New Sounds Archive
May 2005
May 2005 New Releases
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
It's that time of the month again for our monthly program of new releases. John Schaefer once again picks through the bucketloads of CDs that have flooded his office to find new releases worthy of showcasing in tonight's program. [Oh if only we'd had a wide-angle lens to capture the REST of the office, and not merely the desk...]
Swiss Violinist Paul Giger
Monday, May 30, 2005
Swiss violinist Paul Giger's ECM disc "O Ignis" finds him in the distinguished company of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste, performing arrangements of pieces by Hildegarde von Bingen and the monks of St. Gallen as well as new improvisatory works by Giger. Listen to this disc on tonight's edition of New Sounds. Plus, "Hymni," an extended work by Vladimir Martynov, which reflects his interests in the folk music of Russia's Caucasus and Tadjikistan regions.
Balkan-Klezmer Connections
Sunday, May 29, 2005
On this New Sounds, hear music from a Southeast European-style supergroup called the Balkan playboys, along with a Klezmer record from Yale Strom and his band Hot Pastrami. When both Balkan and Klezmer music are heard together, it’s a bit easier to perceive the deep connections between the two different styles. Also, there’s music from Boris Kovac & La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica as well as a tune featuring the famed Kocani Orkestar of Macedonia. Plus, music from guitarists Bill Frisell and Jon Madof from the radical Jewish Music series on the Tzadik label.
Diverse Things
Saturday, May 28, 2005
British composer Joby Talbot studied with Simon Bainbridge and Robert Saxton before he joined Neil Hannon in The Divine Comedy in 1993. Now he keeps a foot in several camps, writing music for television, managing his own band and composing pieces for the concert hall. Among his finest pieces is "Similarities between Diverse Things" for piano trio and vibraphone. Hear it on this edition of New Sounds. Plus, Philip Glass's Prelude #2 and Stephen Scott's "Minerva's Web".
Machine Music
Friday, May 27, 2005
Hear works played by real people but inspired by the sounds of machinery on this edition of New Sounds. There’s a looping order to Marc Mellits’ “5 Machines," with impressive and complicated cross-rhythms and syncopated hooky lines, carried by marimba, piano, bass clarinet, guitar, all amplified. Plus, listen to music by Vini Reilly (of Durutti Column fame and one of the forces behind Factory Records) using, well, “the Guitar and Other Machines,” specifically a Yamaha Sequencer and a DMX Drum Machine to make perky synth loops and punchy drum sounds, while also trying out new approaches with his guitar playing. Then, there’s also the sound fragmentation of Christopher Willits, who folds fractured guitar lines on top of one another. And much more.
Hard Times
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Hear another of the “Theme and Variations” programs on this New Sounds, where the theme this time is “Hard Times Come Again No More.” It’s simple – take a single piece of music and explore what a number of musicians have done with it, through arrangements, deconstructions, and revisions of the original theme. Stephen Foster’s touching, optimistic melody is arranged and varied by Mark O'Connor/Yo Yo Ma/Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Darol Anger, El McMeen, and much more.
Romanian Fantasies
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Tabla master Zakir Hussain has proclaimed that "without Romanies the musical history of our planet would be completely different." He compares Romanies to bees who fly all over the planet and then mix together the "pollen" they have gathered from its musical "flowers", regardless of anything besides musical perfection. On this edition of New Sounds, hear some of this musical pollination. The Balanescu Quartet plays music inspired by Romanian singer Maria Tanase, sometimes called "Romania’s Edith Piaf." Also, the Kronos Quartet plays with the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks and the Klezmatics play “Romanian Fantasy.” Plus, hear works by Ansamblul Hyperion as well as Marius Mihalache, on the traditional Balkan instrument known as cembalo.
Splintered "Totalist" Music
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Special guest Mikel Rouse visits the studio for this New Sounds program to present his new music/film/counterpoetry project, “Music for Minorities.” The work was commissioned by UCLA Live, and made while Rouse spent time in the Louisiana Delta as a composer-in-residence. In it, Rouse plays guitar and sings with a soundscape of percussion and guitars under him as he weaves stories and interacts with a kind of fractured video memoir of life. The video clips range from an introduction to a Japanese cowboy to stuttering CNN tapes complete with a scroll announcing that God has called it quits. There’s even a video clip of his wife, a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, prancing while Rouse, amusingly, sings of "rubber feet."
Cross-Cultural World Music
Monday, May 23, 2005
Hear many different cross-cultural collaborations on this New Sounds program like the joyous, energetic music made by the Bang on a Can All-Stars together with composer and virtuoso of the Burmese pat waing, Kyaw Kyaw Naing. The Pat Waing is a traditional instrument made of 21 separately tuned drums that surround the player completely and are played melodically with superhuman speed. Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, joins forces with musicians from Uganda, Ukraine and the southern Appalachian mountains on her most recent release, which brings together the most unlikely of the world’s plucked instruments: pipa and banjo, Ukarainian bandura and Ugandan endongo. Also, music by Betty Anne Wong and the Phoenix Spring Ensemble, a group of intrepid musical travelers from San Francisco. Their music draws on folk music of Tajikistan, Eastern Turkestan, Kazhakstan, Turkey and Iran, and other great ancient civilizations living near the deserts of the world.
Guitar Harvest
Sunday, May 22, 2005
The New York Guitar Festival goes to great lengths to examine the multiple personalities of the guitar, through live concerts (broadcast in recent years as part of WNYC's New Sounds Live), workshops, and educational outreach. Guitar Harvest, the NYGF's recent 2-CD set, is a collection of new or previously unreleased performances by 27 guitarists from the worlds of jazz, rock, folk and classical music. On this edition of New Sounds, take a spin through the set and listen to cuts by The California Guitar Trio, Alex de Grassi, Gary Lucas, Ben Verdery, and Joel Harrison. (Also on the CD set are Bill Frisell, The Police' guitarist Andy Summers, Ralph Towner, solo guitarist and member of Oregon, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, and more than a dozen other guitarists.) The disc has been released as a benefit for the New York Guitar Festival's scholarship fund.
Streetwalker And More
Saturday, May 21, 2005
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Bang on a Can mounted a weekend of concerts at Symphony Space last summer. The festivities began with the fifth annual incarnation of its newest program, the People's Commissioning Fund. A large and enthusiastic audience was on hand to hear seven new works, while New Sounds' John Schaefer interviewed the composers between the works. Among the highlights was the piece "Streetwalker" by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, commissioned by WNYC for the Bang On A Can All-Stars. Hear this brand-new work and other selections on this edition of New Sounds.
Klezmer-Core, Balkan Bangers and More
Friday, May 20, 2005
It’s New Sounds party music on this program with high-energy Balkan and Slavic big band music played by Americans. Members of the Hungry March Band, a Brooklyn-based collective with lots of horns and drums, perform crazy speed Balkan boogie along with groovy parade music live in the studio, and it’s powerful fun. Also, hear music from the Luminescent Orchestrii, who have cornered the market on Appalachian gypsy music with a little nod to the seminal punk band Dead Kennedys. Plus, listen to the Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, and selections from the brand-new Slavic Soul Party record. All this to celebrate the King Gypsy Rocker Massive III party, a gypsy punk-ass Balkan brass band dance extravaganza landing at the Knitting Factory this Sunday, May 22.
New Sounds Live, More Early Years
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Hear music from the early years of concert recordings on this edition of New Sounds. Listen to performances from the long-running concert series by Peter Gordon’s all-star NYC band the Love Of Life Orchestra, the Canadian bagpipe-driven band Rare Air, technofolkies The Horse Flies. Plus, there’s electronic counterpoint from David Borden and Mother Mallard, and funky horns in the memorable “Ramayana Monkey March” courtesy of A. Leroy.
Gamelan Music, East And West
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
From the Javanese, “gamel,” meaning “hammer,” or “to strike," gamelan is a group of instruments meant to be played together, including tuned metallophones, various gongs, flutes, drums and other percussion. This edition of New Sounds is packed full of gamelan music, from both the east and west. Hear music of the nearly thousand-year old tradition of Java (Indonesia), with ceremonial music from the Surakarta (a.k.a. Soko) court. Plus, Richard Marriott's score to “Legong,” a film and film score incorporating Balinese Gamelan music, and much more.
Reimaginings
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
For this New Sounds program, listen to an hour of unusual covers of popular songs. Hear Charles Lloyd's long and bleak take of Jacques Brel's chanson “Ne Me Quitte Pas" (If You Go Away.) Also, Vijay Iyer plays a radical solo piano version of John Lennon's "Imagine." Plus, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” as rendered by Andy Haas and Don Fiorino, along with music from The Bad Plus and more.
Songs of Melancholy
Monday, May 16, 2005
For this edition of New Sounds, hear some pairings of words and music, with settings of poetry, songs of unrequited love, and melancholy. Hear from Robin Williamson, the Scottish founder of the Incredible String Band who sets poetry by Dylan Thomas to music, in "Poem On His Birthday," an epic piece based on one of Thomas's most astonishing late creations. Also, John Renbourn sings "The Snows," a somewhat cynical look at women, backed by his own guitar. Plus, listen to Donna McKevitt’s intimate settings of Derek Jarman’s words and images, in I Walk In This Garden. Rounding out the show is music by the group known as the Dowland Project, made up of ex-Hilliard Ensemble singer John Potter, jazz musicians John Surman and Barry Guy, along with Stephen Stubbs (chitarrone, baroque guitar),and Maya Homburger (baroque violin), re-interpreting songs by John Dowland.
Trio Mediæval Live
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Trio Mediæval is a Norwegian ensemble, three women who, as you might guess from the name, sing music from the 13th and 14th centuries. Yet they make this music sound wonderfully fresh, as if it were composed just days ago, not centuries. It's a repertoire rich in subtle expressive possibilities, with decorated melodies and florid polyphony. On this edition of New Sounds, the ensemble performs contemporary and medieval works as well as traditional Norwegian folk music in the WNYC studio.
World Percussion
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Music for world percussion takes center stage on this edition of New Sounds. The Handance ensemble was formed by Glen Velez in the late 1980s to explore the frame drum in a group setting. The core of the band is made up of hand drummers Yousif Sheronick and Shane Shanahan, and features a variety of melodic guest artists. The ensemble plays compositions by Velez using traditional and hybrid rhythmic cycles with room for improvisation. Also, hear selections from Raquy Danziger's "Dust," a disc that features her performances on the dumbek and Turkish bowed strings, and Mark Nauseef's "Wun-Wun," among others.
Young People’s Guide to Astronomy
Friday, May 13, 2005
This New Sounds program, “The Young People’s Guide to Astronomy,” features works that take astronomical phenomena and translate them into music. Hear Elodie Lauten’s Variations on the Orange Cycle, an experience of time, with the earth’s 24 hour rotation cycle as a point of departure. Venture further out with music by Neil Ardley, based on the idea of the “Harmony of the Spheres,” the celestial music that the ancient Greeks believed was given out by the planets as they float through space. Ardley realized this notion by converting the orbit times of our solar system’s nine planets into musical notes, whose upper and lower limits correspond to the range of human hearing, and composing music with these frequencies. Plus, hear Terry Riley’s “Sun Rings,” drawing on sounds directly from our solar system collected by NASA, like the crackling of solar winds, the whistling of deep-space lightning, and other cosmic phenomena.
Live Qawwali Music
Thursday, May 12, 2005
On this edition of New Sounds, hear the Qawwali music of Farid Ayaz Qawwal. One of the leading performers of the centuries-old, suddenly hip style of Pakistani Sufi music and chant, Farid Ayaz and his Qawwali ensemble show how ecstatic poetry and music communicate across language and cultural divides. The group was formed by 82-year-old Grand Master Munshi Raziuddin, who has performed sacred music for over sixty years and passed on the art of qawwali to his eldest son Farid Ayaz and his younger sons. Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers perform some of these devotional songs live in the WNYC studio.
To The Moon, Alice!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
For this New Sounds program, hear songs to the moon, about the moon, and higher than the moon. From Schoenberg to Pink Floyd, along with songs about Luna and lunacy by Savina Yannatou, John Cale, and Susana Baca, this nocturnal hour will be packed full of ebbs and flows. Plus, there’s music by Osvaldo Golijov, Daniel Melingo and Nick Drake, to name a few more.
New Music for Cello
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
On this edition of New Sounds, listen to an hour of new music for cello, including music from cellist David Darling and The Wulu Bunun, an aboriginal tribe living in Taiwan. Also, hear the latest from Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Journeys- “Beyond the Horizon,” more collaboration with virtuoso musicians like China's pipa master Wu Man, and Armenian duduk player Gevorg Dabaghyan. Plus Chinese-born New York-based composer Tan Dun’s multimedia cello concerto called “The Map,” featuring the overtone singing style known as “Tongue Singing” of the young women of the Dong people of mainland China. And rounding out the show is music by French-Canadian singer-cellist Jorane.
Musical Storytellers
Monday, May 09, 2005
For this New Sounds, read the titles and guess the theme of the show. Hear music by Neil Rolnick, and his “The Real Thief of Baghdad,” along with a work by Mikel Rouse entitled “A President up My Sleeve.” Plus, listen to Phil Kline's settings of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's unintentional poetry, “Three Rumsfeld Songs” and more.
Classics Declassified
Sunday, May 08, 2005
On this edition of New Sounds, spend an hour sorting through the twisted wreckage of classical music after various new music bands have played it. Hear Stravinsky, Rodrigo, Ketelby, Khatchaturian, and Mozart as you've never heard them before. Artists include Brave Combo, Krakatoa (performing Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance"), Buckethead, John Fahey and many others.
Music with Voices on Tape
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Steve Reich's seminal tape work "It's Gonna Rain" came about largely by accident. In January 1965, Reich had happened upon a street preacher giving a sermon in San Francisco, which he proceed to record. Later, while experimenting with tape loops of the sermon, Reich discovered the process of allowing two identical loops to gradually slip out of phase with one another. This phasing technique soon became an essential element of Reich's style and set the stage for other minimalist classics; hear them on tonight's program. These include Alvin Lucier's 1969 "I Am Sitting In A Room," and John Adams's "Christian Zeal and Activity."
Hammers and Sticks
Friday, May 06, 2005
It’s an action-packed hour of beatings on this edition of New Sounds with music for pianos, marimbas, and pianos together with marimbas. Listen to a somber and melodic new work for piano and percussion by Belinda Reynolds simply called “Play.” Also, from the Australian composer Ross Edwards, “serious” yet exuberant “Marimba Dances,” featuring rhythms derived from insect calls. Plus, music by Marimolin, a combination of marimbist Nancy Zeltsman and violinist Sharan Leventhal. Rounding out the show is a drifting piece for three pianos by composer Kyle Gann, “Long Night.”
Digital Dervish
Thursday, May 05, 2005
With one foot in Montréal, and one foot dancing and lingering in his native Turkey, the 21st century dervish Mercan Dede has taken the electronic groove and beats out of the DJ booth and melded them to traditional instruments like the darbouka, santur, and ney. The result is something like Arabic techno-folk and on this New Sounds, Dede presents tracks from his latest record, “Su.” The name means “Water,” and the CD features collaborations with Indian singer Susheela Raman, TransGlobal Underground sitarist Sheema Mukherjee, Tunisian singer Dhafer Youssef, and many others.
New Music From California
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
This New Sounds program is devoted to new music from California, with some brand-new Cold Blue recordings along with recent moody piano musings from Harold Budd. Listen to selections from Budd’s ambient and dreamy “The Room,” whose walls invite discovery. Also, there’s music from the composer and founder of the recently revived Cold Blue Music label, Jim Fox, and his piece for trombones, strings and piano, “The City The Wind Swept Away,” self-described as both “motionless and moving forward with a strange sense of inevitability.” Rounding out the show is more compelling music from Cold Blue by Daniel Lentz, with his far-reaching “Los Tigres De Marte,” for clarinet, string quartet and electronic keyboards.
Nordic Soundscapes
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Experience the sparse beauty of the Tord Gustavsen trio on this edition of New Sounds. The Norwegian pianist has just released a second CD called “The Ground” on which the trio’s minimalist though expressive playing delivers the listener into a kind of hushed and sober reflective state. Also, listen to the Norwegian saxophone player Jan Garbarek from an album of intricate duets with Ralph Towner, “Dis.” Note that this release goes back to the early days of the ECM label. Plus, there’s music by both the Norwegian double-bass player Arild Andersen and the pianist/composer Ketil Bjornstad.
Hi Tech, Lo Tech, (New Tech,) No Tech
Monday, May 02, 2005
It’s a New Sounds for the Dr. Suess set, or at least for those who like to experiment with sound-producing technological toys. There’s music from Chris Butler’s latest, called “Museum of Me,” where he recorded onto wax cylinders, wire recorders, and antique tape machines. Then listen to a bit from Michael Gordon’s latest, “Light Is Calling.” Its avant-classical sound is somewhat drum-and-bass like, with twisted loops that might not be out of place at a dance club. Also, hear music by Daniel Figgis from his recording, “Skipper,” coupled with ambient re-compositions of Figgis’ loopy samples and instrumental electronic washes. These works are from a new compilation, “When It’s Ajar,” by Ireland’s finest soundmakers, who run the gamut from electroacoustic music, glitch and micro-sound, to hip-hop, ambient and dance music.
New Music From Brazil
Sunday, May 01, 2005
It often seems that only the most stereotypical forms of Brazilian music ever come to the attention of the public: the quiet, cool sounds of bossa nova and its many offshoots. Yet, in fact, many of the styles associated with Brazil's hardscrabble Northeast are known more for their loud exuberance than hushed introspection. On this edition of New Sounds, hear several Brazilian musicians who are experimenting across many styles. These include Smokey and Miho (playing Baden Powell); samba drumming from Timbalada; plus songwriters Celso Fonseca and Caetano Veloso.
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