00:00
Music inspired by paintings is one of our main themes as we conclude our Earshot Jazz Festival coverage with Myra Melford’s Splash trio, named for Cy Twombly’s brash abstract canvases. We also check out DoYeon Kim, who brings a 25-string Korean gayageum to town for some unusual duets with trumpeter Cuong Vu. Ludovic Morlot returns to Seattle Symphony with the Northwest premiere of Samuel Adams’ No Such Spring, while Quinsin Nachoff updates the Third Stream lineage of hybrid compositions pioneered by Gunther Schuller, whose Seven Paul Klee Studies are contrasted with Peter Maxwell Davies’ Five Klee Pictures for the latter’s golden anniversary. George Crumb’s Dream Sequence gets its own 50th anniversary nod, its echoes reverberating in David Shea’s new Buddhist-themed electroacoustic anthology. A Beethoven-flecked New Year’s celebration by Denis Dufour rounds out the playlist. Creative and improvised from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.
Global chart history
Top position held by this upload
Comments
00:00
Flotation Device 2026-10-18: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Melford returns to Earshot Jazz [0:00]
1. [2:44] Myra Melford: Streaming. From Splash (Intakt, 2025) with Splash: Myra Melford (piano), Michael Formanek (bass), Ches Smith (drums, vibraphone), Michael Brändli (recording engineer, Hardstudios Winterthur)
2. [12:04] Myra Melford, Satoko Fujii: Kaiwa (excerpt). From Katahari (RogueArt, 2026) with Myra Melford, Satoko Fujii (pianos), Norbert Stadlhofer (recording engineer). NOTE: Satoko Fujii composition. Recorded live September 27th 2024 at Jazzfestival Leibnitz, Leibnitz, AT
3. [16:59] DoYeon Kim: The Beats of Distant Thunder. From Wellspring (Tao Forms/AUM Fidelity, 2026) with DoYeon Kim (25-string gayageum, voice), Mat Maneri (viola), Henry Fraser (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Ryan Streber (recording engineer, Oktaven Audio)
SET 2: 50 years ago in the avant-garde, part one [24:01]
1. [27:03] Myra Melford on Henry Threadgill. NOTE: See https://tinyurl.com/MyraMelford for the full video interview
2. [29:10] Myra Melford: Sure Grand Out. From Sure Grand Out (RogueArt, 2026) with Fire and Water Quintet: Myra Melford (piano), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), Lesley Mok (drums), Chris Allen (recording engineer, Sear Sound)
3. [37:21] DoYeon Kim: Sun Shower. From Wellspring (Tao Forms/AUM Fidelity, 2026) with DoYeon Kim (25-string gayageum, voice), Mat Maneri (viola), Henry Fraser (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Ryan Streber (recording engineer, Oktaven Audio)
4. [43:55] Peter Maxwell Davies: Five Klee Pictures. From Symphony No. 5 et al (Collins Classics, 1995) with Philharmonia Orchestra, Peter Maxwell Davies (conductor), John Timperley (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1959 for grammar school orchestra, revised 1976 for conventional orchestra, premiered October 16, 1976 in London
5. [54:00] Outro with Gunther Schuller: Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf)
6. [59:01] Quinsin Nachoff: Winding Tessellations - 3. Tessellations. From Patterns from Nature (Whirlwind, 2026) with Soloist: Quinsin Nachoff (tenor saxophone), Ensemble: Roberta Michel (flutes), François Houle (clarinet), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Tony Kadleck (trumpet), John Clark (French horn), Ryan Keberle (trombone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Carlo De Rosa (bass), Aaron Edgcomb (percussion), Molinari String Quartet: Olga Ranzenhofer, Antoine Bareil (violins), Frédéric Lambert (viola), Pierre-Alain Bouvrette (cello), JC Sanford (conductor), Ryan Streber (recording engineer, Oktaven Audio)
SET 3: Morlot and Adams return to Benaroya Hall [1:08:53]
1. [1:11:26] Samuel Adams: String Quartet No. 2 (Current) - 1. Fast, noisy (rallentando), 3. quiet, patient. From Current (Other Minds, 2023) with Spektral Quartet: Clara Lyon, Theo Espy (violins), Doyle Armbrust (viola), Russ Rolen (cello), Jay Pellicci (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2016–19, premiere recording
2. [1:19:29] Ludovic Morlot on Samuel Adams and The Sounds of Spring. NOTE: See https://tinyurl.com/MorlotCarmen for the full video interview
3. [1:22:14] Samuel Adams: Violin Diptych - 2. Changes Move. From Current (Other Minds, 2023) with Karen Gomyo (violin), Conor Hanick (piano), Travis Andrews (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2020
SET 4: 50 years ago in the avant-garde, part two [1:28:59]
1. [1:33:28] Denis Dufour: Beethov’étonne. From Complete Acousmatic Works, Vol. 2 (Kairos, 2026) with Denis Dufour. NOTE: Realized 1997
2. [1:37:49] George Crumb: Dream Sequence (Images II). From Dream Sequence, Cello Sonata, Vox Balaenae (FHR, 2022) with Ensemble Dreamtiger: Kathryn Lukas (flute), Alexander Balanescu (violin), Rohan de Saram (cello), Douglas Young (piano), James Wood (percussion). NOTE: Composed 1976, premiered October 17, 1976 in Brunswick, ME. This recording features the European premiere on October 6, 1978 in Middelburg, Netherlands. See https://tinyurl.com/CrumbInRetrospect for more on George Crumb (1929–2022)
2. [1:54:49] Outro with David Shea: Memories of Sitting in a Painted Cave (from Meditations)
Photo credits: Quinsin Nachoff by Bo Huang, Paul Klee: Insula dulcamara, David Shea via the artist, Samuel Adams by Lenny Gonzalez, George Crumb via Bridge Records, Splash Trio (Michael Formanek, Ches Smith, Myra Melford) via the artists, DoYeon Kim by Morgan Enos, Peter Maxwell Davies by Clive Barda, Cy Twombly: Blooming, A Scattering of Blossoms and Other Things via Gagosian, Denis Dufour by Alexander Delaney.