Sad news to report: Composer and conductor Lukas Foss has died here in Manhattan. His original works were imbued with as much wit and often subversive humor as “advanced avant-garde compositional techniques.” On the few occasions I had to chat with him, he proved as wryly humorous and spirited and  as Paradigm and Baroque Variations. He was also a remarkably good pianist, and his MCA recording of the Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet is an unexpected case study in superb chamber musicianship. The Buffalo News has posted an obituary.