Martian Gardens for 8/09/2009

WMUA FM 91.1
Amherst, Mass. 01003
wmua.org
live webcast

MARTIAN GARDENS
Sundays 21:00--24:00 EDT
Host: Max Shea
online playlists: Martian Gardens blog
email: maxtshea@gmail.com

Program for August 9, 2009

SET ONE
Ursula Mamlok: Haiku Settings
I. So cold are the waves
II. When a nightingale sang
III. A leaf is falling
IV. A tree frog softly begins
V. How cool the green hay smells
Music of Ursula Mamlok, Vol. 1
Bridge Records/2009
soprano: Tony Arnold; flute: Claire Chase; texts: I. Basho, II. Jurin, III. Ransetsu, IV. Rogetsu, V. Boncho

Ursula Mamlok: Stray Birds
Chamber Works of Ursula Mamlok
CRI/2002 (orig. 1972-1984)
soprano: Phyllis Bryn-Julson; flute: Harvey Sollberger; cello: Fred Sherry; text: Rabindanath Tagore

SINGLE PLAY
Morton Feldman: Crippled Symmetry (disc B, region 1)
Crippled Symmetry
Bridge Records/1999
The California EAR Unit -- flutes: Dorothy Stone; percussion: Arthur Jarvinen; piano, celeste: Vicki Ray

SINGLE PLAY
Joshua Fineberg: Broken Symmetries
Empreintes, Veils, and Shards
Mode Records/2009
Ensemble Fa; conductor: Dominique My; recorded at IRCAM, 5/23/05

SET TWO
The Music Improvisation Company: Dragon Path
The Music Improvisation Company
ECM Records/Polydor/1974 (orig.1970)
electric guitar: Derek Bailey; soprano saxophone: Evan Parker; live electronics: Hugh Davies; percussion: Jamie Muir; recorded August, 1970, at Merstham Studios, London

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: The Moment's Energy, Part 1
The Moment's Energy
ECM Records/2009
EAS -- trumpet, piccolo trumpet: Peter Evans; sho: Ko Ishikawa; clarinet, bass clarinet, shakuhachi: Ned Rothnenberg; violin, live electronics: Philipp Wachsmann; piano, prepared piano: Agusti Fernandez; double-bass: Barry Guy; percussion, live electronics: Paul Lytton; signal processing: Lawrence Casserly; sample/signal processing: Joel Ryan; computer processing: Walter Prati; live electronics: Richard Barrett, Paul Obermayer; sound projection: Marco Vecchi; recorded November, 2007, at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, UK

SET THREE
David Rosenboom: Section I (essential tension to universe)
How Much Better If Plymouth Rock Had Landed On The Pilgrims (1969-71)
New World Records/2009
cellos: Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick; recorded at CalArts, 10/11/08

Philip Mantione:
a. T=2.7k - Beginning - Excerpt 1
b. T=2.7k - Ending - Excerpt 2
It's ALIVE! - Philip Mantione in Santa Fe
Philip Mantione/2009
trumpet: Ron Helman; interactive computer devices: P. Mantione; video: Alysse Stephanian, recorded October, 2008, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe

Biosphere: Chukhung
Substrata
All Saints/1997

Tim Hodgkinson: Shhh
Pragma
ReR USA/1998

SINGLE PLAY
Theodore Lotis: Underwater Theories
Epoque de L'eau
empreintes DIGITALes/2008

SET FOUR
Barton McLean: Visions of a Summer Night (excerpts)
a. A Little Night Music (Eine Kleine...)
b. Demons of the Night
CDCM Computer Music Series, Volume 7 # --
iEAR Studios at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Centaur Records/1990

Priscilla McLean: Archangels (from Invisible Chariots)
The McLean Mix & The Golden Age of Electronic Music
CRI/1997

SET FIVE
Alexandra Gardner: Tourmaline
Luminoso
Innova Recordings/2006
saxophone: Xelo Gino

Gyorgy Ligeti: Artikulation
(six works)
Wergo/1988

--fin--

Merce Cunningham supplement

These are some examples of work of the late choreographer Merce Cunningham, who died on July 26 at the age of 90. Of the hundreds of artists I include on Martian Gardens, none is more significant to the world of organized sound Martian Garden celebrates than John Cage. Perhaps no other artist was more significant in Cage's life than Merce Cunningham. The relationship between, both professional and personal, lasted from 1942, when Cage met the young dancer, Merce, at the Cornish School in Seattle until Cage's death, a half century later, in 1992. Thus, I honor Cunningham's life, and that of Cage as well, with an extended supplement.













This is footage of Cage and Cunningham in Soho back in 1974. The quality of the audio and video is suboptimal, but the value of the film is immeasurable. A big thank you to whoever posted it on Youtube.

Martian Gardens for 8/02/2009

WMUA FM 91.1
Amherst, Mass. 01003
wmua.org
live webcast

MARTIAN GARDENS
Sundays 21:00--24:00 EDT
Host: Max Shea
online playlists: Martian Gardens blog
email: maxtshea@gmail.com

Program for August 2, 2009
Extended edition 21:00--01:45

Part I

In Memoriam Merce Cunningham
(April 16, 1919--July 26, 2009)

SET ONE
Laurie Anderson: Cunningham Stories (At the age of twelve...)
A Chance Operation -- The John Cage Tribute #
Koch International Classics/1996
text: J. Cage; music: L. Anderson

John Cage/David Tudor: Story # 14
Indeterminacy -- New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music
Smithsonian/ Folkways/1992 (orig. 1959)

Laurie Anderson:
a. Cunningham Stories (Merce Cunningham Phoned his Mother...)
b. Cunningham Stories (Every Morning...)
A Chance Operation -- The John Cage Tribute #
Koch International Classics/1996
text: J. Cage; music: L. Anderson

John Cage/David Tudor: Story # 50
Indeterminacy -- New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and
Electronic Music
Smithsonian Folkways/1992 (orig. 1959)

Laurie Anderson: Cunningham Stories (The Cunningham Company...)
A Chance Operation -- The John Cage Tribute
Koch International Classics/1996
text: J. Cage; music: L. Anderson

Sigur Ros: Di Do
Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
Geffen Records/2004
For the Merce Cunningham dance "Split Sides" (2003)

SET TWO
John Cage: Cartridge Music (excerpt)
Music for Merce Cunningham -- Five Stone Wind/Cartridge Music
Mode Records/1991
phonograph cartridges and amplified small objects: Takehisa Kosugi, Michael Pugliese, David Tudor; realization: D. Tudor, September 1988, Paris, for the dance "Changing Steps"

John Cage: Five Stone Wind (excerpt)
ibid.
amplified violin, live electronics, bamboo flute: T. Kosugi; clay pots, tapes: M. Pugliese;
live electronics: D. Tudor; recorded May, 1989, Washington D.C. for the dance
"Five Stone Wind" (1988)

SINGLE PLAY
John Cage: Four (3) (excerpt)
Mode Records/1995
violin and rainsticks: Ami Flammer; piano and rainsticks: Martine Joste; piano and rainsticks: Dominique Alchourroun; rainsticks: Jean Michaut; recorded at Radio France, Paris, January, 1994, for Merce Cunningham's dance "Beach Birds" (1991)

SINGLE PLAY
David Tudor: Rainforest
David Tudor & Gordon Mumma
New World Records/2006
Live electronics by D. Tudor and G. Mumma performed 7/30/1968 with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Teatro Novo, Rio di Janeiro

SINGLE PLAY
Emanuel Dimas De Melo Pimenta: Short Waves 1985
Digital Music
Mode Records/1990
For Merce Cunningham's dance "Fabrications" (composed 1985, dance premiered in
Minneapolis, 2/21/1987)

SINGLE PLAY
Mark Applebaum: The Bible Without God (tracks 8 -13)
a. Keys, Strings, and Pencils
b. Circulation
c. Wristwatch: Geology
Innova Recordings/2006
Mousketier, live electronics: M. Applebaum, additional performers: Applebaum's Stanford John Cage seminar students, performed 3/12/05, White Plaza, Stanford University, with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in residence

Part II

SET THREE
Hsiao-Lan Wang: Star Gazer
Electroacoustic Works
Hsiao-Lan Wang/2005
flute: Cecilia Hamilton

Margaret Lancaster: Io (L.V. Vierk)
Io
New World Records/2009
electric guitar: Larry Polansky; marimba: Matthew Gold; flute: M. Lancaster;
recorded 2/06/09, 2nd Story Sound, NYC

Polly Moller: Io
Summerland
Silver Wheel Music/1999

SET FOUR
Drew Krause: Drain
Ding
Capstone Records/2007
McCormick Percussion Ensemble; conductor: Robert McCormick; recorded 03/07/02, University of South Florida, Tampa

Herbert Brun: Trio for flute, double bass, and percussion
Language, Message, Drummage
Electronic Music Foundation/Smith Publications/1998
flute: Thomas Howell; double bass: Jon Deak; percussion: Michael Udow

SET FIVE
Peter Gordon/Lawrence Weiner:
The Society Architect Ponders the Golden Gate Bridge
Mendi+Keith Obadike Present Crosstalk #
Bridge Records/2008
vocal soloists: Joan La Barbara and Jeffrey Reynolds, Choir of Orchester Generation Berlin, director: Christian Borries; live keyboards: Kevin Zoering; electronics: P. Gordon; libretto: L. Weiner, remixed from recordings made in Berlin, 2000

Christian Nicolay: Taking the Bridge
Deep Wireless 6 -- Radio Art Compilation #
New Adventures in Sound Art/2009
sound sourced from Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, BC

SET SIX
Louis Dufort: Transit
Connexion
empreintes DIGITALes/2000

Carey Nutman: Harder Kulm
Resurrection?
MPS Music and Video/2009

SET SEVEN
Beltone Suicide: Untitled No. 415
If It Rattles, It's a Bomb
Gilded Throne/2009

Richard Pinhas: A Piece for Duncan
Rizhosphere/Live, Paris, 1982
Cuneiform Records/1994

Forrest Fang: Tiger Balm
Gongland
Projekt Records/2001

Annea Lockwood: Tiger Balm
Source -- Music of the Avant Garde
Pogus Productions/2008
Recorded 1970 at Tangent Studio, London, and the electronic music studio at Goldsmith College, originally released on Source Records in 1971

SINGLE PLAY
Janek Schaefer: All Bombing is Terrorism
The Art of the Virtual Rhythmicon #
Innova Recordings/2006

--fin--

Martian Gardens for 7/26/2009

WMUA FM 91.1
Amherst, Mass. 01003
wmua.org
live webcast

MARTIAN GARDENS
Sundays 21:00--24:00 EDT
Host: Max Shea
online playlists: Martian Gardens blog
email: maxtshea@gmail.com

PROGRAM FOR JULY 26, 2009

SINGLE PLAY
David Rosenboom: Section IX (links) [a.k.a., Piano Etude I)
How Much Better If Plymouth Rock Had Landed On The Pilgrims
New World Records/2009
marimba: William Winant; kendang: I Nyoman Wenten; piano, computer: DR;
recorded live at CalArts, 12/14/08

SET ONE
David Rosenboom: Initial State
Systems of Judgment -- CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 4
Centaur Records/1989
recorded at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College, 1987-1988

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Memory/Vision, part 2
Memory/Vision
ECM Records/2003
Evan Parker- soprano saxophone, tapes and samples; Philipp Wachsmann- violin, electronics; Agustí Fernandez- piano, prepared piano; Barry Guy- double-bass; Paul Lytton- percussion, electronics; Lawrence Casserley- signal processing instrument; Joel Ryan- computer, sound-processing;Walter Prati- electronics, sound-processing; Marco Vecchi- sound processing, electronics; recorded live at Norges Musikkhogskole, Oslo, October, 2002

SET TWO
Giacinto Scelsi: Dharana
Works for Double Bass
Mode Records/2008
double bass: Robert Black; cello: Felix Fan; recorded at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, NYC, 10/10/04

Iannis Xenakis: Ergma
Complete String Quartets
Mode Records/2009
The JACK Quartet; recorded at WDR Funkhaus,Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, Koln, November, 2008

SET THREE
Gloria Coates: Indian Rounds --
(Symphony no. 8 "Indian Sounds," mvt. 3)
Indian Sounds
New World Records/2002
Musica-viva-ensemble; conductor: Jurgen Wirmann; voices and stones: Kathleen Eberlein,
Rose Bihler Shah; recorded live by Bavarian radio at the Munich Philharmonic, Gasteig, 2/27/92

Stephen Lucky Mosko: II Native Songs and Dances (from Indigenous Music II)
Indigenous Music
O.O. Discs/1998
The California Ear Unit: piano soloist: Vicki Ray; flute: Dorothy Stone; oboe: Stuart Horn; clarinet: Gary Ginstling: violin: Robin Lorentz; cello, voice: Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick; percussion: Amy Knoles, Arthur Jarvinen, M.B. Gordy III, keyboard, piano: V. Ray, Lorna Eder; conductor: S. Mosko; Recorded at Mad Hatter Studios and CalArts, fall 1997

Codona: Again and Again, Again
The Codona Trilogy
ECM Records/2008
trumpet, melodica: Don Cherry; bird sounds: Nana Vasconcelos; sitar: Collin Walcott;
Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, Germany, May 1980

SET FOUR
Denis Smalley: Pentes
Sources/Scenes
empreintes DIGITALes/2000

Sam Pluta: Jonty's Acousmatic Tube Ride
60 x 60 2006-2007 #
Vox Novus/2008

Jonty Harrison: Hot Air (excerpt)
A Storm of Drones #
Asphodel/1996

Natasha Barrett: Microclimate III: Glacial Loop
MusicWorks 99 #
MusicWorks Magazine/2007

SET FIVE
Thomas Buckner: Rainforest/Brazil (He Was Not Disappointed) (J. Gibson)
Full Spectrum Voice
Lovely Music, Ltd./1991
wooden flute: Jon Gibson; synthesizer: "Blue" Gene Tyranny; piano: Joseph Kubera; percussion: Michael Pugliese; text: JoAnne Akalaitis, J. Gibson, Charles Darwin; rainforest sounds provided by the Cornell University Laboratory of Orinthology

Henry Brant: Rainforest, part 3: Rain
Rainforest -- The Henry Brant Collection Vol. 6
Innova Recordings/2007
Aspen Music Festival; conductors: Amy Snyder,
H. Brant; text: Abd al-Hayy Moore; recorded: 7/30/89

SET SIX
Stuart Saunders Smith: Each Moment an Ending
Breath--The Percussion Music of Stuart Saunders Smith
Smith Publications/2004
Percussive Rotterdam; recorded at Studio 508, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Marisol Jimenez: Guijarros-Humaredas
541 Volume 3 -- Music from Stanford
Innova Recordings/2007
percussion: Christopher Froh, Loren Mach, Florian Conzetti; conductor: Christopher Jones

--fin--

Addendum July 27, 2009:

RIP Merce Cunningham (April 16, 1919 -- July 26, 2009)

Martian Gardens for 7/19/2009

WMUA FM 91.1
Amherst, Mass. 01003
wmua.org
live webcast

MARTIAN GARDENS
Sundays 21:00--24:00 EDT
Host: Max Shea
online playlists: Martian Gardens blog
email: maxtshea@gmail.com

PROGRAM FOR JULY 19, 2009

SET ONE
Joshua Fineberg: Veils
Empreintes, Veils, and Shards
Mode Records/2009
piano: Dominique My

Ursula Mamlok: 2000 Notes
I. Gruff
II. (quarter note + sixteenth note) = 72+
III. (quarter note = 48)
IV. (eighth note = 100
Music of Ursula Mamlok Vol.1
Bridge Records/2009
piano: Garrick Ohlsson

SET TWO
George Crumb: Nocturnal (Quest, part V)
Quest
Bridge Records/1996
guitar: David Starobin; soprano saxophone: Donald Sinta; harp:
Karen Lindquist; contrabass: Donald Palma; percussion: Daniel Druckman,
Erik Charlston; conductor: William Purvis; recorded at the American
Academy of Arts and Letters, 3/19/95; (quote: "Amazing Grace")

George Crumb: Lonesome Road (The Winds of Destiny, song III)
Complete Crumb Edition Vol.13 --American Songbooks II & IV
Bridge Records/1996
soprano: Barbara Ann Martin; Orchestra 2001; conductor: James Freeman;
recorded at Swarthmore College, November, 2005

George Crumb: Wanderer-Fantasy
(Makrokosmos II: Music for a Summer Evening, part 2)
Black Angels; Makrokosmos III
Mode Records/2006
pianos: Luz Manriquez, Walter Morales; percussion: Nena Lorenz,
Brian Spurgeon, Michel Passaris, Mark Shope; voice, whistles:
Andres Cladera, conductor: Juan Pablo Izquierdo; recorded at
Carnegie Mellon School of Music, Fall 2002

George Crumb: Ghost-Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge (Night-Spell II),
(Makrokosmos II, Part Two, song 1)
Makrokosmos I & II
Mode Records/2006
piano: Margaret Leng Tan; whistler: Alex Nowitz; recorded at Lang
Concert Hall, Swarthmore College, July, 2003

SET THREE
Frank Garvey & Deus Machina: Nada
House of the Deafman
Innova Recordings/2001
recorded for The Omnicircus

Luigi Nono: Epitaffio no. 3 -- Memento: Romance de la Guardia Civil Espanola
Como Una Ola de Fuerza y Luz
Berlin Classics/1994
Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig; Rundfunkchor Leipzig; soprano/speaker:
Roswitha Trexler; text: F.G. Lorca; conductor: Horst Neumann; recorded January, 1977

SINGLE PLAY
Larry Polansky: Simple Actions/Rules of Compossibility
The Theory of Impossible Melody
New World Records/2009
voice/text: Chris Mann; live computers: L. Polansky

SET FOUR
Noah Creshevsky: In Other Words (Portrait of John Cage)
The Tape Music of Noah Creshevsky 1971--1992
EM Records/2004

R. Luke Dubois: Just for the Purpose of Playing Around
Go-Go-Go--Music from the Computer Music Center, Columbia University #
The Computer Music Center/2000
featuring The Freight Elevator Quartet

Laurie Spiegel: Three Sonic Spaces, part II
Unseen Worlds
Scarlet Records/1991

SET FIVE
Drew Krause: Airline
Powder
Innova Recordings/2007
alto saxophone: Taimur Sullivan

Roger Kleier: Hyperplane
The Night Has Many Hours
Innova Recordings/2007

Scott Smallwood: Chest & Chair
Desert Winds
Deep Listening/2002
recorded at the Great Salt Lake

Thomas DiMuzio: 4 Poles
ReR USA Sampler #
ReR USA/2004

SET SIX
Helene Prevost: The Voice in the Bag
Montreal Sound Matter #
Pogus Productions/2006

Sarah Peebles: 10 Below
Deep Wireless 6 -- Radio Art Compilation #
New Adventures in Sound Art/2009

Philip Mantione: Frankencircuit
It's Alive! Philip Mantione in Santa Fe
philipmantione.com/2009

Gen Ken Montgomery: The Aquarium Fishtank Symphony (excerpt)
Pondfloorsample
XI Records/2002
recorded live at 1708 Gallery, Richmond, 10/23/99

--fin--

MG Youtube supplement: Big Donut

David Hahn stated it was his goal to be the Pee-Wee Herman of composers. Last summer, Rob Voisey introduced me to Hahn's piece "Big Donut." I was very taken with the vignette behind this etude of toddler tantrums, and Hahn's re-creation of what he overhead in a Seattle coffee shop early one morning:

DAVID HAHN: BIG DONUT


Since we broadcast "Big Donut" as part of Martian Garden's semi-annual 60 x 60 radio special on July 20, 2008, I decreed July 20 "Big Donut Day." The second annual "Big Donut Day" is now a few days away!

MG Youtube supplement: Cage: Living Room Music

This is the Oberlin Percussion Group performing "Living Room Music," which varies quite a bit from the Ars Nova version broadcast on July 12. This will give some idea of the theatrical spectacle involved: