Old is new again as composers and performers return to the LP format for their latest releases. We’ll dust off our record player to feature a variety of new music released on vinyl.
Contemporary Vinyl
Playlist
Frank Zappa
“Igor’s Boogie”
Zbigiew Turski
“Sinfonia Olimpica”
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchetra
Dana Lyn
“Maintenance Music”
John Harbison
“The Flower Fed Buffaloes, mvt 1”
Pete Swanson
“Corrections”
Christopher Bono
Invocation No. 2 “Fish, Father, Phoenix”
Clint Mansell
“Fall”
Bryce Dessner
“Omie Wise” from Murder Ballades
Soundward: What’s New from Cantaloupe Music
Another episode in our ongoing series of conversations with Phil Kline from Q2 Music features a typically eclectic lineup of new releases that we think should be on your radar.
Playlist
The Beatles
“Revolution 9” (arr. Matt Marks)
Charles Wuorinen
“Big Spinoff”
Kate Moore
“Broken Rosary”
Edgard Varese
“Poeme Electronique” (arr. Evan Hause)
David Lang
“Fame and Glory”
Harrison Birtwhistle
“Duet 2”
The Ear Taxi Festival: A Preview
Chicago is rapidly becoming known as one of the country’s premiere cities for contemporary music and the Ear Taxi festival aims to showcase this great work. We’ll choose the highlights from the festival’s ambitious lineup of 300 musicians, 75 composers, 25 ensembles, and 53 world premieres
Playlist
Pablo Chin
“Three Burials I”
Amos Gillespie
“Lacework”
Hans Thomalla
“Wonderblock”
Joey Brink
“Invocation”
Gustavo Leone
“Na Voz, Un Grito, Un Lamento”
Shawn Okpebholo
“Harvard Square”
Drew Baker
“Gaeta”
Ambient Environments
Composers like Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bartók and have sought to musically depict their environs for centuries. How are landscapes, both urban and pastoral, being represented musically today? We’ll hear composer’s portrayals of locations like David Sampson’s Grant Park in Chicago, the surrounding islands of Australia from Peter Sculthorpe, Michael Daughterty’s George Washington from Mount Rushmore and more.
Playlist
David Sampson: Grant Park from Chicago Moves
Gaudete Brass
Toshio Hosokawa: Landscape V
Munich Chamber Orchestra/Alexander Liebreich; Mayumi Miyata, sho
Peter Sculthorpe: From Oceania
New Zealand SO/James Judd
Michael Daugherty: George Washington from Mount Rushmore
Pacific Symphony/Carl St. Clair
Joan Tower: Big Sky
Chee-Yun, v.; André Emelianoff, vc.; Joan Tower, p.;
John Luther Adams: The Far Country of Sleep
Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
Christopher Tin: Haf Gengr Hriðum (The Storm-Driven Sea)
Royal Philharmonic & Schola Cantorum/Christopher Tin
Pierre Jalbert: Glass is a Place from Icefield Sonnets
Ying Quartet
Extra Tones: Computing to Composing
Extra Tones is a new podcast series featuring exclusive content that is not featured in our show, Relevant Tones. The podcast is produced by Relevant Tones reporter, Bea Aldrich. In this first episode, we explore how exactly composing software, such as Sibelius and Finale music notation software has changed the way in which composers compose music. This is inspired by …
Rebroadcast: Robert Lombardo
Robert Lombardo’s sixty years of compositions has made an extraordinary mark on the Chicago contemporary classical music scene. Relevant Tones on WFMT is remembering the late Kathleen Lombardo, whose poems inspired and are frequently the texts of many of Robert’s compositions.
Tickling the Ivories
All music written for and adapted for piano. Seth features sneak previews upcoming releases from Bridge Records, including the latest Etudes from David Rakowski to new recordings from the acclaimed piano duo Quattro Mani. Hear the exotic sounds of an etude for talking piano to a piece featuring the unusual piano-like instrument, the celesta.
Playlist
David Rakowski
Amy Briggs, Etudes Volume 4
Etude #74, “Not”
David Rakowski
Amy Briggs, Etudes Volume 4
Etude #71, “The Chase” for piano and celesta
David Rakowski
Amy Briggs, Etudes Volume 4
Etude #73, “Heavy Hitter”
David Rakowski
Amy Briggs, Etudes Volume 4
Etude #72, “Dorian Blue”
Michael Daugherty: Lounge Lizards
Quattro Mani
I. “Sip and Stir,” 3:46
II. “Lounge Lizards II Dennis Swing Club (Reeperbahn, Hamburg, Germany),” 3:08
III. “Ramada Inn (Exit 1, New Jersey Turnpike),” 2:53
IV. “Bamboo Bar (Leidseplein, Amsterdam, the Netherlands),” 3:51
Paul Lansky
Quattro Mani
“Out of the Blue”
Fred Lerdahl
Odense Symphony Orchestra; Paul Mann, Conductor
“Quiet Music” (Original)
Fred Lerdahl
Quattro Mani
“Quiet Music”
String Quartet Plus…
Ever since its creation by Haydn in the 18th century, the string quartet has been one of the preeminent vehicles for more musical innovation. This show features new directions for the string quartet, pairing the quartet with unusual other instruments like frame drum, alto flute and more.
Playlist
William Kraft: Music for String Quartet and Percussion, III: The Winds of Evanescence
Southwest Chamber Music
Romano Crivici: Flat Earth for didgeridoo and string quartet
Elektra String Quartet; Crivici, didgeridoo
Mason Bates: Bagatelles, I- Rough Math
Del Sol Quartet
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Apsheron Quartet, II- Reverse Time
Kronos Quartet; Ali-Zadeh, p.
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, IV
Kronos Quartet, David Krakauer, clarinet
Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic- Buddha’s Bedroom
Kronos Quartet; Wu Man, pipa
Diego Schissi: Liquido
Spektral Quartet; Julien Labro, bandoneon
Musical Mythology
Seth talks with composer Stacy Garrop about the new recording of her Mythology Symphony inspired by Greek myths. Starting with the exhilarating piece Becoming Medusa, which tells the story of Medusa, a beautiful woman turned into a hideous monster, to the quiet sounds of Penelope Waits, the touching tale of a wife waiting for her heroic husband, and much, much …
Playlist
Stacy Garrop: Mythology Symphony
Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestras/ Alondra de la Parra
I. “Becoming Medusa”
Stacy Garrop: Mythology Symphony
Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestras/ Alondra de la Parra
II. “Penelope Waits”
Stacy Garrop: Mythology Symphony
Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestras/ Alondra de la Parra
IV. “The Fates of Man”
Stacy Garrop: Mythology Symphony
Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestras/ Alondra de la Parra
III. “The Lovely Sirens”
Stacy Garrop: Mythology Symphony
Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestras/ Alondra de la Parra
V. “Pandora Undone”
Remembering Einojuhani Rautavaara
The great Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara died on July 27, 2016. He was easily the best-known and widely considered the greatest Finnish composer of his generation and he was the last living link to Jean Sibelius. We were lucky enough to interview him in his home in 2014 for the program In the Field: Finland. In light of his recent passing, we, here …