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Music from pianist/composer Neil Cowley, (otherwise known as Adele's pianist on "21") and the post-jazz/post-rock Neil Cowley Trio is front and center on this New Sounds program.  There's a brand-new recording, "The Face Of Mount Molehill," which brings Eno alum guitarist Leo Abrahams, along with string quartet, The Mount Molehill Strings, into the proceedings.  Reflective and stabby, lyrical yet rocking, there'll be generous sampling from it. 

Listen to some new music with piano on this New Sounds, including compositions from the pianist/composer Blue Gene Tyranny, who has worked with John Cage, Iggy Pop, and Carla Bley, among others.  We'll listen to the Digital Music Ensemble of the University of Michigan performing "Intermediary with a Rendition of Stardust." We'll also hear Canadian composer and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk's work, "Song of Galadriel" inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  Plus, music from the minimalist tradition by both Terry Riley, and Belgian composer Wim Mertens.

On this New Sounds, hear some unconventional piano works, including some amplified piano in a work by Charles Ives, “Serenity” as played by Jenny Q Chai from a collection of works, “New York Love Songs.”  Also from that same record, a work by Taiwanese composer Ashley Wang, involving digital piano.  Plus, from a new recording, listen to Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan.  The piano has been retuned to “play nicely” with the gamelan tunings in this world premiere recording featuring Gamelan Pacifica and pianist Adrienne Varner.  That and more.

The piano, or, to use its full name, pianoforte, earned its name because it can be played both quietly (piano) and loudly (forte). Lately there seems to be a trend toward the quiet side. Suddenly there are a number of young composer/pianists exploring a relaxed and alert sensibility in their music. David Garland presents an hour pianissimo pianos.

Hear from Nico Muhly's latest, "I Drink The Air Before Me," on this New Sounds.  There's also music from Jason Moran's "Ten," which features some sampled sounds as well. Plus, Michael Formanek Quartet and the new "23 Neo" along with Donnacha Dennehy's "Reservoir" for solo piano, played by Isabelle O'Connor, and more.

The UK guitarist and composer James Blackshaw is a prodigious young talent who’s been seen as part of the guitar tradition of the late American John Fahey.  Now, his work has expanded to include mysticism, occasional other instruments, and long-form, almost classical structures.  He’ll play live in our studio, and we'll listen to some of his recent release, "The Glass Bead Game."  And more.

For this New Sounds, London-based death-jazz band The Neil Cowley Trio stopped by the studio on their first US tour.  Listen to their incredibly tight and thoughtful originals like "His Nibs" and "She Eats Flies" performed live on this program.  It's some groove-based post-jazz with an Eastern edge that demands your attention.  RIYL: the Bad Plus, Shostakovich, Madness, thrash-punk, Thelonious Monk, The Sex Pistols, Philip Glass.

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."  From it, we’ll hear the second part, "A Bird Revealing the Unknown to the Sky." 

Listen to some new music with piano on this New Sounds, including compositions from the pianist/composer Blue Gene Tyranny, who has worked with John Cage, Iggy Pop, and Carla Bley, among others.  We'll listen to the Digital Music Ensemble of the University of Michigan performing "Intermediary with a Rendition of Stardust." We'll also hear Canadian composer and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk's work, "Song of Galadriel" inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  Plus, music from the minimalist tradition by both Terry Riley, and Belgian composer Wim Mertens.

In honor of the holiday weekend, a favorite episode of The Fishko Files.  WNYC’s Sara Fishko ponders the mysteries of a popular song...