmonton, New Jersey, Alabama, Milwaukee and Nashville.

Alongside performances of masters like Beethoven, Shostakovich and Busoni, the series included a number of New York premieres, including Terry Riley's The Palmian Chord Ryddle for Electric Violin and Orchestra, Larry Austin's realization of Charles Ives's Universe Symphony, Avner Dorman's Astrolatry and Paul Lansky's Shapeshifters for Two Pianos and Orchestra. In addition, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presented US premieres by Canadian composers Robert Rival, John Estacio and Allan Gilliland.

For Q2 Music's Spring for (New) Music on Cued Up, we've culled about two hours of contemporary music highlights (as well as a performance of Messiaen's Les offrandes oubliees delivered by the Milwaukee Symphony) from the series's nearly 18 hours of concert audio.

→ Stream all Spring for Music shows in their entirety

Selections from Spring for Music, 2012: Live at Carnegie Hall

Robert Rival: Lullaby
Edmonton Symphony 05/08/2012

John Estacio: Triple Concerto
Edmonton Symphony 05/08/2012

Avner Dorman: Astrolatry
Alabama Symphony 05/10/2012

Paul Lansky: Shapeshifters for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Alabama Symphony 05/10/2012

Olivier Messiaen: Les offrandes oubliees
Milwaukee Symphony 05/11/2012

Terry Riley: The Palmian Chord Ryddle for Electric Violin and Orchestra
Nashville Symphony, 05/12/12