Old Meets New is the main theme as we contrast songs from the dawn of Western art music in Medieval Europe with contemporary works inspired by them. We marvel at the exploratory character of Medieval music as composers grappled with such newfangled concepts as notation, polyphony, and consonance vs. dissonance. Simon Hanes, Ming Tsao, Nils Henrik Asheim, Meara O’Reilly and Roust Poziumski are the latter-day practitioners mixing the forms, tunings and instruments of old music with modern rhythms and harmonies. Ross Lee Finney’s expresses his own Midwestern small town nostalgia in an orchestral gem that’s just gotten its first recording 50 years after its premiere. And we preview Seattle concerts by The Tallis Scholars, Chris Speed’s Yeah No quartet and Carrie Shaw’s Wind Up Vocal Project, while Bonnie Whiting sets the poetry of female inmates, and Sam Pluta performs with Wet Ink Ensemble partners Josh Modney and Mariel Roberts. Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell.
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Flotation Device 2026-04-12: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell - PART ONE
Intro and SET 1: Yeah No in Seattle [0:00}
1. [1:33] Chris Speed: Tangents. From Emit (Songlines, 2000) with Yeah No: Chris Speed (tenor saxophone), Cuong Vu (trumpet), Skúli Sverrisson (bass), Jim Black (drums), Jim Anderson (recording engineer, Avatar Studios)
2. [8:12] Sam Pluta: with Mariel Roberts Musa and Modney. From Slays Well with Others (Carrier, 2026) with Josh Modney (violin), Mariel Roberts Musa (cello), Sam Pluta (electronics, recording engineer)
3. [13:31] Eliza Brown: Calm and Storm. From Through the Eye(s) (Neuma, 2026) with Bonnie Whiting (speaking percussionist), Gary Louie, Natalie Song (recording engineers, Meany Center)
4. [15:59] Chris Speed: Pith Remix. From Deviantics (Songlines, 1999) with Yeah No: Chris Speed (clarinet), Cuong Vu (trumpet), Skúli Sverrisson (electric bass), Jim Black (drums), Jim Anderson (recording engineer, Avatar Studios)
SET 2: Old Meets New I - Wind Up and Tallis Scholars in Seattle [23:24]
1. [28:12] Kwan/Pauly/Shaw Trio: The wood that holds our meals. From Lunches for the Week (Out Of Your Head, 2025) with Mabel Kwan (accordion, synth), Mauricio Pauly (lap steel, synth), Carrie Shaw (voice, synth), James Perella (recording engineer, Hall of Justice Studios)
2. [38:01] Ensemble Satenay: Improvisation on Johannes Ciconia's "Le ray au soleyl". From Think subtilior! (BR-Klassik, 2015) with Ensemble Santenay: Julla von Landsberg (voice, organetto), Elodie Wiemer (flute), Szilárd Chereji (vielle), Orí Harmelin (lute)
3. [45:27] Pérotin: Salvatoris hodie. From Vox Humana (EMI, 1976) with Studio der frühen Musik: Andrea von Ramm, Barbara Thornton, Benjamin Bagby, Harlan B. Hokin, Richard Levitt (voices), Alice Robbins, Sterling Jones (string instruments), Thomas Binkley (plucked instruments, director), Johann-Nikolaus Matthes (recording engineer)
4. [48:52] Ming Tsao: Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Die Zahlen. From Triode Variations (Kairos, 2022) with Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Markus Heiland (recording engineer). NOTE: After Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Prolationum - Kyrie
5. [50:03] Meara O'Reilly: Hocket VI and VII. From Hockets for Two Voices (Cantaloupe, 2019) with Meara O'Reilly (multitracked voice), Sonny Diperri (recording engineer)
6. [52:47] Ming Tsao: Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Dum tria percurris quatuor valet. From Triode Variations (credits as above). NOTE: After Johannes Ciconia: Le ray au soleyl
7. [53:43] Ming Tsao: Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Fuga trium temporum in diapente remissum. From Triode Variations (credits as above). NOTE: After Adrian Willaert: Salve Sancta Parens/Virgo Dei Genitrix
8. [55:00] Outro with Johannes Ciconia: Le ray au soleyl (Blondel) and Josquin: Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales (Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips)
9. [59:53] Simon Hanes: A Series of Waves Tremble in a Sea of Blood (excerpt), Moirai. From Gargantua (Pyroclastic, 2026) with Priya Carlberg, Isa Crespo
Flotation Device 2026-04-12: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell - PART TWO
SET 3: Old Meets New II [1:06:03]
1. [1:07:51] Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner - Act 2, Scene 2. From Taverner (NMC, 2009) with Henry VIII: Stephen Richardson (bass), Cardinal/Archbishop: Stuart Kale (tenor), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Oliver Knussen (conductor). NOTE: Premiered July 12, 1972, Royal Opera House, London. Recorded December 1996
2. [1:15:43] Roust Poziumski: Requiem (excerpts). From Requiem (Fancy Music, 2024) with Oleg Maryakhin (cornett), Elysei Dregalin (percussion), Novoselie, Questa Musica, Mikhail Spassky (recording engineer)
SET 4: Old Meets New III [1:25:06]
1. [1:27:57] Dieterich Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri - 6. Ad cor. From Membra Jesu Nostri (Lawo Classics, 2025) with Rolf Magne Asser (baritone), Nordic Voices, Nivalis Barokk
2. [1:29:03] Nils Henrik Asheim: Buxtehude Echoes (excerpts). From Membra Jesu Nostri (credits as above). NOTE: Composed 2009–10, premiere recording
3. [1:41:04] Ross Lee Finney: Landscapes Remembered. From Landscapes Remembered (BMOP/music, 2025) with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose (conductor), Joel Gordon (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1971, premiere recording
4. [1:55:58] Outro with Dieterich Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri - 7. Ad faciem
Photo credits: Nils Henrik Asheim by Line Owren, Ming Tsao by Markus Sepperer, Yeah No (Chris Speed, Jim Black, Skúli Sverrisson, Cuong Vu) via Dice, Carrie Henneman Shaw by KARJAKA, Ross Lee Finney via Library of Congress, Le Ray au soleyl by Johannes Ciconia (Mancini Codex), Roust Poziumski via the artist, Simon Hanes by Robert Wright (New York Times), Ensemble Satenay (Szilárd Chereji, Elodie Wiemer, Julia von Landsberg, Orí Harmelin) by Hagen Schnauss, Bonnie Whiting via the artist, Peter Maxwell Davies via ClassicFM, Sam Pluta via the artist.
Flotation Device features creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell, Sunday nights 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit us online at https://linktr.ee/MichaelSchell