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Hear works by Hungarian composers and musicians on this New Sounds, including Istvan Marta, György Ligeti, and the Amadinda Percussion Group.  Amadinda happens to be the first professional percussion group in Hungary and has had a number of works commissioned for them, including one by Hungarian composer Istvan Marta.  Marta, has been called a bit of a minimalist who works in folkloric Hungarian and Transylvanian touches, sometimes even field recordings.

For this New Sounds, hear some modern oratorios and other sacred texts set to music, including Kitty Brazelton's "Ecclesiastes: A Modern Oratorio," Phil Kline's "John the Revelator," and Douglas J. Cuomo's "Arjuna's Dilemma." Composer, professor, singer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Kitty Brazelton has written a modern oratorio with texts from the Book of Ecclesiastes, re-translated from the Hebrew and Latin by Brazelton herself. 

The thumb piano, which in Zimbabwe, is called “mbira,” in Uganda, “kalimba,” in the Congo, “likembe,” – is an instrument made of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached.  We’ll have an hour of music involving the thumb piano for this New Sounds program, from a gentle song by Arthur Russell, interpreted by Jens Lekman to the Kronos Quartet, to the psychedelic electronic music in the Congotronics series of records.  

This New Sounds offers music from a few of the eight member Common Sense Composers Collective (San Francisco/New York City-based.) From a collaborative recording with the New Millennium Ensemble, listen to a lovely work with some sighing glissandos, “Alternative Music” by Randall Woolf.  Also from the collective, there’s a chamber music work by Carolyn Yarnell, “Lapis Lazuli.” Plus, hear music by Canadian composer and guitarist Tim Brady, featuring electric guitar, electronics and the Penderecki String Quartet.