Hear small ensembles that use the voice as an instrument (often an electronic one) on this New Sounds program. 

We'll listen to the Scandinavian-Belgian trio of Mikkel Ploug , Sissel Vera Pettersen , and Joachim Badenhorst along with the German-American trio of Theo Bleckmann , Gary Versace , and John Hollenbeck , -Refuge Trio - in which both vocalists use electronic processing.  In a work called "Bright Moon," drummer John Hollenbeck's setting of Masahide 's text features Gary Verasce on the keyboard together with the voice of Theo Bleckmann.  Then listen to Electra , a new music quartet from Holland, and their rendition of music by Jacob TV - called "Able to Be, and interspersed with the voice of Marilyn Monroe .  These, and more.

PROGRAM # 2923, Voice as Instrument (First aired on Tues. 4/7/09)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Electra

Able To Be

Jacob TV: Able To Be, excerpt [1:30]

Attacca 27111
www.attacca-records.com

Theo Bleckmann, Gary Versace, and John Hollenbeck

Refuge Trio

Bright Moon [6:00]

Winter & Winter 910 149 www.winterandwinter.com

Electra

Able To Be

Jacob TV: Able To Be[12:00]

Attacca 27111
www.attacca-records.com

Mikkel Ploug, Sissel Vera Pettersen, and Joachim Badenhorst

Equilibrium

Epiphora [8:30]

Songlines SA1578
www.songlines.com

Theo Bleckmann, Gary Versace, and John Hollenbeck

Refuge Trio

To What Shall I Compare This Life [6:00]

See above.

Mikkel Ploug, Sissel Vera Pettersen, and Joachim Badenhorst

Equilibrium

November [6:00]

See above.

Theo Bleckmann, Gary Versace, and John Hollenbeck

Refuge Trio

Ornette Coleman: Peace [6:00]

See above.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, The Curiously Strong Winds play two works by composer/politician Phillip Bimstein .

Both of Bimstein's works incorporate "found" sounds; the natural sounds used in "Half Moon At Checkerboard Mesa" and the very unnatural sounds of Las Vegas in the piece "Casino."  That plus, music from David Byrne and Kyle Gann for this edition of New Sounds.

PROGRAM #2810, New Sounds Live – Phillip Bimstein (First aired on Friday, 6/06/08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Kyle Gann

Custer And Sitting Bull

Custer’s Ghost To Sitting Bull [10:00]

Monroe Street #msm 60104 www.monroestreet.com

The Curiously Strong Winds

New Sounds Live, Merkin Hall, 5-8-08

Phillip Bimstein: Half-Moon at Checkerboard Mesa [8:30]
Casino [14:00]

Both available on CD, see
www.starkland.com *

David Byrne

Music for the Knee Plays

Tree [4:00]
The Sounds of Business [3:00]

Nonesuch 303228
www.nonesuch.com *

Hear some electro-acoustic music by the likes of Paradigm , Sawako , and drummer Tyshawn Sorey for this New Sounds program. 

Listen to Sawako's work for cello and electronics called "Windshower Particle" from an album called "Bittersweet," along with Paradigm's largely acoustic work "Scanning," from "Melodies for Uncertain Robots."  There's also music from Switzerland by Gunter Moeller and Jim O'Rourke for electronics, piano and percussion, from "Weighting."  Plus, music by trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer .

PROGRAM #2809, Electro-Acoustica (First aired on Wednesday, 6/04/08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Paradigm

Melodies for Uncertain Robots

Scanning [2:00]

www.paradigmgroove.com

Sawako

Bitter Sweet

Wind Shower Particle [6:00]

12K #1047
www.12K.com *

Müller/ O’Rourke

Weighting

Under Over [6:00]

For 4 Ears #824 www.for4ears.com

Sawako

Bitter Sweet

April – From Sea Shell [3:00]

See above.

Tyshawn Sorey

that/not

Template I [4:00]

Firehouse 12# 04-02-005 www.firehouse12.com

Nils-Petter Molvaer

Khmer

Platonic Years [6:30]

ECM #1560** www.ecmrecords.com *

Michael Galasso

High Lines

Fog And After [6:00]

ECM #1713** www.ecmrecords.com *

Brian Eno

Ambient 4:On Land

Lantern Marsh [5:30]

Editions EG #20 **
Amazon.com *

Orchestramaxfieldparrish

The Silent Breath of Emptiness

Pt 1 [7:00]

Faith Strange #07 www.faithstrange.com *

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, hear the second part of a program of new art songs, including works by Ed Pastorini and Gabriel Kahane , two gifted New York singer/pianists with an unusual approach to the song form.  

Kahane's gentle baritone and piano /horns /whathaveyou easily trips through pop, concert hall, and theatre, inventing new textures and serving up biting lyrics.  Pastorini draws on twisted 1950's jazz harmonies (he studied with Lennie Tristano ) to write piano-based songs that sound like he once sang along with saxophone solos.  Plus, Elizabeth & the Catapult perform a bonus arrangement of a Leonard Cohen tune, and more.

Hear a baroque pop-leaning commissioned work, "The Other Side of Zero" by composer/songwriter Elizabeth Ziman, leader of the pop/rock trio Elizabeth and the Catapult on this New Sounds.  

From the New Sounds Live concert series recorded at Merkin Hall this past May, it's a whole program of new art songs.  Hear the world premiere of Elizabeth Ziman 's “The Other Side of Zero,” a song cycle commissioned by WNYC and inspired by Leonard Cohen's "Book of Longing.  Ziman's indie-pop band Elizabeth & the Catapult (along with a string quartet) perform the new work.  Look forward to songs by Ed Pastorini and Gabriel Kahane, whose full interviews will be on tomorrow night’s show.

There are works for orchestra, works for the dance, and works with electronics on this New Sounds show, including selections from Joseph C. Phillips Jr. ’s work, "Vipassana," which, in the Pali language of early Buddhist texts, means "insight." 

Phillips’ epic four-movement, 70-minute post-minimalist work incorporates some of the improvisational and rhythmic elements of jazz and calls for an expanded Numinous ensemble of 25 instrumentalists and singers.  We’ll also listen to music commissioned by the Sydney Dance Company from Australia’s Michael Askill , along with seductive music from Derek Bermel .  Bermel’s work, “Elixir” features strings and harp at its core with wind players serenading from the balcony, and reflects influences as varied as Charles Ives , Gesualdo , John Lennon and the Isley Brothers .

For this New Sounds, we’ll experience some sonic and at times, spiritual atmospheres, including ambient music, and other works that might invoke the “m” word – “minimalism.”  

From Estonian composer Arvo Pärt , we’ll hear some spiritually cast works, sometimes labeled (much to Pärt’s dislike of the term) “holy minimalism.” Listen to his atmospheric and soaring “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, from a new recording by Canadian violinist Angèle Dubeau & the 12-woman (11 strings, 1 piano) ensemble La Pietà .  Plus, there’s ambient music by Brian Eno , his landmark “Music for Airports,” in which he takes the soulless sterile feeling of an airport and works it over.   Also on the show, exploring that middle ground between Pärt and Eno is music by Kevin Keller , which might have echoes of minimalism and the sense of spirit.  We’ll hear his “In Absentia,” written after his father-in-law's disappearance on a hunting trip.

PROGRAM # 3085, Sonic Atmospheres (First aired on 6/8/2010)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Arvo Part Portrait

Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten [7:13]

Analekta AN 8731
www.analekta.com

Kevin Keller

In Absentia

Struggle [4:15] Peace [5:32]

ZMCD- 107
www.kevinkeller.com

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Arvo Part Portrait

Spiegel im spiegel [8:24]

See above.

BOAC All Stars

Music for Airports

Brian Eno arr.Wolfe: Music For Airports 3 [12:05]

Point Music 534-847 bangonacan.org/store

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Arvo Part Portrait

Wallfahrtslied (Pilgrim's Song) [8:58]

See above.

English composer Joby Talbot joins John Schaefer for this New Sounds program to present excerpts from recent scores for the opera stage, dance, film, and television. 

Talbot contributed the playful score to the coming-of-age film, "Son of Rambow."  We'll hear music from that film score, and take a sneak peek at an opera-in-progress, "Coma," from which Talbot performs a piano reduction - "Hospital."  Plus, piano music from other English composers who write simple and beautiful works, like Michael Nyman, Howard Skempton, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. 

PROGRAM # 2920, The New Simplicity (First aired on Fri. 4/3/09)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Joby Talbot

Path of Miracles

Santiago, excerpt [1:30]

Signum Classics #078
www.signumrecords.com

(Sir) Peter Maxwell Davies

Maximum Max

Farewell to Stromness [5:30]

Collins Classics 14442
Out of print.

Howard Skempton (John Tilbury, piano)

Well, well Cornelius

Well, Well Cornelius [3:00]

Sony 66482
www.sonymasterworks.com

Michael Nyman

Taking a Line for a Second Walk: The Zoo II music for two pianos

Michael Nyman: Taking a Line for a Second Walk, Part 3 [5:30]

Work Music London WRK 001 -3
Rereleased on Signum, sigcd506
www.signumrecords.com

Joby Talbot

Live

For Liz [4:00]
Coma: Hospital [3:30]

This performance not commercially available.

Joby Talbot

Private CD

Son of Rambow: I Am French, non? [2:30]
Is There Anybody There?: No Recorded Evidence [1:30]
The Owl & the Pussycat [2:00]

The soundtrack to Son of Rambow is available on Amazon.com *
All others, not yet commercially released.

Howard Skempton (John Tilbury, piano)

Well, well Cornelius

Howard Skempton: Rumba [1:00]

See above.

Michael Nyman

Taking a Line for a Second Walk: The Zoo II music for two pianos

Taking a Line for a Second Walk, 1, excerpt [8:00]

See above.

Listen to new music from Turkey on this edition of New Sounds, including works from Okay Temiz , Mercan Dede and the Mevlevi Dervishes of Istanbul.

Also, we'll hear from the double-CD "Nine Heavens" by the Persian-emigree group Niyaz .  It's a marriage of an 18th century Turkish Sufi poem to a traditional Turkish folk song which skillfully weaves in electronics and programming.  Plus, the Balkan club-friendly electronica artist Shantel has written original music for the Turkish-German film "The Edge Of Heaven" (the Fatih Akin movie which won an award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.)  It features works by Turkish musicians, like Selim Sesler and Kazim Koyuncu , and contemporary Turkish songs.

All the way from South Africa, guitarist and composer Guy Buttery makes a special appearance in the WNYC studio for this New Sounds. 

He's a virtuoso on the guitar and has developed a unique style inspired by both the traditional music of South Africa and the likes of fingerstyle pickers like Michael Hedges .  Guy Buttery performs live and makes good on his threat to premiere a brand-new work.  In his interview, Buttery also touches on practically living on top of a wilderness preserve, Led Zeppelin , and much more...

PROGRAM #2806, With Guy Buttery (First aired on Thursday, 5/29/08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Guy Buttery

Songs from the Cane Fields

Spontaneous Combustion [6:00]

GHR #002 info at www.myspace.com/guybuttery , CDs at www.guitarcds.net or www.kalahari.net


Live

Foot Tapper 2 [3:30]
Seven-Inch Postcard [4:00]
Wet Feet [4:00]

Not commercially available.

 

Songs from the Cane Fields

Nectarina Amethystina [6:00]

See above.

Michael Hedges

Aerial Boundaries

Aerial Boundaries [5:00]

Windham Hill #1032 ** www.legacyrecordings.com

Vusi Mahlasela

Guiding Star

Susana [3:00]

ATO #0032 ** www.vusimahlasela.com *

Various artists: Soshanguve Black Tycoons

South Africa – Only the Poor Man Feel It

Siyaya [4:00]

EMI/Hemisphere #32866 Available as an import at Amazon.com

For this New Sounds Special Podcast, we raid the exclusive live performance archive from that "other" show John Schaefer hosts, the afternoon program, Soundcheck.  We'll listen for tunes from pipa player Wu Man , Cuban singer Omara Portuondo , and the Italian percussionist Alessandra Belloni , to name a few. 

Plus, performances by Zakir Hussain and some of the Masters of Percussion, a traditional Mongolian drinking song from Hanggai , and jazz clarinet player Anat Cohen .  And so much more, including soft and dangerous banjo songs from Sam Amidon , Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars , and Irish trad tunes from Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill .

Hear new music from Montreal on this edition of New Sounds, featuring works by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bell Orchestre, and Mains de Givre, among others. 

Montreal guitarist/composer Tim Brady makes dark sounds with bowed electric guitar, guitar with loops, with tapes, and with computers.  The overall effect -ambient and abstract- is intended to evoke the depths of the ocean in a work by Jean-Francois Laporte , “The Song of the Whale.”   Also, hear atmospheric electronic music from Mains de Givre (“Hands of Frost”) an enhanced duo of violin, guitar and lots of effects. Plus, there's some “post-rock” from the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Bell Orchestre (featuring members of Arcade Fire ), where the shoegaze approach to classical is mixed with the wall-of-sound achievements of say - Glenn Branca ’s Guitar Army, as "rock" instruments play well together with “classical” strings, reeds, and percussion.

PROGRAM # 3084, New Music from Montreal (First aired on 6/4/2010)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Godspeed you! Black Emperor

Yanqui U.X.O

09-15-00 (Part One) [16:27]

Constellation CST 24
cstrecords.com
brainwashed.com
OR download from Emusic.com

Bell Orchestre

As Seen Through Windows

Icicles/Bicycles [6:14]

Arts & Crafts A&C 041
www.arts-crafts.ca

Tim Brady

GO

Jean-Francois Laporte: Le Chant des baleines

Actuelle CD 156
www.actuellecd.com

Mains de Givre

Esther Marie

Un Choeur d’ames en detresse (A choir of souls in distress) [13:22]

Textura 002
www.textura.org

Bell Orchestre

As Seen Through Windows

As Seen Through Windows, excerpt [4:57]

See above.

Hear a lot of new music for string quartet on this New Sounds.  Listen to Raz Mesinai 's work for string quartet and four turntables and music by Steve Reich .  

Mesinai's piece is one in which the string instruments are recorded and then manipulated by DJs, resulting in a hybrid of composition and turntablism.  Then there’s Reich's haunting Triple Quartet, which can be a string section of 36 players, three string quartets, or string quartet and pre-recorded tape.   Also, hear music from Elvis Costello , from his partnership with the Brodsky Quartet , inspired by an Italian professor's decision to reply to the many thousands of letters written every year to Shakespeare’s fictional Juliet.  Plus, works by Bruno Letort , Johann Johannsson , and more.  

PROGRAM # 2919, New Music for String Quartet (First aired on Tues. 4/1/09)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Raz Mesinai

Dubwar Podcast 06

String Quartet for 4 Turntables, Part 1 [4:00]

www.dqxt.org/dubwar

Steve Reich / Kronos Quartet

Triple Quartet

Triple Quartet [14:00]

Nonesuch 79546
www.nonesuch.com

Procédé Rodesco -Letort

Volume Premier

Letort: Suite for String Quartet and Diverse Machines [11:00]

Tangram TC 3026 www.tangram-records.com or download from iTunes

Jóhann Jóhannsson

Englabörn

Petta Gerist a Bestu Baejum (It Happens In The Best Homes) [1:00]

Touch TO:52
www.touch.demon.co.uk

Elvis Costello / the Brodsky Quartet

The Juliet Letters

Romeo’s Séance [3:30]

Warner Bros. 45180**
Available at Amazon.com or download from Amazon.com

Jóhann Jóhannsson

Englabörn

Salfraedingur (Psychologist) [3:30] Salfraedingur Salfraedingur Deyr (A Psychologist Dies) [3:00]

See above.

Raz Mesinai

Dubwar Podcast 06

String Quartet for 4 Turntables, Part 2 excerpt [3:00]

See above.

For this New Sounds, listen to some works for small ensembles, played by both "real" and "virtual" small ensembles.  We’ll hear music from the Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince from the album “In White,” along with ambient chamber music by Phillip Schroeder . 

Schroeder’s piece, “This We Have” is performed by one of these "virtual" ensembles – just two people - soprano Amy McGinty , together with piano, synthesizer, electric bass, and percussion performed by the composer to create multiple shimmering textures.  Also, there’s music from Italian composer Luisiana Lorusso that falls somewhere between jazz and classical, featuring a “real” ensemble, comprised of string quartet with piano bass and drums.  Also, listen to music by the enhanced duo, itsnotyouitsme – just electric violin and electric guitar- with a lot of loops and delays.   And a whole lot more.

PROGRAM # 3083, Small Ensembles (First aired on 6/2/2010)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Philip Schroeder

Move In The Changing Light

This We Have, excerpt [1:00]

Innova 655
innova.mu

Present Music

In White

Kamran Ince: Flight Box [12:58]

Innova 600
innova.mu OR Download from Emusic.com

Luisiana Lorusso

Upwards

Violet - Diverse Tonalita di Viola [8:21]

CiniK Records
Available at iTunes, and Emusic.com

Philip Schroeder, Amy McGinty

Move In The Changing Light

This We Have [9:33]

Innova 655
innova.mu

Giancarlo Vulcano

Vetro

Tierra del Fuego [6:15]

Innova 688
innova.mu OR download through Emusic.com

itsnotyouitsme

Fallen Monuments

Vanity Stays My Hand [9:04]

New Amsterdam NWAM018 www.newamsterdamrecords.com

For this edition of New Sounds, hear live performances from a recent New Sounds Live concert at Merkin Hall - "A Sweeter Music."  Pianist Sarah Cahill performs new works by Frederic Rzewski , Jerome Kitzke , Phil Kline , and the Residents , among others. 

The pieces are drawn from the collected commissions, “A Sweeter Music,” inspired by a line from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1964 Nobel lecture — "We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war."   Listen for Terry Riley 's piece, the "Be Kind to One Another (Rag)," inspired by the words of Alice Walker after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.  Also, hear Jerome Kitzke's "There Is a Field," where Cahill taps out drumbeats, whistles, and recites poetry by Walt Whitman and Rumi.

From percussionist Cyro Baptista , isten to "Banquet of the Spirits," an entire smorgasbord of music and culture, not unlike New York City (or New Sounds, for that matter.)  

"Banquet" turns over the idea Anthropofagia - ancient cannibal tribes eating human beings as a way to gain power of their spirit -  digesting international musical trends and cultural influences and rendering them into a nourishing experience.  Featuring musical instruments like "20 feet of chains," "waterphone" and "donkey jaw," (among other things like berimbau, mbira and saxophone), we'll hear "retirante," on this edition of New Sounds.  There's also Turkish-flavored chamber music by The Dem Trio, from their release, "Fountain."  Plus, Wu Man 's arrangement of a Cantonese folk song, "Raining," for pipa (Chinese lute) and adungu (Ugandan harp) where the plucked strings and harmonic chords recreates the sound and atmosphere of a rainy day.  And more.

 

PROGRAM #2804, World Music / Anthropofagia = Musical Cannabalism (First aired on Thursday, 5/22/08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Dem Trio

The Fountain

Hiçaz Taksim & Naz Bari [6:00]
Çeçen Kizi [3:30]

Felmay #8133
www.felmay.it

Cyro Baptista

Banquet of the Spirits

Macunaima [6:00] Retirante [4:00]

www.cyrobaptista.com *

Kamkara Ensemble

Gol Nishan – Kurdish Music

Beautiful Oraman [11:30]

Private CD, try www.tulumba.com

Wu Man

Wu Man & Friends

I’m Going Back To North Carolina [2:30]
Raining [5:00]

Traditional Crossroads #4329** www.traditionalcrossroads.com *

Firewater

The Golden Hour

Bhangra Bros. [2:30]

Bloodshot #152 ** www.bloodshotrecords.com

Marilyn Mazur & Jan Garbarek

Elixir

Creature Walk [2:00]

ECM #1962 ** www.ecmrecords.com *

For this New Sounds, we'll listen to Jeremy Peyton Jones ' "18 Guitars," a work that lands somewhere between Robert Fripp 's League of Crafty Guitarists and Glenn Branca 's symphonies for electric guitars. 

Listen also for the hypnotic aural panoramas generated by the duo Hammock , from their latest Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow.  Plus, the Canadian guitarist and composer Tim Brady 's chamber work for piano, guitar and electronics, entitled "Frame 1 - Resonance."  And more.

PROGRAM # 2803 Music for Electric Guitars (First aired on Wednesday, 5/21/08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Tim Brady

10 Collaborations

Jeremy Peyton Jones: 18 Guitars [14:30]

Justin Time #8434
www.justin-time.com

Philharmonie

Nord

From the North [8:00]

Cuneiform #64 cuneiformrecords.com

Tim Brady

Playing Guitar: Symphony #1

Frame I – Resonance [12:00]

Actuelle #125 www.actuellecd.com

Hammock

Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow

Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow [5:30] Eighty-four Thousand Hymns [5:30]

Darla #196 www.darla.com

Hear some music theatre pieces on this New Sounds show.  Listen to Philip Glass 's recent release "Waiting for the Barbarians," adapted from the novel by the South African writer and Nobel Prize Winner John Coetzee.

Also, there's music by Paul Bailey - his post-minimalist music theatre piece "Retrace our Steps." He describes it as a four act vocal/instrumental spectacle based on texts by Gertrude Stein, Guy Debord and Jenny Bitner.  The "alt-classical garage band" Paul Bailey Ensemble performs the work.  And more.

PROGRAM #2802, Post-Minimalist Music Theater (First aired on Tuesday, 5-20-08)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Paul Bailey Ensemble

Retrace Our Steps

III [7:30]
IV [5:30]

Private CD release www.paulbaileyensemble.org

Philip Glass

Waiting For the Barbarians

Excerpts [21:00]

Orange Mountain Music #0039** www.orangemountainmusic.com *

Michael Nyman

Facing Goya

Brilliant Body [2:00]
That Day Decided [8:00]
Forgive Me [5:00]

Warner Clasics #45342 Available at Amazon.com *

It's that time again for the monthly program of new releases. John Schaefer picks through the bucketloads of CDs that have flooded his inbox to find new releases worthy of showcasing in tonight's program.

We hope to hear music from Joel Harrison, David Rothenberg, James Blackshaw, and Aufgang.  But don't quote us on that just yet.  Fact: a favorite game - now department-wide! - is CD-Jenga, which uses the stacks of CDs waiting for airplay on John's desk and surrounding desk areas.

PROGRAM # 3082, May 2010 New Releases (First aired on 5/28/2010)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Zeitgeist

In Bone-Colored Light

Angle of Displacement, excerpt [1:00]

Innova 774
www.innova.mu

New York Polyphony

Tudor City

Andrew Smith: Surrexit Christus [3:24]

Avie Records AV2186 www.avierecords.com www.newyorkpolyphony.com

Tim Fain and Wendy Sutter

Lifeforce: the music of Joel Harrison

Life Force Mvt 3 - dedicated to Jim Estabrook [4:19]

Orange Mountain Music 7005 www.orangemountainmusic.com

Marilyn Crispell & David Rothenberg

One Dark Night I Left My Silent House

Tsering [4:57]

ECM #B0013418-02 due out June 15, 2010
www.ecmrecords.com

Sunny Jain

Taboo

Basa Bhagwaan [8:54]

Brooklyn Jazz Underground BJUR 016
www.bjurecords.com

Aufgang

Aufgang

Barock [4:52]

Infine 1006
www.infine-music.com
www.myspace.com/aufgangsonar

Wolfgang Muthspiel & Mick Goodrick

Live At The Jazz Standard

Minimal [3:19]

Material Records MRE 029 www.materialrecords.com

Zeitgeist

In Bone-Colored Light

Angle of Displacement [6:24]

Innova 774
www.innova.mu

JG Thirlwell

Manorexia: The Mesopelagic Waters

Armadillo Stance [5:01] Chloe Dont Know Im Alive, excerpt [2:00]

Tzadik 8072
www.tzadik.com

If the central idea of opera is people singing, then why are these pieces still called operas?  We’ll hear music from Laurie Anderson ’s “United States,” Robert Ashley ’s “Perfect Lives,” and Philip Glass ’s “Einstein On The Beach.”

Unveiled in 1976, “Einstein” is an opera in name, although not in the traditional form.  The amplified ensemble and small chorus singing a text comprised of numbers broke most of opera’s rules about singers, plots, intermissions, when and how to employ dancers.  Post-Einstein, that form has been expanded in any number of ways, especially in Laurie Anderson’s “United States” a “talking opera” from the early 1980's, maybe better described as a multimedia narrative work.  We’ll also hear from Robert Ashley's vast “American” video opera, “Perfect Lives.”  (As a really neat aside, Laurie Anderson is queen of the 2010 Mermaid Parade .)

PROGRAM # 3081, What’s Opera, Doc? (First aired on 5/27/2010)

ARTIST(S)

RECORDING

CUT(S)

SOURCE

Philip Glass

Einstein on the Beach

Act I, excerpt [16:00]

Nonesuch 79323
www.nonesuch.com

Philip Glass

Einstein on the Beach

Knee Play V [5:29]

Sony/CBS Masterworks M4K 38875
This recording out of print, but download from Amazon.com

Robert Ashley

Perfect Lives/Private Parts

"The Backyard" {23:00}

Lovely Music #1001
www.lovely.com

Laurie Anderson

United States Live, Disc 2

Let X=X [6:16] From the Air [2:46]

Nonesuch 25192
www.nonesuch.com

For this New Sounds, we hear a jaunty and combative work of many different textures by young Irish composer Andrew Hamilton - "Music for Roger Casement."

Imagine the solitude of mowing lawns while listening to music. Now take two electric guitars, reverb, and paint a dreamy unfolding cinematic drifting record, by a group calling itself Lawnmower.

For this New Sounds, listen to Medieval Modernism, as Ambrose Field builds an electronic edifice on the 15th century music of Guillame Dufay.

For this edition of New Sounds, hear some Green Music, that is, music with a global environmental bent.

On this edition of New Sounds, listen to new music for keyboard from the likes of W.A. Mathieu, Rob Burger, and Elodie Lauten, among others.

From the Look & Listen Festival at the Chelsea Art Museum, two acoustic works by composers who often work in electronic music.

From the New Sounds Live silent film series at the World Financial Center, Tom Nazziola leads the BQE Project in excerpts from The Golem.

Listen to songs by the multi-talented singer-songwriter/pianist/composers Gabriel Kahane and Ed Pastorini for this New Sounds.

For this New Sounds, sample some of Regina Carter’s latest offering, "Reverse Thread," a record influenced by rhythms and melodies of Africa.

...And only an hour of music for marimbas and marimba-like instruments from various traditions on this New Sounds program.

For this New Sounds, there's world music from Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara's record "Soul Science," along with something from Francis Bebey.

Guest composer Phillip K Bimstein, ex-new waver, former mayor of Springdale, Utah, and environmental activist, presents his music for acoustic ensembles and "organic sampling," including his best-known work, "Garland Hirschi's Cows."

We'll hear works that exist at the juncture of art song and pop song on this New Sounds.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at the World Financial Center, Jason Swinscoe leads the Cinematic Orchestra in his score for the landmark silent film “Man With a Movie Camera,” in its American premiere.

For this New Sounds, it's about repetitive motion.

Listen to selections from Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson’s soundtrack to the beautiful animated short film Varmints.

Hear some musical memories from the New Sounds Live concert series on this program.

From the New Sounds Live Concert Series, listen to Frank London's extraordinary score to I.L. Peretz's sprawling 1907 Yiddish drama Bay Nakht afn Altn Mark.

Listen for works by composer/arranger Nico Muhly from his record "Speaks Volumes" on this New Sounds.

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy joins us to present some recent recordings, featuring Ireland’s leading new music group, the Crash Ensemble, and the sean nos singer Iarla O Lionaird.

For this New Sounds podcast, we'll hear music from Hauschka, also known as Volker Bertelmann. He's a German composer whose indie-chamber/post-rock music revolves around the sound of the prepared piano. He prepares our Steinway and plays live. That, and more.

From the New Sounds Live Silent Film series at the World Financial Center, hear excerpts of live performances of new music for old silent films.

We mark Cinco De Mayo with music from south of the border, from the Mayan-influenced flute playing of Horacio Franco to the electronica of Café Tacuba; with Kronos Quartet. Also, music from Lila Downs, music by Antonio Zepeda, Ariel Guzik, and more.

For this New Sounds, we raid the exclusive live performance archive from that "other" show John Schaefer hosts, the afternoon program, Soundcheck.

Genius Award-winning composer, choreographer, and vocalist Meredith Monk joins New Sounds to present her recent work, “Songs of Ascension,” and to talk about its site-specific adaptation for the Guggenheim Museum’s unique geometry, “Ascension Variations.”

New York guitarist/composer Gary Lucas and the Anglo-Indian singer Najma Akhtar step away from their bands and debut their mostly acoustic new project, a musical partnership that began in May 2007 when Gary invited Najma to join him onstage at a London concert.

Back in February of 2008, New Sounds Live presented another in our silent film series: Sergei Eisenstein’s "Battleship Potemkin," featuring a new score from clarinet powerhouse David Krakauer and beat scientist Socalled, commissioned by Arts>World Financial Center.

It's that time of the month again for the new releases show on New Sounds.

This New Sounds is chock-a-block full of unusually textured new music, featuring some percussion-based works and other recent arrivals which may or may not incorporate wind families of clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, and then add to that hammered dulcimer, zither, marimba and/or accordion.

For this New Sounds, we'll sample the extended tradition of the classical art song into the world of contemporary music and listen to a whole slew of new songs for the 21st century.

For this New Sounds, we'll listen to some musical postcards from well-traveled slide-guitarist Bob Brozman.

For this New Sounds, listen to the latest offering from Arvo Pärt - "In Principio" – for mixed chorus and orchestra.

No longer the purview of churches and concert halls, the organ has made its way into new music.

Listen for the driving drone-based sound of bagpipes and the hurdy-gurdy from the English band Blowzabella on this New Sounds.

Guitar duos and trios are what we’ll hear on this New Sounds program.

Listen to groups that mix and match freely from many of the world’s different musical traditions on this New Sounds.

For this New Sounds, hear violin music inspired by the Cajun, Norwegian, Balkan, Near Eastern, and Indian traditions.

Listen to Eastern Voices on this New Sounds Program.

For this New Sounds, we’ll hear some instrumental post-rock-infused jazz from the Jacob Fred Jazz Orchestra – with areas of both electronic soundscapes and futurist hip hop.

Composer Philip Glass and cellist Wendy Sutter present Glass's major seven-movement work for solo cello, "Songs and Poems" for this edition of New Sounds.

The Daniel Variations by Steve Reich brings together the biblical Book of Daniel and is a kind of memorial to the slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

Inspired by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura's trilogy of "music movies," we hear Portuguese fado, Spanish flamenco, and Argentine tango in various permutations, including music by Mariza, Mariza & Miguel Poveda, Astor Piazzolla, Rafael Jimenez, and others.

For this New Sounds, we'll have the grim and gripping classic "O Death," sung by the legendary bluegrass singer Ralph Stanley, along with composer Oscar Bettison’s work by the same name.

This New Sounds program presents music from the Near East, including works from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Israel.

Hear a groove-centered propulsive work by San Diego-based composer, performer and improviser Christopher Adler tonight on this New Sounds - just one of several works for percussion.

"Amor Fati (Love is a Religion)" by Jozef Van Wissem from Wouter Van de Voorde on Vimeo .

On this New Sounds program, explore music from the lute family, embracing trance traditions, minimalism, and hearkening back to the Renaissance.

According to Daniel Goode, "there is a very special modernist tradition of writing for multiples of a single instrument."

There's music boxes, oboe d'amore, grand piano innards, electric bass and cello all on this one New Sounds program.

There's plenty of new guitar music from the Los Angeles area to be heard on this edition of New Sounds.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, the string quartet Ethel plays music by Dutch composer Jacob TV (Jacob ter Veldhuis), including the controversial “Take A Wild Guess,” based on sound clips of prison inmates, and the lighthearted “Body of Your Dreams,” built around samples of TV infomercials.

Modern troubadours may not travel from court to court, but some musicians still keep the bardic tradition alive, telling stories and accompanying themselves on the harp.

Written specifically for the Society for New Music, Marc Mellits' work, "Platter of Discontent" is music inspired (and titled) by the bold and funky Kristi McKay, a woman exemplifying courage.

For this New Sounds, sample vocal works by the Norwegian singer/songpoet Synnøve Rognlien, some with Gregorian chant and flamenco singing.

Listen to music inspired by the American West on this New Sounds including a work by John Adams for two pianos called “Hallelujah Junction,” named for a small truck stop on Highway 49 in the High Sierras on the California-Nevada border.

For this New Sounds, we'll hear from Melody Mountain by Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, along with the raspy singing and trigonometrical melodies of 101 Crustaceans' Ed Pastorini.

Trumpeter, composer and electronic pioneer Jon Hassell joins New Sounds to present his newest works from his latest release.

Theo Bleckmann, downtown vocalist extraordinaire, brings his band to unveil his new project – reinterpreting the songs of the reclusive British art-rocker Kate Bush.

It's that time again for the monthly program of new releases.

For this New Sounds, experience the music of Dutch composer, JacobTV, (Jacob Ter Veldhuis) who is something of an outlaw in the established modern classical music scene.

Soundtracks to silent films, both old and new (the films, that is – the music is all new) is what we're serving up on this New Sounds.

For this New Sounds, we'll take a look at the Irish new music scene, with composers Daniel Figgis and Roger Doyle.

It's a whirlwind tour of world music with something from Toumani Diabate, and a bit of the Garifuna Women's Project for this edition of New Sounds.

Listen to a veritable melting pot of music for this New Sounds.

For this New Sounds, we'll hear new music for solo piano, including Michael Byron's monumental work, written for the brave pianist Joseph Kubera - the exotic and long-form "Dreamers Of Pearl."

For this New Sounds, we’ll listen to some of the budding and now fruitful partnership of the BYU Choirs (Concert Choir, BYU Women’s Chorus, and others) and composer Eric Whitacre.

For this New Sounds, hear three compositions written specifically for Canadian jazz-pop artist Holly Cole by Gavin Bryars, as played by the CBC Radio Orchestra.

For this New Sounds, listen to some international-sounding music from bands that blend influences from both sides of the Atlantic, and take your guess as to what nation is being invoked.

Computer music pioneer Carl Stone dismantles global song and melody and electro-acoustically re-creates compositions of gradually shifting sounds of distant mystery.

Computer music pioneer Carl Stone dismantles global song and melody and electro-acoustically re-creates compositions of gradually shifting sounds of distant mystery.

The old tradition of the keyboardist/composer (think Bach, Beethoven, Mozart) lives on in the works of England’s Andrew Poppy, whose music might be a mix of rock/pop, with some ambient, minimalist, electronic, and contemporary chamber thrown in.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, the Bang On A Can All-Stars premiere the newly commissioned work by Christine Southworth, called "Concerning The Doodle."

New Music from Ireland is in the spotlight for this New Sounds program.

For this New Sounds, English progressive-folk musician Jim Moray performs in our studio.

For this edition of New Sounds, hear new music for strings.

For this New Sounds, take a new look at the medieval German music, especially the Carmina Burana - the surprisingly earthy songs by monks which inspired Carl Orff's famous oratorio of that name.

Frank London's A Night in the Old Marketplace is a "folk opera," a 90-minute musical re-imagining of I.L. Peretz's sprawling 1907 supernatural drama.

For this New Sounds, we'll hear music from Hauschka, also known as Volker Bertelmann.

Hauschka (Bertelmann) has been known to clamp wedges of felt, leather, and rubber between the strings, but he also adds a ping pong ball, cork, guitar strings, tambourines bells, and something like rosary beads. The result is notes with strange overtones, odd little clicks and noises, and a general off-kilter feeling that adds a real vibrance to his songs.

New music from Finland, including music for kantele (Finnish folk harp) and electronic soundscape is what’s in store for this New Sounds program.