Staff Picks: Friday Faves

Posted on March 11, 2016 by maestrobeats

Second Inversion hosts Rachele, Geoffrey, and Maggie S. each share a favorite selection from their Friday playlist! Tune in at the indicated times below to hear these pieces. In the meantime, you’ll hear other great new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre 24/7!

Andrew Skeet: “Setting Out” from Finding Time (on Sony Records)

The textures of Andrew Skeet’s “Setting Out” seem to glow and shimmer and are so evocative of evening images that it’s no wonder that this music gave birth to an amazing visual creation as well. The video for this track is a must-see if you enjoy contemporary dance, or minimalist-influenced chamber music, or both. The lighting effects appear to flicker in the same manner as the piano and Skeet’s twinges of electronic effect, visually mirroring the twilight colors of the music. – Geoffrey Larson

Tune in to Second Inversion in the 1am and 1pm hours to hear this recording.

Glenn Kotche: “The Haunted Suite” from Adventureland (on Cantaloupe Music)

“The Haunted Suite” is a 5 movement work interwoven throughout the album Adventureland by Glenn Kotche. Each vignette depicts an eerie place (Dance, Hive, Furnace, Viaduct, and Treehouse), in a “piano vs. percussion” duel between Lisa Kaplan, Doug Perkins, Matthew Duvall and Yvonne Lam. My favorite movement of the lot is “The Haunted Dance,” which sounds a bit like a music box possessed by dark, mysterious forces with a ghoulish figure instead of a graceful ballerina spinning. Twisted, eerie, and captivating. – Maggie Stapleton

Tune in to Second Inversion in the 7am and 7pm hours to hear this recording.

Christopher Tin: “Come Tomorrow” from The Drop that Contained the Sea (on Tinwoks Music). Performed by Soweto Gospel Choir, Angel City Chorale & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Do your soul some good and explore the vocal traditions of the Xhosa with an uplifting, spirited choral piece. The Soweto Gospel Choir is an international treasure exuding joy that cannot be faked. Here they sing from Christopher Tin’s beautiful choral album The Drop That Contained The Sea, a collection of 10 vocal works, each sung in a different language and all exploring water in a different form. Climbing through the mist toward the steepest summit is a cinch with “Come Tomorrow” as your exuberant musical companion. – Rachele Hales

Tune in to Second Inversion in the 8am and 8pm hours to hear this recording.

STAFF PICKS: Friday Faves

Posted on March 4, 2016 by maestrobeats

1196413 Rudolf Escher’s chamber work Le tombeau de Ravel is a fascinating piece, one that looks gazes into the past and future at the same time. Escher utilizes the same antique dance forms that were Ravel’s vehicle of tribute in his Le tombeau de Couperin, and adds two airs and an enchanting hymn to round out the work. The inspiration for the work was a visit by Escher to Ravel’s former home, and the complex emotions of this visit are most directly portrayed in the first and longest movement, Pavane. There’s something about standing in an empty house, especially one that was once occupied by a great composer; it feels deserted and empty, and yet the air is somehow impossibly thick with the memories of the groundbreaking events that transpired there. The use of harpsichord and small chamber ensemble adds a nod to Ravel’s love of early music and an additional sense of intimacy to the work. – Geoffrey Larson

Tune in to Second Inversion around 1:30pm to hear this recording.

Jefferson Friedman: Glacier (on New Amsterdam records)
a1389738764_10 The album On In Love features 9 songs composed by Jefferson Friedman with lyrics and vocals by Craig Wedren accompanied by The American Contemporary Ensemble. I love this whole album because it pushes musical and textural extremes to their upper and lower limits, all the while fusing classical chamber music with singer-songerwritery pop. In the 9 minutes of “Glacier,” we embark on a slow journey beginning with a trance-like, ethereal, soulful ballad that slowly builds into a full-throttle, rock-n-roll breakdown on the final word, “go.” – Maggie Stapleton

“…And if by chance
you still don’t know

It’s time for me to go”

Tune in to Second Inversion around 5:50pm to hear this recording.

David Balakrishnan: Alex in A Major (recorded live at SI HQ)

Turtle Island Quartet 04-18-15 Did someone give Earl Scruggs a violin? Nope! That’s the sound of the Turtle Island Quartet mastering the art of the hoe-down. This version was recorded live right here at Second Inversion HQ, but you can also find it on their Grammy-nominated album “Confetti Man.” – Rachele Hales

Tune in to Second Inversion around 8:30pm to hear this recording.

STAFF & COMMUNITY PICKS: September 17, 2015

Posted on September 17, 2015 by maestrobeats

A weekly rundown of the music our staff and listeners are loving lately! Are you interested in contributing some thoughts on your favorite new music albums? Drop us a line!

Joshua Roman on JACK Quartet’s recording of Tetras by Iannis Xenakis:

From the insanity of the opening glissandi, or slides, to the final whimper, it’s hard to imagine a more captivating 17.5 minutes than Tetras. The precision and intensity brought to this performance by the JACK Quartet are almost frightening. If you can pull your jaw off the floor long enough to get past the shock and awe factor, the innovative structure and sounds of the piece kick in. Fantastical glissandi of all shapes and sizes, wild percussive sounds (using many parts of the instruments not traditionally in play), tremolo and hitherto unheard of scales are provocative and forceful in their narrative roles. Underneath all of that, Tetras creates a space where your imagination can go wild, at times wailing, at times full palpable tension, or in chaotic ecstasy.

Maggie Molloy on Florent Ghys’s Télévision:

I listen to the weather forecast pretty much every morning—but I have never heard it like this before. French composer and bassist Florent Ghys’s eclectic new album “Télévision” begins with a piece composed for double bass, voice, guitars, percussion, and, oh yeah, five weather forecasts. Yes, five weather forecasts.

But it’s not all just sunshiny, warm weatherman banter—the piece actually serves as an introduction to Ghys’s idiosyncratic compositional style. As the title of the album suggests, his music is like a mashup of video and sound clips, sampled speech, multi-tracking, found sound, and more—and it’s all tied together with perfectly groovy pizzicato basslines and subtle yet witty social commentary. The colorful and unapologetically contemporary works live somewhere in the realm between chamber music, minimalism, sound art, and seriously catchy pop tunes.

So the next time you’re looking for something new, turn off your TV and tune into Florent Ghys’s musique concrète masterpiece, “Télévision.”

Maggie Stapleton on Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal’s Musique de Nuit:

This duo is one of my go-to musical pick-me-ups. The delicate, sprinkling sounds of the kora along with the low, resonant cello is a soundscape that can turn around a glum day or transport me to a centered place. Musique de Nuit is a spectacular follow-up to their debut album, Chamber Music (which, BTW, was on our pilot playlist for Second Inversion when we created the project three years ago!) and was recorded in a mere TWO sessions – one on Ballake Sissoko’s rooftop in Bamako, and one in a studio. Who does that? These guys. With infuence from West African folk traditions, a hint of Baroque music, and a fresh take on the concept of “Night Music,” rest assured you can listen to this morning, day, or night and retreat to a world of enchantment.

STAFF & COMMUNITY PICKS: September 10, 2015

Posted on September 10, 2015 by maestrobeats

A weekly rundown of the music our staff and listeners are loving lately! Are you interested in contributing some thoughts on your favorite new music albums? Drop us a line!

Joshua Roman on Gyorgy Ligeti’s String Quartet No.1:

This is one of my favorite pieces by Gyorgy Ligeti. It’s an eight movement quartet, but since each movement is quite short, it’s similar in length to most string quartets. With these eight movements, there are some absolute stand outs. The first movement starts out rather creepily with slow-moving scales underneath a melody that has all sorts of twists, turns, and oddities. I also really love the fourth movement, a presto. It is a kind of wild dance – little canonic episodes and lots of division between the quartet. For instance, two players will play the same thing at the same time but a half step apart. These minor seconds create a very odd sound that’s quite energetic. There are some beautiful shimmering colors in the fifth movement. In the sixth movement, Ligeti plays around with the waltz, and of course, never lets it stay the same for very long.

Rachele Hales on Eric Chasalow’s Are You Radioactive, Pal?:

Lots of pizzicato and vocal fragments give the album great energy, but this is one of those
collections that demands focused listening to be really appreciated. Definitely not a good option for your next dinner party. The juxtaposition of audio elements felt bizarre on my first pass, but when I listened again they formed interesting musical stories. For adventurous listeners only.

David Wall on The Gnostic Trio’s In Lambeth: Visions from the Walled Garden of William Blake:

Ethereal, lush, and lyrical, In Lambeth: Visions from the Walled Garden of William Blake conveys a deep sense of mystery born out of the art and poetry of the 18^th Century English Romantic , William Blake. As the title implies, one feels upon listening as though they are indeed peering through the hedges to catch a glimpse of a garden full of other-worldly characters; characters from Blake’s personal mythology, who are brought to life by The Gnostic Trio’s unusual but perfectly apropos combination of instrumentation (guitar, harp, and vibraphone) and John Zorn’s compositions. These pieces, as with Blake’s writing and artwork, are both rooted in tangible history, having distinct touches of jazz, minimalism, and even folk, yet at the same time transcend these genres to become a force unto itself.

Staff & Community Picks: August 21

Posted on August 21, 2015 by maestrobeats

A weekly rundown of the music our staff and listeners are loving lately! Are you interested in contributing some thoughts on your favorite new music albums? Drop us a line!

Joshua Roman on Christopher Cerrone’s “The Night Mare”:

“The Night Mare” by Christopher Cerrone is a piece which I had the immense pleasure of conducting on my first performance as a conductor with the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. This piece is for seven players and electronics and it’s a very good use of electronics, sort of creating this background against which the players punctuate with various sounds. The piece itself is not so much about a nightmare, I think as about the process of piecing together the nightmare that you’ve just had. You’re trying to figure out what you’ve heard – is it the sound of a train, is it the sound of a flute? All of these things are all very hazy, it’s all about the blurred lines. There may be a moment where everything comes together and starts to make sense, you know, as when you wake up and you start to piece together that this was in fact a dream, not reality… but that doesn’t hold for very long. It’s a wonderful piece, very evocative, very scary, and I’m excited to share it with you.

Rachele Hales on Little King’s My Friend:

Indie Chamber Pop group Little King offers up thirteen charming compositions in My Friend. The pieces are fairly short and all are so lovely and goofy that, when accompanied by Thomas Cruz’s beautiful lilting deadpan lyrics, it’s easy to imagine they could each be used as the score for a series of adorable animated short films. The lolling woodwinds support the wackiness of the album while also lending earnestness and warmth.

Stephen Vandivere* on Charles Wuorinen’s Six Trios:

The Trios by Charles Wuorinen were all composed in the early ’80s, and most of which include at least one brass instrument. My son, who played the trombone in high school and college, and took it up again a few years ago, heard this CD and had only one comment: “wow!”. This is more approachable, though still gnarly, than much of his earlier work I’ve heard. I have the intuition that more listening will eventually allow me to grasp the structure of the compositions. For now, I listen for fall and effect.