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Flotation Device celebrates Wendy Carlos for her 85th birthday with a mini-retrospective of her pioneering and popularizing synthesizer music. She's long been out of the public eye, and most of her recordings are out of print and unavailable to stream, so this is an unusual opportunity to revisit her most impactful work, ranging back to Switched-On Bach.
Meanwhile Steve Swell honors Galina Ustvolskaya, while her fellow dissonance-lover Thelonious Monk gets the unconventional attention of the Goldberg/Sickafoose/Amendola trio. We mark the 50th anniversary of Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles…, oboist Heinz Holliger’s Study in Multiphonics and Globe Unity Orchestra’s Hamburg ’74 album, while the Downtown New York scene is represented by new recordings from Steve Coleman, Branson Seabrook and John Zorn (featuring Barbara Hannigan in the premiere recording of a quintet inspired by the surrealist paintings of Leonora Carrington). Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell.
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Flotation Device 2024-11-17: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Monk and Ustvolskaya [0:00]
1. [1:37] Ben Goldberg, Todd Sickafoose, Scott Amendola: Self Evident. From Here to There (Secret Hatch, 2024) with Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Todd Sickafoose (acoustic bass), Scott Amendola (drums, electronics), Billy Barnett (recording engineer, Gung-Ho Studio). NOTE: Based on Thelonious Monk: Evidence
2. [10:33] Galina Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonata No. 6. From Piano Sonatas 1–6 (hat[now]ART, 1995) with Marianne Schroeder (piano), Peter Pfister (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1988
3. [16:44] Steve Swell: Hammer, Rocks (excerpts). From Hommage à Galina Ustvolskaya (Silkheart/RogueArt, 2024) with Steve Swell's Imbued with Light: Sara Schoenback (bassoon), Herb Robertson (trumpet, toys), Steve Swell (trombone), Ben Stapp (tuba), Chris Hoffman (cello), Robert Boston (piano), Harris Eisenstadt (drums, percussion), Jim Clouse (recording engineer, Park West Studios)
4. [20:24] Steve Swell: Composite #12 (excerpts). From Hommage à Galina Ustvolskaya (credits as above)
5. [23:44] Voice break with Thelonious Monk: Evidence
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SET 2: I saw the moon [25:01]
1. [25:42] Soosan Lolavar: Mâh Didam. From Song (Delphian, 2021) with The Hermes Experiment: Heloise Werner (soprano), Oliver Pashley (clarinet), Anne Denholm (harp), Marianne Schofield (double bass), Paul Baxter (recording engineer)
2. [31:44] Brandon Seabrook: Melodic Incidents for an Irrational World. From Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic, 2024) with Brandon Seabrook (multitracked Neptune twelve-string guitar, and bowed and plucked tenor banjo), Ben Greenberg (recording engineer, Circular Ruin Studio)
3. [36:50] Heinz Holliger: Studie über Mehrklänge für Oboe solo. From Duo for Violin and Cello et al (ECM, 1987) with Heinz Holliger (oboe), Jakob Stämpfli (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1971, premiered November 20, 1974 in Tokyo by Heinz Holliger
4. [41:57] Manfred Schoof: Kontraste und Synthesen (excerpt). From Hamburg '74 (FMP, 1979) with Globe Unity Orchestra: Peter Brötzmann, Rüdiger Carl, Gerd Dudek, Evan Parker, Michel Pilz (reeds), Manfred Schoof, Kenny Wheeler (trumpets), Günter Christmann, Paul Rutherford (trombones), Derek Bailey (guitar), Alex Schlippenbach (piano), Peter Kowald (bass, tuba), Han Bennink (drums, percussion, clarinet), Paul Lovens (drums, percussion), Choir of the NDR-Broadcast AKA NDR Vokalensemble, Helmut Franz (conductor), Werner Münchmeyer (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live November 19, 1974 at the NDR Jazzworkshop, Funkhaus Hamburg
5. [47:36] Alexander von Schlippenbach: Hamburg '74 (excerpt). From Hamburg '74 (credits as above)
6. [51:40] Outro with Aida Shirazi: Albumblatt
7. [58:18] John Zorn: Ab Eo, Quod. From Hannigan Sings Zorn Volume Two (Tzadik, 2024) with Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Jay Campbell (cello), Sae Hashimoto (vibraphone), Ikue Mori (electronics), Ches Smith (drums), Marc Urselli, John Dyer, Trevor Schlam (recording engineers)
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SET 3: From the drums to the birds… [1:06:15]
1. [1:07:36] Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Spontaneous Drum. From PolyTropos/Of Many Turns (Pi, 2024) with Steve Coleman (alto saxophone), Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Rich Brown (bass), Sean Rickman (drums), Sylvain Pierre-Justin (recording engineer)
2. [1:15:45] Olivier Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… - Le cossyphe d'Heuglin. From Des canyons aux étoiles… (Seattle Symphony, 2023) with Steven Osborne (piano), Jeffery Fair (horn), Matthew Decker (glockenspiel), Michael A. Werner (xylorimba), Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot (conductor), Dmitriy Lipay (recording engineer). NOTE: Premiered November 20, 1974 at Alice Tully Hall, New York by Yvonne Loriod (piano), Musica Aeterna Orchestra, Frederic Waldman (conductor)
3. [1:19:55] Olivier Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… - Cedar Breaks et le don de crainte. From Des canyons aux étoiles… (credits as above)
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SET 4: Wendy Carlos at 85 [1:27:11]
1. [1:29:13] Wendy Carlos on just intonation (with Two-Part Invention No. 14 in B major from Switched-On Bach)
2. [1:32:26] Wendy Carlos: Episodes for piano and electronic sound. From By Request (Columbia, 1975, reissued 2003 by East Side Digital) with Phillip Ramey (piano). NOTE: Composed 1964, realized at Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center
3. [1:38:15] Wendy Carlos: Tronaction (original version). From Disney's Tron (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Disney, 2001). NOTE: Created 1982
4. [1:39:42] Wendy Carlos: Incantation. From Beauty in the Beast (Audion, 1986)
5. [1:46:28] Wendy Carlos: Beauty in the Beast. From Beauty in the Beast (Audion, 1986)
6. [1:50:27] Wendy Carlos, Weird Al Yankovic: Carnival of the Animals Part II - Finale. From Peter & The Wolf (CBS, 1988)
7. [1:53:20] Outro with Wendy Carlos: Sonic Seasonings
Photo credits: Olivier Messiaen via the estate, Wendy Carlos and Pandy the cat via the artist, Steve Swell via the artist, Five Elements (Steve Coleman, Sean Rickman, Rich Brown, Jonathan Finlayson) via Pi Recordings, John Zorn with Steve Gosling and Barbara Hannigan via Hannigan, Galina Ustvolskaya via Wikipedia, Thelonious Monk via Discogs, Ab Eo Quod by Leonora Carrington, Aida Shirazi via Babel Scores, Heinz Holliger via Decca Records