Flotation Device explores new creative and improvised music by Marc Ribot, Matt Shipp, Joe McPhee, Dai Fujikura and the London Contemporary Orchestra. Plus radical new music for shamisen and pipa, an octet featuring a harp and two drummers, a modern take on Japanese wind chimes, a piano composition by Vijay Iyer that reminds us of Rzewski, and a new concerto for cello and strings by Raphaël Merlin in the tradition of Crumb, Dutilleux and Lutosławski’s Preludes and Fugue.
Thomas Adès revisits fairy tales, Trio Mediæval revisits Petronius, and our “50 years ago in the avant-garde feature” revisits the most astringent work ever written for brass band in its just-released first digital recording by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the group that premiered it in August 1973 under its composer, the late Harrison Birtwistle.
Join KBCS-FM's Michael Schell on the Pacific Northwest’s foremost and longest-running radio show devoted to new and experimental music.
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Flotation Device 2023-08-13: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Wailing and twanging [0:00]
1. [1:07] Marc Ribot: Swan. From Connection (Yellowbird/Knockwurst, 2023) with James Brandon Lewis (sax), Ceramic Dog: Marc Ribot (dobro, guitars, vocals), Shahzad Ismaily (bass, electronics, vocals), Ches Smith (drums, percussion, electronics, vocals), Vishal Nayak (recording engineer)
2. [10:52] Dai Fujikura: Sawari. From Wayfinder (Minabel, 2023) with Hidejiro Honjoh (shamisen)
3. [15:43] Vijay Iyer: Plinth (for Kwame Ture). From Variations on a Theme by FDR (New Focus, 2022) with Shai Wosner (piano), Ryan Streber (recording engineer)
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SET 2: Fairy tale dances [23:24]
1. [26:40] Knuffke | McPhee Quartet + 1: Use of Clay. From Keep Up The Dream (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2023) with Christof Knoche (bass clarinet), Joe McPhee (tenor saxophone), Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Michael Bisio (bass), Jay Rosen (drums), Jim Clouse (recording engineer)
2. [34:06] Matthew Shipp, Frode Gjerstad: about hearing. From We Speak (Relative Pitch, 2023) with Frode Gjerstad (alto sax, clarinet), Matthew Shipp (piano), Jim Clouse (recording engineer)
3. [37:19] Anthony Paul De Ritis: Plum Blossoms. From Chang’E and the Elixir of Immortality (BMOP/sound, 2023) Min Xiao-Fen (pipa), Boston Modern Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose (conductor), Joel Gordon (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2000
4. [43:15] Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen: Sol Lucet. From An Old Hall Ladymass (2L, 2023) with Trio Mediæval: Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Anna Maria Friman, Jorunn Lovise Husan (voices), Morten Lindberg (recording engineer)
5. [49:01] Thomas Adès: Märchentänze (orchestral version) - 1. From Märchentänze (Ondine, 2022) with Pekka Kuusisto (violin), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor), Anna-Kaisa Kemppi, Enno Mäemets (recording engineers)
6. [53:00] Outro with Thomas Adès: Märchentänze
7. [58:59] Robert Landfermann: Neon Dilemma. From RHENUS (KLAENG, 2023) with Robert Landfermann (bass), Percy Pursglove (trumpet), Sebastian Gille (tenor and soprano saxophones), Kathrin Pechlof (harp), Jozef Dumoulin (Fender Rhodes, effects), Elias Stemeseder (piano), Christian Lillinger (drums L channel), Jonas Burgwinkel (drums R channel), Martin Ruch (recording engineer)
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SET 3: 50 years ago in the avant-garde [1:07:24]
1. [1:09:01] Keitaro Takahashi: Fūrin. From Piano Music (Piano Classics, 2023) with Lukas Huisman (prepared piano), Keitaro Takahashi (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2013
2. [1:17:30] Harrison Birtwistle: Grimethorpe Aria. From Grimethorpe Postcards (Toccata, 2023) with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Ben Palmer (conductor), Benjamen Blasko (recording engineer). NOTE: Premiered August 15, 1973 at Royal Hall, Harrogate, England by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band conducted by Birtwistle
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SET 4: Radical European music [1:27:36]
1. [1:30:18] Raphaël Merlin: See: Sea & Seeds. Si! (excerpts). From Creation (Alpha, 2022) with Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Lockenhaus Strings, Raphaël Merlin (conductor), Martin Nagorni (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2016
2. [1:45:36] Powell: 26 Lives - 3. From 26 Lives (Diagonal, 2023) with Oscar Powell (electronics), London Contemporary Orchestra: Robert Ames (viola, orchestration), Clare Bennett (flute), Max Welford (bass clarinet), Reinoud Ford (cello), Dave Brown (bass), Sam Wilson (marimba). NOTE: Recorded live January 16, 2022 at The Barbican Centre, London
3. [1:48:00] Powell: 26 Lives - 23. From 26 Lives (credits as above)
4. [1:54:09] Outro with Powell: 26 Lives
Photo credits: Ceramic Dog (Shahzad Ismaily, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith) by Ebru Yildiz, Harrison Birtwistle by MITO SettembreMusica, Trio Mediæval (Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Anna Maria Friman, Jorunn Lovise Husan) by Åsa Maria Mikkelsen, Matthew Shipp by Michael Wilderman, Raphaël Merlin and Nicolas Altstaedt by Balázs Böröcz, Grimethorpe Aria by Harrison Birtwistle, Robert Landfermann by Lutz Voigtländer, Min Xiao-Fen by Scott Friedlander, Dai Fujikura by Michael Schell, Knuffke/McPhee Quartet + 1 (Jay Rosen, Kirk Knuffke, Christof Knoche, Joe McPhee, Michael Bisio) by Jim Clouse, Thomas Adès by Marco Borggreve.