Music From Other Minds

This program features recent releases on the World Edition label based in Cologne, Germany. World Edition has been presenting the music of the global avant-garde for over two decades. It is a platform for the avant-garde arts, publishing not only CDs but books, videos, and events as well. We begin with Spanish composer Maria de Alvear‘s MAGNA MATER for voices, ensemble and video installation from 2013. This is a ritualistic invocation of Mother Nature through sounds, words, and images evoking, “her power and wisdom, the destructiveness of earthquake, asteroid impact, drought and firestorm, and the life-giving elements of soil, sun, water, air, sky, clouds, rain.” In the second hour we feature a World Edition recent release by German composer and jazz musician Frank Gratkowski. It’s called Mature Hybrid Talking, a project he worked on with the Frankfurt am Main-based Ensemble Modern in 2022. And finally we hear two pieces by one of Europe’s foremost composers, Walter Zimmermann, Chantbook of Modified Melodies, from 2021, and Paraklet, from 1995.

On this edition of Music from Other Minds, we’ll be dedicating the entire program to accordion works found in the Other Minds Archives. Composer/accordionist Guy Klucevsek plays Polka from the Fringe live from the 1987 New Music America Festival; 21 unexpected polkas from composers Bobby Previte, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, William Duckworth, Christian Marclay, Guy De Bievre, Mary Jane Leach, Carl Finch, and many others. In the last half of the program we’ll hear some special picks including vintage performances by Pauline Oliveros and Stefan Hussong.

On this Music from Other Minds, Joseph Bohigian shares a sampling of his interviews on the Other Minds Podcast with the composers visiting San Francisco for Other Minds Festival 28, September 25–28, 2024, at the Brava Theater. The program includes excerpts of interviews with Annea Lockwood, Marshall Trammell, Hafez Modirzadeh, Jan Martin Smørdal, Amma Ateria, Nava Dunkelman, and Trimpin. At the end of the program, we’ll hear from the composer and author Soosan Lolavar about her recently published book Embodied Research Through Music Composition and Evocative Life-Writing: Disrupting Diaspora. The full interviews can be found at here or on any podcasting app.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays music from the listeners! Tune in to hear works by Norwegian-American composer and singer Kristin Norderval; Chicago-based composer and sound artist Neal Markowski; Seattle based composer Christopher DeLaurenti; Bipolar Explorer; Columbus based composer, educator, and sound artist Marc Ainger; electronic musician Matt Frantz; Southern California’s own Bill Alves; Alaskan artist Matthew Burtner; Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian; and Ghost Ensemble’s Ben Richter.

On this Music from Other Minds, Ed Herrmann presents a musical road trip, beginning with a tribute to the late kora master Toumani Diabaté, including solos, original compositions, and duets with fellow Malian Ballaké Sissoko and trombonist Roswell Rudd. Composer and flute player Nicole Mitchell and Ballaké Sissoko bring together musicians from Chicago and Africa to form Bamako Chicago Sound System. Multi instrumentalist Douglas Ewart and percussionist Michael Zerang of Chicago join European improvisors Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Joëlle Léandre, and Bernard Santacruz. Also, pieces for multi tracked solo instruments by Jeremy Gignoux, of Calgary, Alberta; and chamber music by Nova Scotia composer Amy Brandon. The program opens with a quirky improvisation for piano and percussion by Toronto based John Kameel Farah and Nick Fraser.

This program focuses on music for the piano. Included in the program are Many Hands by David Del Tredici, Crossings by Amy Williams, and a live performance of Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra. Also featured are recordings from the Other Minds Archives of Philip Corner’s C Major Chord from 1971 in Berkeley, CA, and a 1947 recording of John Cage’s Three Dances for Two Pianos performed by Maro Ajemian and William Masselos.

On this Music from Other Minds, we’ll hear works in memory of Finnish composer/sound artist Mika Vainio and American composer/poet Harold Budd. A selection of Vainio’s solo works and collaborations are the focus of the program, which includes several interjections by Harold Budd for good measure. Also included is music by Arne Deforce and Pan Sonic.

Composer Mauricio Kagel is difficult to categorize. Although associated with the European avant-garde of the 1960s and 70s, his music is often humorous and theatrical, using invented instruments and absurdist staging. He made films and radio plays. He seems irreverent, but has a deep knowledge of and respect for the European classical tradition. In this program, we’ll sample Kagel’s chamber music with Serenade and Die Stücke der Windrose; his film music for MM 51 and Un Chien Andalou; his Hörspiels Playback Play and Nah und Fern; and from the Other Minds Archives, you’ll hear Kagel in conversation with Charles Amirkhanian from his 1988 appearance at Speaking of Music.

Monday, July 29, 2024, is the 85th birthday of the renowned composer and friend of Other Minds Annea Lockwood. Born July 29, 1939 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Lockwood’s compositions range from sound art and environmental sound installations to concert music. Lockwood will be visiting San Francisco for Other Minds Festival 28, September 25–28, 2024, at the Brava Theater for performances of her musical collaborations with trumpeter Nate Wooley, Yarn/Wire, and pianist Sarah Cahill. On this program, we celebrate Lockwood’s work in honor of her birthday with a range of her music and interviews over the years.

Listen closely! This week Music from Other Minds features a blend of music and natural sound, highlighted by a new release from Irish composer Karen Power and Quiet Music Ensemble. Using field recordings as an “aural score,” Power’s collaboration with QME creates a dialogue between musicians and nature, and invites listeners to immerse themselves in unique sonic ecosystems, offering time and space for individual interpretation and exploration.

The program also includes music played on penguin bones by Cheryl Leonard, music based on field recordings by Andrew Weathers and Christopher Luna-Mega, a melting glacier in Alaska by Matthew Burtner, and music with frogs by Wendy Reid.