Flotation Device interviews Sheila Silver about her opera A Thousand Splendid Suns and its premiere production at Seattle Opera. Topics include her early influences, her path to a career as a female composer, her newfound interest in North Indian classical music, and how the convergence of these factors shaped her approach to setting Khaled Hosseini’s daunting novel about two generations of beleaguered but resilient Afghan women. Accompanying the interview are excerpts from the opera, plus selections from Silver’s epic Piano Concerto and her anti-war piece Twilight's Last Gleaming.
Also on the program: avant-garde landmarks by Stockhausen and Sun Ra turn 50 (and have more in common than you might think), plus new albums by Missy Mazzoli and Wadada Leo Smith, and new avant-electronica from Spain. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, originally aired March 5, 2023.
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Flotation Device 2023-03-05: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Wadada illuminations [0:00]
1. [1:30] Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric: Fire Illuminations Inside the Particles of Light. From Fire Iluminations (Kabell, 2023) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Lamar Smith (electric guitar), Bill Laswell, Melvin Gibbs (electric basses), Mauro Refosco (percussion), Pheeroan aKLaff (drum set)
2. [6:05] Missy Mazzoli: Vespers for Violin. From Dark with Excessive Bright (BIS, 2023) with Peter Herresthal (violin), Håkan Ekman (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2014
3. [11:42] Sheila Silver: Piano Concerto (excerpts). From Piano Concerto et al (Naxos, 2003) with Alexander Paley (piano), Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Gintaras Rinkevičius (conductor), Andrew Lang (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1993–96⠀
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SET 2: Sun illuminations [24:53]
1. [27:39] Sheila Silver interviewed by Michael Schell.
Excerpts from A Thousand Splendid Suns with Mariam: Karin Mushegain (mezzo-soprano), Steve Gorn (bansuri), Deep Singh (tabla, percussion), Seattle Opera Orchestra, Viswa Subbaraman (conductor)
2. [47:41] Sheila Silver: Twilight's Last Gleaming - 3. Peace Pretending. From Stony Brook Soundings, Volume 2 (Bridge, 2010) with Gilbert Kalish, Christina Dahl (pianos), Eduardo Leandro, Kevin Dufford (percussion), Jeanne Velonis (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2005–07
3. [56:48] Outro with Sheila Silver: A Thousand Splendid Suns
4. [58:50] Carlos Suárez Sánchez: Ecce Homo. From 8th Annual Report, Mid Year Edition (Unexplained Sounds, 2022)⠀
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SET 3: Sun Ra's astro-mythology, March 1973 [1:04:57]
1. [1:07:33] Sun Ra, Wilber Ware: Duke's Place (C Jam Blues). From Ellingtonia, Vol. 1 (Enterplanetary Koncepts, 2022) with Sun Ra (celesta), Wilbur Ware (bass). NOTE: Composition by Duke Ellington. Recorded 1951 in Chicago
2. [1:10:12] Sun Ra: The Eye of Horus. From Sign of the Myth (Roaratorio, 2014) with Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sun Ra (keyboards), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, oboe), Danny Davis (alto saxophone), Danny Ray Thompson (baritone saxophone), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet, percussion), Kwame Hadi (trumpet, percussion), Akh Tal Ebah (mellophone, percussion), Ronnie Boykins (bass), Atakatune (congas), James Jacson (Ancient Egyptian Infinity Drum), Clifford Jarvis (drums). NOTE: Recorded March 8, 1973 at Variety Recording Studios, NYC
3. [1:16:47] Sun Ra: Sign Of The Myth (excerpt). From Sign of the Myth (credits as above)⠀
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SET 4: Stockhausen's astro-mythology, March 1973 [1:25:26]
1. [1:29:09] Karlheinz Stockhausen: Ylem (mix of Version 1 and Version 2). From Stockhausen Edition 21: Ylem (Stockhausen Verlag, 1992) with London Sinfonietta, Karlheinz Stockhausen (musical direction), Klaus Hiemann, Stuart Eltham (recording engineers). NOTE: Composed 1972, premiered March 9, 1973 at Southbank Centre, London by London Sinfonietta and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Recorded March 21, 1973
2. [1:52:08] Outro with Alban Berg: Lulu (completed by Friedrich Cerha)
Photo credits: Wadada Leo Smith by Jimmy Katz, Sheila Silver by Michael Schell, Missy Mazzoli by Marylene Mey, Sun Ra Shadows of Tomorrow by System D-128, Carlos Suárez Sánchez via the artist, Karlheinz Stockhausen by Rob C. Croes, John Moore and Karin Mushegain in A Thousand Splendid Suns via Seattle Opera.