A home for new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre, brought to you by the power of public media. Second Inversion is a service of Classical KING FM 98.1.
Pianist Liza Stepanova says she structured her latest album, Tones & Colors (CAG Records), as if she were programming a recital. It’s divided into segments with names that sound like the rooms of an art museum: “Nature and Impressionism,” and “Conversations Across Time,” for example. Stepanova gave the album this structure because on it, she explores the relationship between visual art and music. In this interview, she talks specifically about two pieces from Tones & Colors—one by George Crumb, and one by György Ligeti—and the artwork that inspired them.
Music in this interview, from the album Tones & Colors (used with permission): “Adoration of the Magi” (from A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D.1979) by George Crumb and Infinite Column by György Ligeti.
England across the ages is the theme of tonight’s A Far Cry concert, poetically titled Albion after the oldest known name for the island of Great Britain. Join us Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ETfor a LIVE video stream of the Boston-based chamber orchestra as they perform music by a handful of England’s most iconic classical composers.
Internationally acclaimed tenor Nicholas Phan joins the orchestra for Benjamin Britten’s timeless Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31. Composed during World War II, the piece sets six poems by British poets on the subject of night, in all its darkness and splendor. Also on the program is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 1950 Concerto Grosso for string orchestra, plus a Baroque throwback to the music of Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and Nicholas Lanier.
Visit this page tonight, Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET for a LIVE video of A Far Cry’s Albion, streaming right here:
Henry Purcell Overture and Air from King Arthur Sweeter Than Roses
She Loves and She Confesses Too (arr. René Schiffer)
Matthew Locke Lilk and Curtain Tune from The Tempest
Nicholas Lanier No More Shall Meads be Deck’d with Flowers (arr. René Schiffer)
Matthew Locke Prelude to Act V from The Fairy Queen Evening Hymn (arr. René Schiffer)
Ralph Vaughan Williams Concerto Grosso
INTERMISSION
Benjamin Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31 Nicholas Phan, tenor Hazel Dean Davis, horn
To learn more about our live-streaming video broadcasts of A Far Cry,click here.
A Far Cry’s Albion performance streams live on this page on Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. For more information about the orchestra, please click here.
Music is one of the great unifiers of our humanity, particularly in times of political division and social unrest. This Saturday, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra reflects on today’s troubled times with a message of hope and a program of music that unites traditions old and new, near and far.
The concert, titled “Journeys of Discovery and Hope,” begins with a composer whose life and music embodies her own cross-cultural heritage. Born to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela Lena Frank’s music draws from her extensive travels in South America, her studies of Latin American folklore, and her background in the Western classical music tradition.
“In our day and age it’s important that classical music is not seen as an aged art form that is reserved for people who occupy a certain stereotype: white, affluent, elderly,” said SMCO Music Director Geoffrey Larson. “Gabriela Lena Frank’s music makes a compelling statement that this genre belongs to all people and cultures, and is alive with great variety and diversity.”
Under Larson’s baton this Saturday, SMCO performs Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout for string chamber orchestra. Mixing elements of Western classical with Andean folk music traditions, the piece draws on the concept of mestizaje as envisioned by the Peruvian writer José María Arguedas, where cultures can coexist without the subjugation of one by the other. Across its six short movements, Leyendas uses Western classical instruments to emulate the rich timbres and harmonic textures of Andean instruments such as the panpipe and the tarka—and also to depict the vibrant characters of Andean history and folklore.
“With the influence of her own heritage, Frank creates music with fierce Peruvian-derived rhythms and fascinating allusions to traditional instruments,” Larson said. “She brings a vibrant palette of colors to her music that broadens audience conceptions of what an ensemble can sound like, and what classical music can be.”
For Saturday’s program, Frank’s vividly illustrated Andean walkabout is paired with something a bit more traditional but every bit as timely: Haydn’s Mass for Troubled Times, for which the orchestra will be joined by Choral Arts Northwest and soloists Tess Altiveros, Julia Benzinger, Brendan Tuohy, and Charles Robert Stephens.
“Journeys of Discovery and Hope” is the second concert in SMCO’s 2017-2018 season, which is dedicated to celebrating diversity and honoring voices that have been too often marginalized—or worse, silenced—throughout the classical music tradition.
“Journeys of Discovery and Hope” is Saturday, Jan. 20 at 8pm at Plymouth Congregational Church. For tickets and additional information, please click here.
The Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival is lighting up stages around Seattle this month with performances by the likes of Ashley Bathgate, Sandbox Percussion, The City of Tomorrow, and more.
Founded this year by composer Scott Anthony Shell, the festival begins in Seattle with a string of performances spanning from January 19 through February 1, with festival artists also touring through Portland and Eugene, Oregon, and cellist Ashley Bathgate continuing on down the California coast.
“I want this festival to be a performer-centric model rather than composer-centric, in that the performers can program their own repertoire and showcase music they are most comfortable performing,” Shell said. “I also wanted a wide range of genres to be represented within the field of contemporary classical music.”
The festival lineup features Delgani String Quartet, Orlando Cela, Hub New Music, Iktus Duo, Sandbox Percussion, the City of Tomorrow, and Ashley Bathgate. Many of the featured artists are prominent players from New York and the broader East Coast new music scene, and musically they span the gamut from contemporary classical to experimental and avant-garde.
“There are plenty of East Coast transplants and open-minded people on the West Coast so I think there is a receptive audience for new music, even by those unfamiliar with it,” Shell said.
This year’s event features composers ranging from 20th century greats like Lou Harrison, György Ligeti, and Alan Hovhaness to some of the 21st century’s top composers like Andy Akiho, Laura Kaminsky, Steve Reich, and Andrew Norman. And this year is only just the beginning.
“I want the festival to contribute towards the awareness and appreciation of this amazing art form through live performances of these incredible musicians,” Shell said. “I hope it can be an annual event where I would be able to also incorporate other educational tools with a focus on community outreach and community building.”
Let’s meet this year’s performers:
*Please note, dates listed below are for Seattle performances.Click here to explore dates for other cities on the festival tour.
Delgani String Quartet Friday, Jan. 19, 8pm | Good Shepherd Chapel This Northwest quartet performs a new work by Benjamin Krause inspired by the Oregon Cascade Range, from the ghostly lava fields to the glorious trees, craters, and crevices. Works by Alan Hovhaness and György Ligeti round out the program.
Orlando Cela Sunday, Jan. 21, 3pm | Youngstown Cultural Arts Center Orlando Cela is a Boston-based, Venezuelan-born flutist specializing in contemporary and experimental flute repertoire. For this performance, he explores every timbre and extended technique of the instrument through a virtuosic program featuring music by Roger Briggs, Bryan Ferneyhough, Jean-Patrick Besingrand, Mac Waters, and Robert Dick—plus, one of his own original improvisations using Indian Classical music form.
Hub New Music Monday, Jan. 22, 7:30pm | 18th & Union With a unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, this Boston-based ensemble makes its Seattle debut at Spontaneous Combustion. Their program features a world premiere performance of Robert Honstein’s Soul Horse, along with Laura Kaminsky’sThe Full Range of Blue, a visceral work written in response to the aftermath of 9/11. The program finishes with David Drexler’s Forgotten At Dawn, a winner of the Spontaneous Combustion International Call for Scores.
Iktus Duo Thursday, Jan. 25, 8pm | Good Shepherd Chapel Flutist Hristina Blagoeva and percussionist Chris Graham team up for a dynamic program exploring an eclectic mix of styles within the contemporary classical genre, from the Eastern-inspired works of Lou Harrison to the wide-ranging musical musings of Joseph Pereira, Adam Vidiksis, James Romig, and Washington-based composer Bruce Hamilton.
Sandbox Percussion Saturday, Jan. 27, 7pm | Music Center of the Northwest A leading proponent of contemporary percussion music, Sandbox Percussion performs pivotal 20th century works and experimental 21st century works alike. For this performance, they lend their mallets to music by Steve Reich, Andy Akiho, Victor Caccese, Jonny Allen, Elliot Cooper Cole, and Thomas Kotcheff.
The City of Tomorrow Tuesday, Jan. 30, 7:30pm | The Royal Room The City of Tomorrow is an avant-garde wind quintet that performs contemporary classical and experimental music rooted in environmentalism and humanism. This particular performance explores spatial relationships through music, featuring custom lighting design by Alex Deahl and a graphic score by Seattle-based composer John Teske that is based on topographical maps, which the quintet will use as a basis for improvisation and movement.
Ashley Bathgate Thursday, Feb. 1, 8pm | Rainier Arts Center Perhaps best known as the cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ashley Bathgate is also an extraordinary soloist in her own right, constantly pushing the boundaries of traditional cello repertoire with her performances of contemporary, avant-garde, and experimental works. For this performance she plays works with and without electronics by Steve Reich, Andrew Norman, and many more. For a sneak preview of her playing, check out our in-studio video below of Bathgate performing Michael Gordon’s Light is Calling for cello and audio playback.
The Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival is in venues across Seattle January 19 through February 1.Click here for tickets and more information on other festival dates and locations down the West Coast.
Second Inversion hosts share a favorite selection from their weekly playlist. Tune in on Friday, January 12 to hear these pieces and plenty of other new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre!
Brimming with whimsy and wistful nostalgia, Angélica Negrón’s La Isla Mágica combines punchy, video game-worthy electronics with double bass, percussion, and ambient vocals. Performed here by Eleonore Oppenheim on her debut solo album Home, her bass swings, sways, and dances amid a swirl of technicolor electronics. At times it sounds almost as though she’s in the middle of a theme park, playing among the neon signs, the colorful carnival games, and the translucent stars above. –Maggie Molloy
Tune in to Second Inversion in the 1pm hour today to hear this piece.
Gabriela Lena Frank: Danza de losSaqsampillos (Naxos Records) Alias Chamber Ensemble
I seriously can’t get enough of these works by Gabriela Lena Frank, with all their vibrant colors and stunning rhythmic character. Gabriela was born in the US to parents of Peruvian/Chinese and Lithuanian/Jewish ancestry, and much of her music is influenced by her heritage. Danza de los Saqsampillos is inspired by the Peruvian “saqsampillo,” a rambunctious jungle-dweller with a characteristic jumping two-person dance. This performance from the Alias Chamber Ensemble album Hilos is the version for two marimbas.
– Geoffrey Larson
Tune in to Second Inversion in the 3pm hour today to hear this piece.
David Bowie: “Ashes to Ashes” (arr. Bischoff)
Amanda Palmer and Jherek Bischoff
David Bowie once said that “Ashes to Ashes” represented his own feelings of inadequacy about his work not having much importance. Until “Ashes to Ashes” was released in 1980, much of Bowie’s music was cloaked in concept and personas so the vulnerability and maturity of this song was, among other things, his way of closing that chapter and moving on. In this version, from an album recorded just two weeks following Bowie’s death in 2016, the harsh textures, edginess, and synthesized guitars of the original are replaced with softer melancholy strings and sultry nightclub vocals. Bowie is celebrated here, not emulated, and that’s what makes this tribute shine. –Rachele Hales
Tune in to Second Inversion in the 6pm hour today to hear this piece.
David Crowell: “Waiting in the Rain for Snow” (New Amsterdam Records)
NOW Ensemble
This is exactly what waiting in the rain for snow sounds like.
NOW Ensemble’s flute, clarinet, double bass, oboe, piano, and electric guitar combine the excitement and anticipation of dramatic, beautiful flakes drifting from the sky, with the anxious desire to stay dry while the undesirable in-between phase of sleet insistently pounds the pavement in front of you. – Brendan Howe
Tune in to Second Inversion in the 9pm hour today to hear this piece.
“In our day and age it’s important that classical music is not seen as an aged art form that is reserved for people who occupy a certain stereotype: white, affluent, elderly,” said SMCO Music Director Geoffrey Larson. “Gabriela Lena Frank’s music makes a compelling statement that this genre belongs to all people and cultures, and is alive with great variety and diversity.”
Brimming with whimsy and wistful nostalgia, Angélica Negrón’s La Isla Mágica combines punchy, video game-worthy electronics with double bass, percussion, and ambient vocals. Performed here by Eleonore Oppenheim on her debut solo album Home, her bass swings, sways, and dances amid a swirl of technicolor electronics. At times it sounds almost 
I seriously can’t get enough of these works by Gabriela Lena Frank, with all their vibrant colors and stunning rhythmic character. Gabriela was born in the US to parents of Peruvian/Chinese and Lithuanian/Jewish ancestry, and much of her music is influenced by her heritage. Danza de los Saqsampillos is inspired by the Peruvian “saqsampillo,” a rambunctious jungle-dweller with a characteristic jumping two-person dance. This performance from the Alias Chamber Ensemble album Hilos is the version for two marimbas.
David Bowie once said that “Ashes to Ashes” represented his own feelings of inadequacy about his work not having much importance. Until “Ashes to Ashes” was released in 1980, much of Bowie’s music was cloaked in concept and personas so the vulnerability and maturity of this song was, among other things, his way of closing that chapter and moving on. 
This is exactly what waiting in the rain for snow sounds like.