Music From Other Minds

On the next Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong plays music for Euripides’ The Trojan Women by Eleni Karaindrou, Fellini’s Satyricon by Nino Rota, plus newer works by Erkki-Sven Tüür and Werner Durand.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays music in the wake of Trump’s failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Tune in to explore the many ways in which music can calm, provoke, transport, and move us in times of great stress.

Music from Other Minds program 633 presents four fresh takes on Terry Riley’s minimalist work from 1964, In C.  Zoë Keating’s remix of a version by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble is almost unrecognizable but keeps elements of Riley’s composition intact. Bang on a Can’s recording is much closer to what we might expect to hear in contemporary classical music context. Africa Express recorded a version that features a joyous vibe and African instruments – balafon, calabash, djembe, kalimba, and kora. And the wild version by psychedelic rockers Acid Mother’s Temple doesn’t necessarily play by the rules, but is performed in the spirit with which the work was composed.

On this Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong presents some twisted Holiday Hits including Philip Glass and Robert Moran‘s opera The Juniper Tree, as well as seasonal pieces by the The Residents and Björk.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb presents a conversation with the late “Blue” Gene Tyranny, who passed away at the age of 75 on Saturday, December 12, 2020. Compiled for an oral history of Tyranny in 2019, the interview topics span the composers life from early childhood, his work with the ONCE Group, his collaborations with composer Robert Ashley, his recordings, and his struggles with Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

On this Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong presents works by Tod Machover: VALIS, an opera based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, and works for “hypercello,” strings, and computer.

On this Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong presents some space age music from East Germany as well as works inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays Jim Nollman‘s Thanksgiving Day interspecies work “Turkey Song” and other works made with animals as musical collaborators. Also on the program, new releases by Bill Fontana and Charles Shere.

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. Based on a book by David Grossman about a grief-stricken father who undertakes a journey to connect with his dead child. We also hear from Argentinian tango master Astor Piazzolla, as played by the Kronos Quartet, and by 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.

On this Music from Other Minds, Randall Wong presents two contrasting, newly recorded works by the JACK Quartet by composers John Luther Adams and Clara Iannotta.