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Second Inversion hosts share a favorite selection from this Friday’s playlist. Tune in during the indicated hours below on Friday, July 22 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!

Leah Kardos: Core feat. Leah Kardos, electronics (bigo & twigetti)

a2980782583_10 Leah Kardos’ debut album, Feather Hammer, is an expression in 12 tracks of her love for her very first instrument: the piano. She’s added some sparse electronica and a selection of hand-picked effects to “Core” that create a marriage of lyrical piano & melancholia. Should I call it ambient piano? Euphonic dreamscape classical? Austere electronica? Whatever I’m not into labels, I’ll just close my eyes and let her music kiss the quiet spaces in my mind. – Rachele Hales

Roberto Sierra: Triptico feat. David Tanenbaum, guitar; Shanghai String Quartet (New Albion)
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I must confess that I have never been a huge fan of classical guitar works, and I’m not a huge fan of the combination of guitar and strings, either. However, maybe I’m starting to see the light, because I really enjoy the sounds of this chamber music work of Roberto Sierra that evokes his native Puerto Rico. The first movement is lush and bewitching, with a musical nod to the tree frog known colloquially as “coqui.” Many great composers recognized the value of a playful pizzicato obbligato intermezzo as a middle movement, and it works wonders here in the guitar and string combination. The rhythmic flourishes of the third and final movement are even more fun and surprising. Music like this serves as an important reminder: always listen with an open mind! – Geoffrey Larson

Tune in to Second Inversion in the 12pm hour today to hear this recording.

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Olivier Messiaen: “Oiseaux Exotiques” (Yvonne Loriod, piano; Ensemble InterContemporain; Pierre Boulez, conductor) (Naïve Records)

There are an estimated 10,000 species of birds on Earth, each with its own unique song—and Olivier Messiaen wanted to learn them all.

No other composer (or ornithologist, for that matter) was ever so completely committed to the painstaking transcription, study, and musical application of birdsong as Messiaen. Together with his second wife, pianist Yvonne Loriod, he traveled far and wide to discover the distinctive melodies of exotic birds from around the world.

Messiaen’s 15-minute masterwork “Oiseaux Exotiques” brings together the idiosyncratic songs of 18 different bird species from India, China, Malaysia, and the Americas, creating a brilliantly colored orchestra of feathered friends which would otherwise never cross paths in nature. Composed for piano and a strident ensemble of woodwinds, brass, and percussion, the work’s twinkling timbral palette and spontaneous melodies combine elements of both Eastern and Western musical traditions.

Because East or West, near or far, loud or soft, and big or small, every bird has a song—if we just slow down and listen. – Maggie Molloy

Tune in to Second Inversion in the 6pm hour today to hear this recording.

by Maggie Molloy

This week’s imaginative concert calendar has everything from opera to oboe trios to Edgar Allan Poe!

Inverted Space Presents “Don Perlimplín” and Maderna-Fest

Italy has long been a center for innovations in vocal music—the Italians created opera in the late 16^th century and, to this day, they still maintain a rich and dynamic vocal music tradition. This weekend, the University of Washington’s Inverted Space Ensemble is celebrating the musical contributions of one contemporary Italian composer in particular: Bruno Maderna.

An influential (but often-overlooked) figure of the avant-garde, Maderna was a 20^th century composer known for his expressive musical freedom and commitment to the modernist cause. He moved in the same circles as composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, and Luciano Berio.

This weekend, Inverted Space is presenting the U.S. premiere of Maderna’s experimental opera “Don Perlimplín,” based on a play about love and loss by the 20^th century Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. But that’s not all! The celebration continues with “Maderna-Fest,” a four-day festival of Maderna’s music and musical influences. Performances are as follows:

Inverted Space will perform small-scale chamber works by Maderna and Berio this Wednesday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Jack Straw Cultural Center in the U District.

The group will perform the premiere of “Don Perlimplín” this Friday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at UW’s Meany Studio Theater.

The musicians will also perform three café concerts featuring vocal and instrumental works by Maderna, Pergolesi, Purcell, and Berio. The first is this Saturday, May 30 at 6 p.m. at Café Solstice in the U District, the second is this Saturday, May 30 at 8:30 p.m. at Stone Way Café in Fremont, and the final performance is this Sunday, May 31 at 8 p.m. at Café Racer in the U District.

Ursula Sahagian Performs Viet Cuong

Ursula-Sahagian-600x400 How many live oboe trios have you seen? None? Well this weekend, you have the opportunity to change that.

This weekend, oboist Ursula Sahagian and friends are presenting an evening of riveting music for double reeds written by composer Viet Cuong. The group will perform his award-winning Suite for Oboe Trio, as well as his “Trains of Thought” for oboe, bassoon, and piano. Sahagian will also perform two of Cuong’s works for solo oboe: “Six Canadian Scenes” and the world premiere of “Soda Apple.” Both pieces push the oboe to the edge of its technical limits and beyond.

The performance is this Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.