Music From Other Minds

Program 627: Golijov, Piazzolla, and Pärt

KALW Broadcast Date: November 20, 2020 | Host: Mark Abramson

Music For Other Minds program 627 spotlights a new work by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. Commissioned and performed by the Silk Road Ensemble, Golijov’s new work “Falling Out of Time” is an 80-minute song cycle dealing with grief, loss, and coping strategies. Based on a book of the same name by David Grossman, the story is fable about a man who walks – a grief-stricken father who sets out on a journey to connect with his dead child. The story struck a chord with Golijov, who had been mulling over similar ideas since an encounter with Yitzhak Frankenthal, founder of The Parents Circle, an organization of Israelis and Palestinians who’ve lost family members to the ongoing conflict. From the liner notes: “Falling Out of Time is a journey to no where. For the dead are no longer in time or place, and those who love them, and would follow them, must seek a route beyond linear boundaries. This is a kind of madness, and a kind of truth.” We also play four pieces from Argentinian tango master Astor Piazzolla. Three of the four feature the Kronos Quartet, and three of the four also feature the composer himself on the bandoneón, a type of concertina which originated in Germany and became popular in Argentina and Uruguay. And we end with quiet sad work for solo piano by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Program Audio

30-Second Spot