Flotation Device rounds up some of 2024's best new recordings of contemporary Western art music, including offerings by Adam Rudolph, Tyshawn Sorey, Matt Mitchell, Gabriel Prokofiev and Sylvie Courvoisier, plus one more look at Klangforum Wien’s 70th birthday tribute to Beat Furrer. Plus, Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri pay their unconventional respects to Bartók’s pioneering ethnographic recordings. Caroline Shaw and Žibuoklė Martinaitytė explore the colors of the earth and the human voice in new choral albums, while Ed Pettersen and Henry Kaiser offer a new take on an old Irish ballad. Elliott Sharp jams on mandocello while Brian Andrew Inglis embraces the recorder as an avant-garde instrument. And a 65th birthday tribute to standout Bang on a Can’er Evan Ziporyn, plus a memorial to Northwest sax icon Wally Shoup round out the program.
Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell. Annotated playlist and photo credits in Comments.
Global chart history
Top position held by this upload
Comments
Flotation Device 2024-12-15: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Picks of 2024 I [0:00]
1. [1:17] Wally Shoup Quartet: Knacks and Skills. From 2x4tet (Right Brain, 2024) with Wally Shoup (alto saxophone), Paul Kemmish, John Seman (double basses), Olli Klomp (drums), Doug Haire (recording engineer, Studio A+A). NOTE: Recorded 2018
2. [8:13] Brian Andrew Inglis: Études de concert - 3. Paraphrase on "O virga mediatrix". From To Byzantium and Beyond (Kairos, 2024) with Elizabeth Knatt (tenor and alto recorder), David Clements (recording engineer)
3. [12:50] Matt Mitchell: Jostler. From Zealous Angles (Pi, 2024) with Matt Mitchell (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), Dan Weiss (drums), Chris Benham (recording engineer, Big Orange Sheep)
4. [15:54] Beat Furrer: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - 2. From Furrer 70 (Klangforum Wien, 2024) with Gunde Jäch-Micko (violin), Klangforum Wien, Beat Furrer (conductor), Martin Leitner (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2020, premiere recording
5. [20:03] Caroline Shaw: Ochre - 5. Hematite. From Ochre (Navona/Parma, 2024) with The Crossing, Donald Nally (conductor), Paul Vazquez (recording engineer)
6. [24:24] Sylvie Courvoisier: To Be Other-Wise (for Amy Sillman). From To Be Other-Wise (Intakt, 2024) with Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Manfred Seiler, Manuel Braun (recording engineers)
⠀
SET 2: Picks of 2024 II [29:18]
1. [33:28] Ed Pettersen, Henry Kaiser: Lord Gregory. From Riddles Wisely Expounded (Bandcamp, 2024) with Ed Pettersen (voice, instruments), Henry Kaiser (instruments)
2. [39:34] Gabriel Prokofiev: Pastoral Reflections - 4. Vivace (sturm). From Pastoral 21 (Signum, 2024) with Gabriel Prokofiev (synthesisers, electronics), UNLTD Collective: Çiğdem Tunçelli Sinangil, Songha Choi (violins), Martin Moriarty, Kinga Wojdalska (violas), Alfredo Ferre, Antonin Musset (cellos), Ronan Phelan (recording engineer)
3. [40:57] Adam Rudolph, Tyshawn Sorey: Archaisms II - Side A (excerpt). From Archaisms (Meta/Yeros7/Defkaz, 2024) with Tyshawn Sorey (conductor), Adam Rudolph (piano, hand percussion), Sae Hashimoto, Russell Greenberg, Levy Lorenzo (percussion), Teerapat Parmongkol, Andrea Schiavelli (recording engineers)
4. [48:16] Adam Rudolph, Tyshawn Sorey: Archaisms I - Side B (excerpt). From Archaisms (as above) with Adam Rudolph (hand percussion), Tyshawn Sorey (drum kit, percussion), Mas Yamagata (recording engineer)
5. [56:12] Outro with Gabriel Prokofiev: Breaking Screens
6. [59:52] Elliott Sharp: Calligraph. From Mandocello (zOaR, 2024) with Elliott Sharp (mandocello)
7. [1:01:58] Elliott Sharp: Dialog. From Mandocello (credits as above)
⠀
SET 3: Picks of 2024 III [1:03:26]
1. [1:04:43] Evan Ziporyn: LUV Time. From Bang on a Can Live, Volume 1 (CRI, 1992, reissued 2007 by New World) with Evan Ziporyn (bass clarinet), Sound Pressure: David Mott (baritone saxophone), Boo Elmer (trombone), John Van Buskirk (piano), Jean Moncrieff (Kempli), Joel Gordon, Toby Mountain (recording engineers). NOTE: Recorded May 8, 1989 at Bang on a Can, R.A.P.P. Arts Center, New York
2. [1:18:32] Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri: The Boyar's Doina. From Transylvanian Dance (ECM, 2024) with Mat Maneri (viola), Lucian Ban (piano), Utu Pascu (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live October 29, 2022 at CJT Hall, Timișoara, Romania
⠀
SET 4: Picks of 2024 IV [1:26:11]
1. [1:27:04] Voice break with Bot tánc/Jocul cu bâtă (Stick Dance), source for Béla Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances
2. [1:28:29] Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri: Romanian Folk Dance. From Transylvanian Dance (credits as above)
3. [1:36:16] Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Ululations. From Aletheia (Ondine, 2024) with Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava (conductor), Agnese Streļča (recording engineer)
4. [1:50:40] Outro with Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: The Blue of Distance
Photo credits: Gabriel Prokofiev by Nathan Gallagher, Beat Furrer by David Furrer, Caroline Shaw by Kait Moreno, Ed Pettersen via the artist, Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri by Mircea Albutiu, Matt Mitchell by Q. Bertram, Evan Ziporyn by Standa Merhout, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė by Tomas Terekas, Sylvie Courvoisier by Véronique Hoegger, Elliott Sharp by Kai Sharp, Adam Rudolph and Tyshawn Sorey by Roulette Intermedium, John Seman and Wally Shoup by Jack Gold, Elizabeth Knatt by the artist