Program Playlists
with links to the composer/performer's websites and to additional information

It's possible to have many opinions about Pierre Boulez, about his work as a composer, conductor, critic and writer on music, administrator, promoter of new music. Ignoring all the side issues, I've always been impressed with (most) of his music. (I don't like the pieces that combine computer control and live acoustic instruments... the use of the computer is never totally justified.) But his orchestral and chamber works I find fascinating. They span over 50 years of very productive work.

If I had to say what Boulez's music was like in just a few words, they'd be: agressive, energetic, technical, dramatic, and curious.

And I'd hasten to add that I mean this in the best sense of those words. Particularly the "curious" part. Because while listening to a Boulez piece I become instantly curious about where it's going, and how it is constructed.

Boulez turned 80 in March. The bad boys of post WWII music are now old men. A number of websites honor Boulez: DG, The Guardian, Lichtensteiger.de, Wikipedia, IRCAM.

Pierre Boulez - Notations I, VII, III
                     - Rituel in Memoriam Maderna - Orchestra National de Lyon, David Robertson,
                       conductor - Naïve 782163 (2003)

Pierre Boulez - Messagesquisse - Jean-Guihen Queras, cello solo, Ensemble de Violoncelles de Paris,                        Boulez, conductor - DG 289 463 475 (2000)

Mark Applebaum      Philip Schroeder

Mark Applebaum - 20, for String Quartet - St. Lawrence Quartet - Forthcoming on Tzadik Records

Phillip Schroeder - Twelve Pieces For Piano - Jeri-Mae Astolfi, piano - CAPSTONE CPS-8742
                             Read a review of this piece.

The Necks are a trio from Australia that have been performing at home and thru Europe (but rarely in the US) for years. Their first album appeared in 1989. They have become one of the great cult improv bands of Australia. With little or no publicity, their eleven albums have sold thousands. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) create a minimalist stream that is quite unique. What I like is the how restrained this music is. They give the music time to develop, rather than throw everything they have at you at once. The result is very engaging and very intelligent. It's an hour long, and you want to stay with it all the way to the end.

The Necks - Drive By - Morphius Records 0009 (2003)

 Charles Koechlin (1867-1950)

Charles Koechlin: Les Heures Persanes - The Persian Hours - Kathryn Stott, piano - CHANDOS 9974 (2003)
Written between 1913 and 1919 (during the First World War!), Les Heures Persanes follows an imaginary journey to Isfahan as depicted in Pierre Lôti's popular travel diary, Vers Ispahan, published in 1904. Koechlin's piano journey is a cycle of 16 short pieces. Because of time constraints we are only able to hear 13 of these pieces: 1. A nap, before departure; 3. The obscure climb; 4. Fresh morning in the high valley; 5. In sight of the city; 6. Through the streets; 7. Song of the evening; 10. Pink of the midday sun; 11. In the shade, near the marble fountain; 12. Arabesques; 13. Hills with the setting sun; 14. The storyteller, the enchanted palace, moonlight on the gardens; 15. Evening peace at the cemetery; 16. Dervishes in the night.

Koechlin was very much the iconoclast. He wrote a huge amount of music, much of it still unpublished. More well known as a theorist and teacher, he helped found the first organization committed to the promotion of contemporary music, Le Société Musicale Indépendante, in 1909 -- a precursor of Other Minds!
It is interesting to note that both Francis Dhomont (scroll down), and jazz composer Lalo Schifrin, studied with Koechlin in the 1940's.

Neither has been called an "opera" in so far as it was comissioned by the Rome Opera. The association with everything "operatic" starts and ends there. In fact, it is more appropriate to call it a "non-opera". There is no plot, no stage direction, no cast of characters. Premiered in 1977, it is one of Morton Feldman's most expansive works. The story is that Feldman met Beckett in a Paris cafe and asked him for a text for this Rome Opera project, whereupon Beckett wrote out the 87 words in sixteen lines on a scrap of paper. I'm not sure how true this story really is, but Feldman's setting, for large orchestra and soprano, is both surprising and remarkable.

Morton Feldman: NEITHER - Sarah Leonard, soprano, Zoltan Pesko, conductor, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra - Hat[now] ART 102 (1997)

Giacinto Scelsi:

Un Adieu (1978), Sonata #3 (1939) - Marianne Schroeder, piano - Hat Art 6092 (1992)

Anahit (1965) - Carmen Fournier violin, Polish Radio Orch., Jürg Wyttenbach cond. - Accord 200612 (1989)

  String Quartet #5 (1974-84) - Arditti Qtet - Salabert 8904 (1990)

  Poem pour Piano, #2 (1939) - Jacqueline Mefano, piano - Adda 581189 (1990)

Scelsi preferred this logo above to photographs. He would have been 100 on January 8 of this year. He died in Rome in 1988.
For more information on this mysterious metaphysical composer and poet, follow these links:
The Fondazione Isabella Scelsi has a biography (in Italian) and a list of works, recordings, and bibliography.
Todd McComb has some interesting articles on Scelsi on his website.

Beth Anderson    Terry Riley

Beth Anderson arrived in the Bay Area from Kentucky and in the 70's writing some pretty scary music and text-sound compositions. By the mid-80's she had moved to Brooklyn and, like Terry Riley, risked it all by producing deceptively simple and beautiful music with a characteristically folksy American twang. This at a time when the going trend was for deeply conceptual and inhumanly complex music. As Kyle Gann notes in his liner notes, it ain't easy to write simple music. Follow Beth's pieces "closely for repetitions, theme patterns, texture changes, key changes, and you'll hear how painstakingly Anderson's illusion of simplicity is built up." (e.g. much of the Piano Concerto is in 15/8 meter!) We'll be hearing more of Beth's recent music in later broadcasts.

Beth Anderson: Piano Concerto (1997) - Joseph Kubera piano, Rubio String Quartet + bass, marimba, percussion -- New World Records 80610 (2004)

Terry Riley: The Walrus in Memorium (1993) -- Gloria Cheng-Cochran piano -- Telarc 80513 (1998)

Changing directions, two extended works on Cold Blue:

Rick Cox: FADE (2004) - Cox electric guitar, Thomas Newman piano, Peter Freeman base & electronics -- Cold Blue CB0020 (2005)

Michael Jon Fink: As Is Thought/Aurora - Marty Walker bass clarinet, Susan Allen harp, David Johnson vibraphone -- Cold Blue CB0005 (2001)

Francis Dhomont was born in Paris, France in 1926. He studied under Ginette Waldmeier, Charles Koechlin and Nadia Boulanger. In the late 40’s, in Paris, he intuitively discovered with magnetic wire what Schaeffer would later call “musique concrète” and consequently conducted solitary experiments with the musical possibilities of sound recording. Later, leaving behind instrumental writing, he dedicated himself exclusively to electroacoustic composition. Francis was one of the composers featured in Other Minds 11 in 2004. More biographical info..

Dhomont: Jalons (1990-2001) -- Emprientes Digitales IMED 0365 (2003)
                Cycle du son (1996-1998) - Emprientes Digitales IMED 0158 (2001)

More information on these CDs at www.electrocd.com.    And there is more information on Jalons and Cycle du Son.

This week is KALW's MEMBERSHIP DRIVE. Please support KALW. Some of the most innovative music on radio can now be heard on KALW. And they need your support. Call 1-800-525-9917 and pledge your membership.
And if you join at the $85 level you can receive tonight's CDs (or last week's CDs) as a gift.
SUPPORT KALW AND NEW MUSIC! Become a member of KALW.

  
George Antheil Quartets                    Jim Fox Descansos, Past

George Antheil: String Quartet #2, String Quartet #3 - Del Sol Quartet - Other Minds OM 1008 (2005)
Jim Fox: Descansos, Past - Ensemble - Cold Blue Music CB 0021 (2005)

For information on George Antheil and his music, see the links from last week's program below.

Read Jim Fox's description of his new Descansos, Past ....

The Antheil and Fox CDs are available as a gift from KALW if you subscribe at the $85 rate by calling 1-800-525-9917

           Kyle Gann Long Night

George Antheil: Lithuanian Night (1922)
George Antheil: String Quartet #1 (1925) - Del Sol Quartet - Other Minds OM 1008 (2005)

Kyle Gann: Long Night (1981) - Sarah Cahill, pianos - Cold Blue CB0019 (2005)
Rick Cox: When April May - Marty Walker, clarinet - Cold Blue CB0009

Read Kyle Gann's excellent new music web log at: http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/

More information about George Antheil can be found at: http://www.antheil.org/, http://www.schirmer.com/composers/antheil_bio.html, and http://www.paristransatlantic.com/antheil/

The Antheil and Gann CDs are available as a gift from KALW if you subscribe at the $85 rate by calling 1-800-525-9917

Morton Feldman             Somei Satoh
Click on the photos for info on these composers.

Morton Feldman: First Piano Sonata [to Bela Bartok] 1943  -  Debora Petrina, piano  -  OgreOgress Early and Unknown Piano Works

Morton Feldman: Piano and Orchestra 1975  -  Alan Feinberg, piano  -  MTT, New World Symphony  -  Argo (1998)

Somei Satoh:  Music for Alonzo King's LINES Ballet  "SATOH" -  David Abel vn, Lynn Taffin, harp   -   Unreleased studio recording. Commissioned by Alonzo King's LINES Ballet. World premiere will be April 14-17 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. We are grateful to the LINES ballet and the performers to be able to present this preview on Music for Other Minds tonight. For more information about this premiere performance, go to: http://www.linesballet.org/performance/spring_05a.htm

Morton Feldman: Preludio 1946  -   Debora Petrina, pno  -  OgreOgress Early and Unknown Piano Works

There will be a number of concerts from April thru June organized by the Just Intonation Network and Other Minds featuring music in alternative tunings. See the box on the right for more information.

Lou Harrison: Serenado por Gitaro
Harry Partch: Letter from Hobo Pablo
Lou Harrison: Cinna
Terry Riley: Harp of New Albion
                - John Schneider, guitars - Just Guitars - BRIDGE 9132

Ellen Fullman: Change of Direction (excerpt) - New Albion NA 102

Janis Mattox: Desenho
Loren Rush: Mattina
     - unreleased, Good Sound Foundation

Michael Harrison - The Bells of Rome - Michael Harrison, harmonically tuned piano - unreleased