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This week we explore somber works inspired by Beckett and Dürer, contrasting Charles Dodge’s speech-synthesized realization of Beckett’s play Cascando with Trevor Bača's new rendition of Stirrings Still for narrator and string quartet. We follow the Irish connection to Donnacha Dennehy's new piano concerto, while a Harrison Birtwistle clarinet concerto revisits a Dürer allegorical engraving. The late Phill Niblock works with multitracked bass clarinets, while Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg lead a double-clarinet quartet, and Wadada Leo Smith and Angelika Niescier offer their own all-star trios. We celebrate Ned Rothenberg’s cross-cultural music for his 70th birthday, while revisiting Morton Feldman’s Orchestra for its 50th. A new solo cello work by Salvatore Sciarrino flirts with silence, while Ming Tsao adds a dissonant third line to Bach’s Two-Part Inventions. Cheer-Accident unveils their first live album ever, and the little-known Elsa Barraine gets an overdue premiere recording.
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Flotation Device 2026-09-13: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Chicago and Dublin [0:00]
1. [2:10] Angelika Niescier: Poranek. From Chicago Tapes (Intakt, 2026) with Angelika Niescier (alto saxophone), Nicole Mitchell (flute, effects), Mike Reed (drums), Vijay Tellis-Nayak (recording engineer, Transient Sound Studio)
2. [5:02] Cheer-Accident: Episode 34, Graffiti Eyes. From You Smile - The Song Is Over (Cuneiform, 2026) with Thymme Jones (drums), Laura Boton (vocals), Jeff Libersher (guitar), Eleanor Schumacher AKA Drone Layer (vocals, keyboards), Alex Perkolup (bass), Mike Hagedorn (trombone), Todd Rittmann (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live in 2022
3. [10:25] Trevor Bača: Stirrings Still (excerpts) from Stirrings Still (ECM, 2026) with Paul Griffiths (narrator), JACK Quartet: Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman (violins), John Pickford Richards (viola), Jay Campbell (cello). NOTE: Text by Samuel Beckett (1987)
4. [16:44] Samuel Beckett: Cascando. From Charles Dodge: A Retrospective 1977–2009 (New World, 2010) with Opener: John Nesci (actor), Steve Gilborn (voice), Charles Dodge (speech synthesis). NOTE: Realized in 1977 from Beckett's 1963 radio play
5. [21:05] Donnacha Dennehy: “Limina” Piano Concerto - 3. Nervous System. From Limina (Nonesuch, 2026) with Eliza McCarthy (piano), National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Ryan McAdams (conductor)
SET 2: Clarinet melancholy [30:05]
1. [35:18] Geof Bradfield, Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Dana Hall: The Kitchen. From Open Or Close (Calligram, 2026) with Geof Bradfield (bass clarinet), Ben Goldberg (clarinet, contra-alto clarinet), Myra Melford (piano), Dana Hall (drums), Ken Christianson (recording engineer, Green Mill)
2. [42:28] Harrison Birtwistle: Melencolia I for clarinet, harp and two string orchestras (excerpts). From Melencolia I, Ritual Fragment, Meridian (NMC, 1993) with Antony Pay (clarinet), Helen Tunstall (harp), London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen (conductor). NOTE: Composed 1976, premiered September 18, 1976 in Glasgow
3. [55:56] Outro with Phill Niblock: K&L for KL
4. [58:56] Elsa Barraine: Song-Koï (Le Fleuve Rouge) - 3. Les chemins célestes, 4. La ville de Son-Phong. From Symphonies 1 & 2 et al (Warner Classics, 2026) with Orchestre National de France, Cristian Măcelaru (conductor). NOTE: Composed 1945, premiere recording
SET 3: Old meets New [1:05:45]
1. [1:08:03] Ming Tsao: Third Voice to Bach’s Two-Part Inventions - Inventio 5, Inventio 8, Inventio 4. From Plus or Minus (NEOS, 2025) with Due Corde: Ulrika Davidsson, Joel Speerstra (duo-clavichord), Erik Sikkema (recording engineer)
2. [1:12:18] Harrison Birtwistle: Je sui aussi. From Vesper (Pentatone, 2026) with Sean Shibe (guitar), Oscar Torres (recording engineer). NOTE: After the ballade by Guillaume de Machaut
3. [1:13:12] Wadada Leo Smith: Dark Energy. From The Constellations and Hemispheres (Burning Ambulance, 2026) with Diamonds: Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Marcus Gilmore (drums)
SET 4: Rothenberg at 70, Orchestra at 50 [1:27:07]
1. [1:29:59] Ned Rothenberg: Minutia. From Inner Diaspora (Tzadik, 2006) with Mark Feldman (violin), Erik Friedlander (cello), Ned Rothenberg's Sync: Ned Rothenberg (clarinet, bass clarinet, shakuhachi, alto saxophone), Jerome Harris (acoustic steel string guitar, acoustic bass guitar, lap steel), Samir Chatterjee (tabla), Michael Brorby (recording engineer, Acoustic Recording)
2. [1:36:15] Morton Feldman: Orchestra. From Feldman Edition 11: Orchestra (Mode, 2011) with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Brad Lubman (conductor), Ekkehard Stoffregen (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1976, premiered September 18, 1976 in Glasgow
3. [1:53:54] Outro with Salvatore Sciarrino: Senza vento (from Ai limiti della notte: Sciarrino in Tokyo 2024)
Photo credits: Samuel Beckett by John Haynes, Cheer-Accident via the artists, Elsa Barraine by Boris Lipnitzki, Donnacha Dennehy by Hugh O’Conor, magic square from Dürer: Melancholia I, Wadada Leo Smith by Phil Penman, Chicago Tapes (Luke Stewart, Angelika Niescier, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed) via Intakt Records, Ming Tsao by Markus Sepperer, Sync (Jerome Harris, Ned Rothenberg, Samir Chatterjee) via the artists, Harrison Birtwistle by MITO Settembre Musica, Morton Feldman via Mode Records.