Flotation Device celebrates Charles Amirkhanian’s 80th birthday with a mini-medley of lexical and often humorous compositions from the Bay Area's leading contemporary music curator and journalist. Also linked to that region is György Ligeti's San Francisco Polyphony, the last of his great sonorist orchestral works. We celebrate its 50th anniversary, noting its echoes in a new Wenchen Qin concerto for Western orchestra and Chinese solo instruments.
Unveiled in the same year as the Ligeti was a classic LP by David Toop that we use as a springboard to explore several new releases by that eccentric English musician and writer. And we sample cross-cultural music by PAN Project, a microtonal guitar duet by Pascale Citron, chamber works by Eric Nathan, Rune Glerup and Michał Pawełek, and improvised tracks by Ben Goldberg, Sam Newsome, Jean-Michel Pilc, Craig Taborn, Brandon Seabrook, the Rob Mazurek Quartet and the Stemeseder Lillinger duo. Creative and improvised music with Michael Schell.
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Flotation Device 2025-01-19: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: New and improvised [0:00]
1. [1:29] Ben Goldberg, Todd Sickafoose, Scott Amendola: Porch Concert Material #9. 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)
2. [6:43] Rob Mazurek: Four Page Color System for Louise Nevelson, Nineteen Colors on a Three-Sided Box for Nuno Ramos (excerpts). From Color Systems (RogueArt, 2024) with Rob Mazurek Quartet: Rob Mazurek (trumpet, piccolo trumpet, bells, electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello), Angelica Sanchez (piano), Chad Taylor (drums), Maikôl Seminatore (recording engineer, Studio Sextan)
3. [12:41] PAN Project: Oshi Dhora (He Came) 오시더라. From Borderless Flows (Neuma, 2024) with PAN Project Ensemble: Saeyeon Jeong (Korean vocals), gamin (piri), Ned Rothenberg (bass clarinet), Jeff Roberts (guqin), Woonjung Sim (Korean percussion)
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SET 2: Toop now and then [22:14]
1. [25:42] Pascale Citron: Trans - 4. Mobile. From Haptic (Stradivarius, 2024) with Duo Lallement Marques: Estelle Lallement, Filipe Marques (guitars), Thomas Vingtrinier (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2014–16, premiere recording
2. [28:33] Rune Glerup: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 19 (Perhaps Thus the End) (excerpts). From Perhaps Thus the End (Dacapo, 2025) with Quatuor Diotima: Yun-Peng Zhao, Constance Ronzatti (violins), Franck Chevalier (viola), Pierre Morlet (cello), Norbert Vossen (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2017, premiere recording
3. [38:30] David Toop: Always she seemed to be listening to some foray in the blood, that had no known setting. From Apparition Paintings (Room40, 2020) with Paul Burwell (bells), David Toop (guitars, flutes, whistles, bass, bass recorder, drums, keyboards, other instruments, sounds, field recordings)
4. [41:14] David Toop, Rie Nakajima: Music for Voilà side 1 (excerpts). From Music for Voilà (Voilà/Quartz Publications, 2024) with Rie Nakajima (objects and activation sculptures), David Toop (recording and assembly sculptures)
5. [45:50] David Toop, Lawrence English: Huanghu. From The Shell That Speaks The Sea (Room40, 2023) with David Toop (voice, digital electronics, Spanish, electric and lapsteel guitars, bowing, whistling, percussion, flutes), Lawrence English (electronics, field recordings, shortwave radio, bass drum, ghost flute, bamboo, stones)
6. [47:37] David Toop, Lawrence English: The Tattooed Back. From The Shell That Speaks The Sea (credits as above)
7. [52:55] David Toop: A ghost travelling half a mile from its own shape. From Apparition Paintings (Room40, 2020) with Rie Nakajima (instruments), David Toop (guitars, flutes, whistles, bass, bass recorder, drums, keyboards, other instruments, sounds, field recordings)
8. [56:30] Outro with David Toop: The Divination of the Bowhead Whale
9. [59:49] Charles Amirkhanian: Pianola (Pas de mains) - Antheil Swoon. From Loudspeakers (New World, 2019). NOTE: Created 1997–2000
10. [1:02:01] Charles Amirkhanian: Bajanoom. From Walking Tune (Starkland, 1998). NOTE: Created 1990
11. [1:05:00] Charles Amirkhanian: Dutiful Ducks. From Lexical Music (1750 Arch, 1979, reissued 2017 by Other Minds) with Charles Amirkhanian (multitracked voice), Robert Shumaker (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1977
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SET 3: New and varied [1:07:05]
1. [1:08:40] Sam Newsome, Jean-Michel Pilc: The Two Faces of Samuel Augustus Newsome. From Cosmic Unconsciousness Unplugged (2023, Bandcamp) with Sam Newsome (soprano saxophone), Jean-Michel Pilc (piano), Katsuhiko Naito (recording engineer, Maggie's Farm Studio)
2. [1:11:16] Craig Taborn, Stemeseder Lillinger: SIGNUM (excerpts). From Umbra III (Intakt, 2025) with Craig Taborn (piano), Stemeseder Lillinger: Elias Stemeseder (spinet, electronics), Christian Lillinger (drums, electronics)
3. [1:16:10] Brandon Seabrook: The Snow Falling, Failing. From Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic, 2024) with Brandon Seabrook (multitracked bowed and plucked tenor banjo), Ben Greenberg (recording engineer, Circular Ruin Studio)
4. [1:17:23] Michał Pawełek: Isanghan. From On the Road to a New Harmony Live (Dux, 2024) with Hanna Turonek (flute, piccolo), Barbara Świątek-Żelazna (flute), Magdalena Margańska-Dec, Martyna Klupś-Radny (alto flutes), Wiesław Suruło (bass flute), Wojciech Marzec (recording engineer)
5. [1:22:27] Eric Nathan: Missing Words III - 4. Schubladenbrief ((Desk-)drawer-letter). From Missing Words (New Focus, 2022) with Parry Karp (cello), Christopher Karp (piano), Brian Losch (recording engineer)
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SET 4: 50 years ago in the avant-garde [1:25:26]
1. [1:28:55] Lukas Ligeti in conversation with Michael Schell (see https://tinyurl.com/LigetiInterview for the full interview)
2. [1:31:48] György Ligeti: San Francisco Polyphony. From The Ligeti Project II (Teldec, 2002) with Berlin Philharmonic, Jonathan Nott (conductor), Christian Feldgen (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1973–74, premiered January 18, 1975 in San Francisco by San Francisco Symphony, Seiji Ozawa
3. [1:44:29] Wenchen Qin: Poetry of the Land. From The Cloud River (Naxos, 2024) with Yang Zheng (sheng), Xinxin Song (zheng), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gottfried Rabl (conductor), Friedrich Trondl (recording engineer)
4. [1:56:19] Outro with Wenchen Qin: Seeking Sound
Photo credits: Marie Krüttli Trio (Marie Krüttli, Gautier Garrigue, Lukas Traxel) by Palma Fiacco, Joe Fonda and Wadada Leo Smith by Jamie Saft, Pheeroan akLaff via JazzInfo.org, Patrick Wibart by Bernard Martinez, Benjamin Attahir by Julian Hargreaves, David Toop via the artist, Lord of the Harvest by Charles Ives, Charles Ives via the Charles Ives Society, Morton Feldman by Rob Bogaerts