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Playlist Archive    September 1999 to December 1999

Listed by broadcast date, peruse playlists below with relevant links to composers, labels, etc. All pieces are from in-print compact discs, unless indicated LP or CASS and/or OOP (out of print). Read the latest playlists at the sonic stratosphere page.

Other archive pages
May - August 2000
January - April 2000
May - August 1999
January - April 1999
August - December 1998

Wednesday, December 29, 1999

Iancu Dumitrescu Hailed by many in Europe as one of the most intriguing and innovative composers of our time, Dumitrescu remains almost unknown in the United States. Alas, the dearth of specialized performers, the timidity of symphonic organizations and niggardly arts funding will keep Dumitrescu's music out of US concert halls for the foreseeable future, so if you missed the program, seek out the recordings! What makes Dumitrescu's music so compelling? Listen for the searing details burbling atop massive planes of sound; the forthright and imaginative use of extended instrumental techniques; and the sure sense of register and form which somehow transforms acoustic instruments into otherworldly electro-acoustic timbres. As "music assisted by computer," both Pulses and Univers Reborn and Étoiles Brisées (I) roil and rumble unlike any other electro-acoustic music I have heard. Aside from Stockhausen, Dumitrescu is the only high profile composer (that I can think of) who has a direct hand in his recordings and runs his own record label. Concluding the program is Ana-Maria Avram's Second Archae, which offers a foretaste of a forthcoming broadcast devoted to Avram's music.

Wednesday, December 22, 1999

Four Violin Concerti Mysterious, elegiac, and filled with frenzy, the Berg and Adams make me want to be a musicologist. I would like to analyze and correlate the two pieces' spiraling melodies, silkily squealing violin lines and the axial deployment of quotes - a Bach chorale in the Berg and some Coplandized American folk tunes refracted through the minimalist lens in the Adams. Did Adams have the Berg score nearby if not on his music desk while composing the Violin Concerto? The Stravinsky and the Ligeti weave their own musical worlds: arch elegance and plangent sorrow (listen for the mournful ocarinas!).

Wednesday, December 8, 1999

Secular Organ Music of the 20th century "The monster does not breathe" said Stravinsky, but other composers realized that the organ's flexible dynamics lurk amidst the interplay of its overtones. One of the first composers to rethink the organ, Ligeti's Studies unleash a dazzling and unexpected torrent. Although every piece on the program astounded me, I think I failed to put together a truly secular organ music program: the apocalyptic Antiphony X (Winded) for organ and tape and Palestine's meditative Schlingen-Blängen, a gorgeously swelling tsunami of harmonies, summoned sensations of the sacred - at least for me.

Wednesday, December 1, 1999

Harry Partch Blowout part 2 It is my pleasure to present the legendary instrument inventor and dramatic pioneer's magnum opus Delusion of the Fury, which was recently re-released by the Partchniks at innova. I happily heeded requests for Partch's speech-music pieces, of which Dark Brother is one of my favorites.

Wednesday, November 24, 1999

Radiophonic Redux To seduce the casual radio listener, text-based recordings must caress the ear and ignite vivid images in the mind's eye. Hailed for his unconventional operas, Robert Ashley's Your Money My Life Goodbye recounts a fractured tale of a woman disptaching her secret agent son to her high-school reunion. Like operas of all eras, the plot is convoluted and contains sections where listeners must strain to catch the words, both of which serve as effective attention-commanding devices. Additionally, gradually changing bass pulsations and repeated filter sweeps as well as the richly reverberated resonance of each chracter's voice make Your Money My Life Goodbye a treat for the ears. Happily Ever After relies solely on the spoken word and transforms the material -cassette recorded stories that begin with "Once upon a time..." and conclude "...happily ever after."- into music. The use of tape hiss, sporadic stutters, scraps of speech and overlapping voices fuse into an arresting 45-minute masterpiece. Also beginning with "Once upon a time..." albeit in several languages, Forêt profonde sets extracts from Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment and other sources which probe the the terror and hope lurking in children's fairy tales.

Wednesday, November 17, 1999

Hymnen Two hymns to the radio. An homage to the bygone days of the wireless, Ussachevsky's Wireless Fantasy makes music with radio call signs, an excerpt from Wagner's Parsifal, and other electronic twitters. Hymnen, a monumental 115 minute work for electronic and concrète sounds, remains a landmark of electro-acoustic music. I am astounded at how this behemoth sews together so many seemingly disparate moments, from the "rouge, rouge" section to the utterly startling breath-coda, into a powerful piece. Both are essential for lovers of 20th century music!

Wednesday, November 10, 1999

Two Pianos Before the 20th century, most two piano music (excepting Mozart) consisted of transcriptions of everything under the sun: Beethoven symphonies, Italian operas and operettas, etc. Fortunately, 20th century composers have transformed two piano music into a viable, vital repertory. Written in 1915, En Blanc et Noir shimmers with poignant modulations and abounds in the kind of trenchant and at times wistful wit also found in Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Pianos. How can the so-called experts describe Debussy's final years as a period of decline in light of En Blanc et Noir and the masterful Etudes? Listen for Debussy's Etudes during an upcoming broadcast. Rapturous, thunderous and mystical, Visions of the Amen is performed by the composer and his wife, Yvonne Loriod. The recording is a treasure!

Wednesday, November 3, 1999

By Request Listener requests received by letter, phone calls and email. Along with more Feldman and Stockhausen, I was happy to honor requests to repeat Kits Beach Soundwalk, and for some of my music, too. Keep those cards and letters (and emails) coming!

Wednesday, October 27, 1999

Roberto Gerhard From the piquant dissonances of Sardana II to the jagged and engrossing Epithalamion for orchestra, Gerhard stayed in the midstream of 20th century innovation while retaining an alluring Spanish tinge in his music.

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

Electro-Acoustic Roundup New electronic music from the US along with some classics from granular synthesis pioneer Iannis Xenakis as well as early computer music from Bell Labs.

Wednesday, October 13, 1999

Classics and Commentary This week's program was selected by my in studio guest, composer and Seattle Weekly Classical music critic Gavin Borchert.

Wednesday, October 6, 1999

Brass and Winds Stravinsky's Fanfare for Three Trumpets heralds a program of extended techniques, free improvisation, dirges and fanfares for wind instruments.

Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Two Kraanergs Two recordings of Xenakis' monumental 1968 work, Kraanerg for orchestra and tape. Composed in France during the student unrest of 1968, Kraanerg disgorges massive slabs of dense, delectable sound; seismic shifts in timbre immerse the listener in a unique sound world for 70-odd minutes. I have ranted before about the importance of second hearings and tonight's program offers that opportunity - in spades!

Wednesday, September 22, 1999

The Guitar Once confined to folk musicians and windowsill lutenists, we can thank the astounding Andrés Segovia and the mass appeal of rock and roll for the guitar's return to the concert hall. The electric guitar is also responsible for launching the greatest movement of amateur musicians in America since the popularity of the upright piano after the Civil War. Although few parlour room pianists left Humoresque behind for the fallow fields of new music, composers and guitarists in the 20th century have exploited the orchestra of possibilities lurking in the guitar in all sorts of unorthodox ways. Given such a bewildering array of guitar music, no single program can offer a complete picture of 20th century guitar music, so here are some snapshots: with infectious funk-lite licks, Reich's Electric Counterpoint remains the best entryway to Minimalism while Ferneyhough's piquant Kurze Schatten II reminds us that Modernism is not all sturm, drang and ululating sopranos. Created for guitar and tape, Gobeil's and Sigal's pieces barrage the listener with a dizzying assemblage of processed and environmental sounds. Also, what other instrument has withstood such kinetic and sometimes violent treatment in the quest for sounds?

Wednesday, September 15, 1999

In the Field? Tantalizing the listener's imagination with the prospect of unmediated sounds of exotic locales, the veracity of field recordings is often mitigated by the recording medium and the subsequent editing and equalization process. Composers on tonight's show have turned such limitations to their advantage or bypassed them altogether. A Sound Map of the Hudson River is a magnificent journey; inevitably, the listener experiences threshold shift which over time may spawn aural hallucinations of electronic and otherworldly sounds. Pieces such as Walkabout and nature morte integrate natural sounds and instrumental sounds into a startling palette. Tutschku's extrémités lointaines sharpens jungle sounds into razors. Egungun, a very lo-fi African field recording made in the 1960s demonstrates how the recording medium can utterly transform the music and (at least my) expectations.

Wednesday, September 8, 1999

More Unusual Instruments Having experienced Ellen Fullman's Long String Instrument and Dan Senn's sculptural instruments in person makes me wonder what the other creations of tonight's composers and performers must look like. Instruments with probable sub-sonics such as the metal sheets bowed by the Nono Orchestra must loom magnificently on stage. Aono Jikken use Japanese drums along with found objects such as garden hose, water phone and a bewildering variety of other instruments. Not all musical instruments can be seen: lines of computer code spawned the conversion of image data to sound in Jiao Liao Fruits. Tone's piece foreshadowed today's must-have image synthesizers such as Metasynth and Coagula 5 years ago!

Wednesday, September 1, 1999

Radophonic Riot Blurring the boundaries among music, drama and documentary, radiophonic works offer an excellent introduction to the focused attention demanded by acousmatic music. Excerpted from Blodder, Bounced Around recounts the repercussions of a car crash from multiple perspectives. Interleaved voices switch characters, shift viewpoints and charge mundane texts with an arresting urgency. Blodder is Joyce's Ulysses gone radiophonic. The Catacombs of Yucatan blends the nostalgic and sometimes funny reminiscences about a mid-1930s dancehall with Dan Senn's delicately rattling and trilling sculptural instruments. Couched in a dream, Head and Leg's In Your Dreams satirizes Hit Radio, motivational tapes, advertisements and more. Profane and bluntly surreal, In Your Dreams spouts the most elusive quality in music: humor.

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