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February 2005

February New Releases

Monday, February 28, 2005

It's that time of the month again for the new releases show on New Sounds. John Schaefer carefully sorts through the stacks, bins, and boatloads of new CDs which have come across his desk over the past month to present some of the choice cuts. There's music from north of the border with a selection from Canadian "minimalist" Ann Southam, and a tune by the Montreal-based trio Saccade. Also hear the latest from the Mediterranean singer Savina Yannatou, along with music for the masses by Trygve Seim and Brooklyn's own Hungry March Band.


Koto and Shakuhachi

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Classical music of Japan is performed live in the WNYC studio on this edition of New Sounds. Nanae Yoshimura has been among the world's leading exponents of the the long zither known as koto, giving recitals in Western musical capitals, at contemporary music festivals and with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus. We also hear from Kifu Mitsuhashi, one of Japan's foremost performers of the shakuhachi, a bamboo end-blown flute capable of an astounding number of pitches, timbres, and shadings.


Music for Zithers

Saturday, February 26, 2005

The term zither is also used generically for various instruments, including the dulcimer, the psaltery, and several Asian instruments. Its broad range of uses and remarkable adaptability has made it a favorite of composers and performers the world over. On this edition of New Sounds, we hear music for zithers from Michael Atherton, Shivkumar Sharma, Laraaji, Mecca Bodega, and Stephan Micus, among others.


Music Inspired by Southeast Asia

Friday, February 25, 2005

Hear the snaking vocal harmonies of Papua New Guinea and rhythms of Indonesian gamelan music, along with Indian vocal techniques on this edition of New Sounds. It’s a program of world music inspired by Southeast Asia, featuring music by David Parsons, from his Ngaio Gamelan project. Also, there's music by Telek with ancestral drums (the hourglass-shaped kundu and the massive slit-log garamut) and tropical guitar, infused with the spirit and pride of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea. Plus, listen to the ethnoambient sounds of the John Hassell and Brian Eno collaboration, Possible Musics, where Hassell incorporates Indian vocal techniques into his trumpet-playing, and more.


Worms And Specks

Thursday, February 24, 2005

“America's multi-mediatrix” Laurie Anderson visits the studio on this edition of New Sounds to talk about and sample from her latest work, The End of the Moon. In it, she looks at the relationships between war, aesthetics, spirituality and consumerism while drawing from her travels, research, impression-packed journals, dreams, and theories in her post as artist-in-residence for NASA. Anecdotal, wide ranging and epic, this original work also features Anderson’s new music for violin and electronics and takes us on a music-theater journey that examines how we think about the scale of space and ourselves in relation to the rest of the planet. “We are really worms and specks. I find a certain comfort in that.” [from a New York Times Magazine interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON, January 30, 2005]


New Music for a Silent Film

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

From the New Sounds Live concerts at the World Financial Center, the Milwaukee-based new music group Present Music plays a new score to the early Hitchcock silent film “The Lodger.” English composer Joby Talbot provided the original score and plays keyboards along with Present Music in the eerie accompaniment to this film on Jack the Ripper.


Japan: 1000 Years of Music

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Dip into a new collection of 1000 years of Music from Japan on this edition of New Sounds. Listen to Shomyo, or Buddhist sutra chant, one of the oldest forms of vocal music in the world. These low pitched melodious drones are accompanied by metallic percussion, and are performed not as entertainment, but for traditional Buddhist ceremonies. Plus, Australia’s Synergy Percussion perform a recent work by the late Toru Takemitsu, and there’s a whole lot of other music of Japan from the span of centuries in between.


From the Kitchen Archives

Monday, February 21, 2005

This New Sounds program, titled "New Sound New York", is a special sampler of music celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Kitchen’s landmark concert New Music New York. Hear archive performances from that 1979 event by Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Michael Nyman, Pauline Oliveros, and more.


Music Toys

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Composer, inventor, and professor at the MIT Media Lab, Tod Machover has spent much of the last three years in his Media Lab studio developing a set of computerized instruments called Music Toys (including Music Shapers and Beatbugs) that aim to engage children with music - but without the need for all those darned piano lessons. New Sounds takes a look at Machover's computer-assisted "hyper-music," with selections from his most recent CD, "Hyperstring Triology" and the Toy Symphony.


Electric Strings

Saturday, February 19, 2005

On this episode of New Sounds, hear electric violin music by Daniel Bernard Roumain. Roumain was recently named the assistant composer-in-residence at the Orchesta of St. Luke's, and is also music director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. His boundary-blurring works twist back and forth between classical and hip-hop categorizations. Continuing with the electrified string theme, there's also electric cello works by Joby Talbot, Evan Ziporyn, and Michael Gordon.


American Guitars

Friday, February 18, 2005

As part of this year’s WNYC American Music Festival, there’s music by Ingram Marshall on this edition of New Sounds. Listen to Marshall’s “Soe-pa” for solo guitar with electronic processing, written for Benjamin Verdery. Also, hear Verdery and fellow guitarist Andy Summers (formerly of The Police), recorded live at Joe’s Pub during the annual NY Guitar Festival. Next week at Carnegie Hall, Verdery and Summers perform the world premiere of a new concerto for electric and classical guitar composed for them by Ingram Marshall.


Unconventional Works for Piano

Thursday, February 17, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, there’s music from Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, who fuses characteristics of traditional Azerbaijani music with modern Western techniques in her “Music for Piano.” Not incidentally, she is also known as a pianist who first brought the music of John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg and George Crumb to Azerbaijan. Speaking of Crumb, hear a mix of the ancient and modern with his seminal work “Makrokosmos." Each of these "Twelve fantasy pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano," corresponds to a sign of the Babylonian zodiac, and draws on various non-Western traditions. To round out the show, Geoff Keezer take dubbed layers of piano to create exquisite textures along with other piano works in unconventional tunings and tonal colors.


Innovative Deviations

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, there's a load of new music for guitar. Classically trained, but just as likely to give a nod to Prince and/or Black Sabbath, Dominic Frasca is a guitarist who makes his own instruments so as not to be confined to just 6 strings. Hear "Dark Age Machinery", and the title track from his latest CD release, "Deviations". Then there's also music by Forastiere, who, like Michael Hedges, uses tapping, muting, and alternate tunings to great effect. Plus, hear selections from the most recent John Fahey collection and a tune by Michael Hedges as well.


Wayfaring Stranger

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

It's been a long time since the last episode of New Sounds took on the idea of theme and variations, but here comes a program on the tune "Wayfaring Stranger". Hear an hour of unusual arrangements and rearrangements of the classical American folk song, including a gamelan version by Jody Diamond, a computer version by Paul Lansky, and recordings from Anonymous 4, the Cold Mountain soundtrack, the band Wayfaring Strangers, and more.


American Eccentrics

Monday, February 14, 2005

As part of WNYC’s American Music Festival on this edition of New Sounds, there's music from American eccentric Harry Partch, who among other things, was a composer, instrument-maker, musical dramatist, sometime hobo, piano teacher, and grape-picker. We’ll hear a work that fused Partch’s instrument building and composing - “And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma.” It's just full of complex textures and radical rhythms created by overlaying thirty-four one-minute instrumental verses, in combinations of duets, trios, and quartets, up to a concluding septet. Also, listen to "serious" orchestral music by the late guitarist, innovator, and American iconoclast Frank Zappa. Hear selections from a recent release of his music by the Ensemble Modern, the German new-music group that Zappa worked with late in life. Plus, there’s the strange and twisted sounds of Henry Kaiser’s re-invention of Stephen Foster’s song, “Autumn Waltz,” and music by La Monte Young, among others.

Additional Resources:
» See photos of the Partch instruments


Near Eastern Songs

Sunday, February 13, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, we sample songs of the Near East, from those of the early Christians to the Crusades to modern times. On tap are performances by ambient vocalist Azam Ali, who was born in Iran and raised in India; Mary Fahl, who first achieved fame as lead singer and co-founder of the cult band October Project; Sister Marie Keyrouz, a Lebanese nun who holds a second vocation as a musicologist, anthropologist, and singer; plus Yavina Sannatou, and the band Estampie.


Just Guitars

Saturday, February 12, 2005

For the past two decades, the guitarist John Schneider has performed almost exclusively on the well-tempered guitar which uses different patterns of fretting according to the key or tuning system required. He has performed Renaissance and Baroque repertoire in their original temperaments, as well as contemporary music in alternative tunings. This installment of New Sounds offers a wide-ranging look at this remarkable artist.


Guitar Marathon

Friday, February 11, 2005

Listen to highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y, Part 3 of 3. This edition of New Sounds includes performances by the Newman/ Oltman Guitar Duo, David Cullen, Russell Malone, Dominic Frasca, David Torn, and Patty Larkin.

Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.


Guitars, More Guitars

Thursday, February 10, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, hear highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y, Part 2 of 3. From the Renaissance lute to the latest electric guitar technology, guests include Bob Brozman, Abdoulaye Diabate & Banning Eyre, Ed Gerhard, Michael Newman and many others.

Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.


A World of Guitars

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Listen to highlights from the New Sounds Live/New York Guitar Festival's biannual Guitar Marathon at the 92nd Street Y. This edition of New Sounds is Part 1 of 3, featuring a world of guitars, from the Renaissance lute to the latest electric guitar technology. Guests included Vinicius Cantuaria, Steve Kimock, Dennis Koster, David Cullen, Dominic Frasca, and many others.

Click here to view a slideshow of this New Sounds Live day-long event.


Thrash Klezmer Mish-Mosh

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Prepare for some incredibly "relentless fun" on this New Sounds program. Drummer Aaron Alexander and a klez-punk ensemble (who include downtown jazz/jewish music all-stars and great young players in the klezmer scene; trumpeter Frank London, reed player Greg Wall, and guitarist Brad Shepik, among others) perform live and make mayhem in the studio. On Alexander’s latest CD, “Midrash Mish Mosh,” dueling drummers pound infectious klezmer-rooted music through round holes, embracing jazz, thrash-punk, Balkan and African rhythms. The boot will conquer the sandal.


Eastern Voices

Monday, February 07, 2005

Experience the distinctive rich choral music from the Balkan and Slavic regions of Eastern Europe on this New Sounds program. Listen to “Winter Songs” performed by Kitka, a group whose earthy and exotic blend of eight female voices is quite ravishing and riveting. Their vocal techniques have origins in the fields and hillsides of the Balkans, Caucasus, Baltics, and Slavic lands where voices had to both carry or scale down to intimate levels. We'll also hear from the second installment of the “Baltic Voices” series, all of it new music written during the past 20 years. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and conductor Paul Hillier focus on sacred music from Estonia, the Ukraine, Denmark, and Russia encompassing all three branches of Christianity practiced in the Baltic region: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. Plus, Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares and more.


Steady State Music

Sunday, February 06, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, hear "steady state music." No, it's not related to the obscure astronomical theory of galaxies, but rather music that displays a sense of suspension, stillness, with textures that evolve and are always in the process of a slow change. Some of examples of this beautiful and often eerie genre are featured on this edition of New Sounds, including Orlando J. Garcia's "Illuminated Shadows," Chas Smith's "An Hour Out of Desert Center," and works by Morton Feldman and Raphael Mostel's Tibetan Singing Bowl Ensemble.


Uber-Producer Daniel Lanois

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Best known as the award-winning record producer behind such artists as U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois is known for the delicate, atmospheric touches he brings to both his own music and others'. As a frequent collaborator with Brian Eno, he helped pioneer the genre of ambient music, and in 1989 he released Acadie, his debut as a singer/songwriter. On this edition of New Sounds, we get a taste of his latest solo release, "Shine" which features thoughtful, subtle songwriting and Lanois's engagingly frail vocals.


Mardi Gras Party

Friday, February 04, 2005

It’s nearly Mardi Gras and that means brassy, funky party music, New Sounds-style on this edition of the show. Hear music from the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, lots of horns and groove for shaking your money-maker. There’s also music from the Boban Markovic Orkestar, a Serbian groovy gypsy outfit. Plus 3 Mustaphas 3, Les Miserables Brass Band, and more.


Jimi Hendrix of Tabla

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Indian percussionist, composer, jazz player, and British-Asian underground mentor Trilok Gurtu visits with John Schaefer and introduces material from his latest recording for this edition of New Sounds. Gurtu has been playing since he was 6, and in his teenage years he expressed a desire to play tabla like "Jimi Hendrix played guitar". Also, hear other cross-cultural works by Indian-American singer Shweta Jhaveri and more.


Strange Arrangements

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

This edition of New Sounds is given over to unusual arrangements of three "minimalist" classics. Marco Cappelli plays "Electric Counterpoint" by Steve Reich on string instruments from around the world; the Shanghai Film Orchestra plays "In C" by Terry Riley on traditional Chinese instruments; and Bruce Brubaker plays an excerpt from the Philip Glass opera Satyagraha on solo piano.


String Quartet Plus

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

On this edition of New Sounds, listen to the Kronos Quartet play music by the Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. Her work for string quartet and the sound of dripping water, "Oasis," builds to a dreamland of turbulent, slashing strings and shimmering chords. Running with “The String Quartet plus…,” there’s also music from Rokia Traore’s CD, Bomboi, where Malian folk melodies and traditional instruments combine with string arrangements from the Kronos Quartet. Then there’s the ancient and moving sounds of Osvaldo Golijov’s collaboration with Kronos, from "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," with the clarinet adventurer David Krakauer. Plus - jazz, groove and improv meet classical music in a forthcoming release by the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Ying Quartet, “4 Plus Four.”