Music From Other Minds

This program features music released so far in 2023 by John Luther Adams, Joshua Marquez, Tom Bickley, Marc-André Hamelin, Mirna Lekić, and Doug Bielmeier, followed by a tribute to the people of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, who were forced to flee their homes and are now living as refugees in the Republic of Armenia following an invasion of the region by Azerbaijan on September 19, 2023, featuring music by Hovik Sardaryan and Joseph Bohigian.

La Monte Young’s reputation is probably better known than his music. His early explorations in drone music, his Fluxus text scores, and his pioneering minimalist performances established him as a prominent figure in the New York avant-garde of the 1960s. He is also a music theorist and has written extensively about his ideas of just intonation. But little of his music has been recorded, and what has tends to be out of print and difficult to find. La Monte Young turns 88 in October, and to mark the occasion Ed Herrmann present excerpts from Young’s six hour magnum opus, The Well-Tuned Piano.

On this special edition of Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays live recordings from Other Minds events. Tune in to hear works by Wendy Reid, Hanna Hartman, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Kaori Suzuki, and Austin Larkin.

This program features music by American composers who have relocated to foreign countries. The first hour is dedicated to the music of Gloria Coates, who passed away at the age of 89 last month on August 19, 2023 in Munich, Germany where she had lived for over 50 years. The program includes her Symphony No. 1 ‘Music On Open Strings,’ String Quartet No. 7 ‘Angels,’ and Symphony No. 15 ‘Homage to Mozart’ (for Large Orchestra). The second hour of the program includes three selections from Shofar Rags by Alvin Curran (Italy), Peace Dances by Frederic Rzewski (Italy/Belgium), and Vim by Carl Stone (Japan).

This week, Ed Herrmann presents music powered by the wind: woodwinds, brass, composed, improvised, traditional, and modern. Anthony Braxton’s Composition 58 reinvents Sousa. Rova Saxophone Quartet spontaneously composes The Web with hand gestures and flags. Roscoe Mitchell plays all four parts in a quartet for saxophones. Beth Custer leads a quintet of clarinets. Phill Niblock stretches flute tones for hours. Ivo Nilsson plays a trombone solo. Plus music by György Ligeti, Douglas Ewart, Andrew Voigt, Thea Musgrave, Elliott Carter, Henry Threadgill, the Murung people of Bangladesh, nadhaswaram masters M.P.N Sethuraman and M.P.N Ponnuswamy, invented instruments, and the Stanford Marching Band. Blow your horn!

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays Akira Nishimura‘s Astral Concerto for Ondes Martenot and orchestra, Ge Gan-ru‘s Four Studies Of Peking Opera, and Henry Brant‘s masterful orchestration of Charles Ives‘s Concord Sonata, titled, A Concord Symphony.

This program features music using new or unconventional forms of notation, from historical, mid-20th century music to currently-developing forms of notations using new technologies. Included are Variations II by John Cage, December 1952 by Earle Brown, Durations 2 by Morton Feldman, Compositions 223(2)+LM+40F+223(4)+110A by Anthony Braxton, Six Seasons by Lei Liang, Gathering by Linda Bouchard, and Majority of One and Chunk by Cat Hope.

This week’s program features music conveying a sense of place. Louise Campbell’s clarinet solos are personal reflections on aspects of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Senso di Voce and Henry Birdsey record in a small cabin in rural New Hampshire while recreating the acoustic environment of giant grain elevators. Henry Kaiser offers a requiem for colleagues in Antartica. Philip Petit uses electronic instruments to portray Dante dreaming that he is with Virgil bathing in the Acheron River. Rounding out the program are Nicole Mitchell and the Indigo Trio, Roscoe Mitchell playing flute and percussion, and a new performance of Pauline Oliveros’ 1970 composition, To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe on Recognition of Their Desperation.

Joseph Bohigian, in collaboration with Leyya Mona Tawil, plays music from Arab.AMP, a platform for experimental live art, music, and ideas by artists of the SWANA diaspora and region. Featuring music by Mike Khoury, Tony Elieh, Youmna Saba, BINT, Dirar Kalash, Marwan Kamel/The Daily Maqam, John King, and Jad Atoui & Anthony Sayhoun / NP.

Canadian composer Gayle Young works with electronics, graphic scores, microtonality, and invented instruments. According to the Moon is a new album of her vocal music featuring Montreal based singer Sarah Albu.

Violinist Meredith Bates is active as a performer and collaborator in Vancouver. Her new double album Tesseract uses field recordings, electronics, and violin.

Neil Rolnick’s new release on Other Minds Records is a continuation of his work combining piano and interactive computer. Lockdown Fantasies is a suite of pieces composed during the pandemic. Journey’s End symbolically traces his wife Wendy’s spiritual journey while dying of cancer.