#5170, Penelope and Odysseus

Tiresias prophesies to Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey: “…all you want in this world is to see the honey light of your own home at last. But there is more trouble to come for you. Poseidon hates you and your way home is through him. He will make it hard for you yet. But if you can hold fast to restraint, there is some hope…” These words become the theme of a song titled “And Then You Shall Be Lost Indeed” on composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s 2010 album, Penelope. A song cycle that originated from a monodrama co-written with playwright Ellen McLaughlin, Kirkland Snider’s Penelope tells the modern story of a man who returns home after twenty years of war with no memory of who he is. The Penelope of this story takes him in and reads him The Odyssey while they wait for a miracle. This poetic twist on the classic is the heart of this New Sounds episode, which is dedicated to pieces composed for Penelopes and Odysseuses, old and new.

After a handful of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s compositions, we’ll hear a part of Snowdrops’ “miniature symphony” of strings, piano, and ondes Martenot, which is an electronic instrument that combines the characteristics of the piano and theremin. After their “Odysseus” comes guitarist Justin Adams’ and violinist Mauro Durante’s “Ithaca Return”, adding an air of the folk-dance music of Southern Italy, pizzica, to the mix. 

Later, an avant-garde take on Odysseus’s journey appears in Partch’s “Ulysses At The Edge Of The World”, which ends with the words, “So you say that your name is Ulysses… That you’re wandering around the world… Tell me sir—have you ever been arrested before?” A sentiment that was likely inspired by Harry Partch’s own journeys as a hobo during the Great Depression. 

Coming full circle, we end our odyssey with the final words from Ellen McLaughlin’s text in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “As He Looks Out to Sea”: “It moves like a live thing in his hands… The story, his story.” - Sırma Munyar

(Photo of Sarah Kirkland Snider, courtesy of the artist's Bandcamp page)

Program #5170, Penelope and Odysseus (First aired 8/11/26)

ARTIST: Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Signal, Brad Lubman
WORK: And Then You Shall Be Lost Indeed [1:05]
RECORDING: Penelope
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO: https://sarahkirklandsnider.bandcamp.com/album/penelope

ARTIST: Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Signal, Brad Lubman
WORK: This Is What You're Like [5:10]
RECORDING: Penelope
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO:  https://sarahkirklandsnider.bandcamp.com/album/penelope

ARTIST: Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Signal, Brad Lubman
WORK: I Died of Waiting [1:10]
RECORDING: Penelope
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO:  https://sarahkirklandsnider.bandcamp.com/album/penelope

ARTIST: Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Signal, Brad Lubman
WORK: Home [6:23]
RECORDING: Penelope
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO:  https://sarahkirklandsnider.bandcamp.com/album/penelope

ARTIST: Snowdrops
WORK: Odysseus [13:24]
RECORDING: Volutes
SOURCE: Injazero Records
INFO: https://snowdrops.bandcamp.com/album/volutes

ARTIST: Justin Adams, Mauro Durante
WORK: Ithaca Return [4:53]
RECORDING: Sweet Release 
SOURCE: Ponderosa Music Records
INFO: https://ponderosa.it/en/disco/still-moving-2/

ARTIST: Harry Partch, Partch Ensemble
WORK: Ulysses At The Edge Of The World (A Minor Adventure In Rhythm) [6:20]
RECORDING: Music of Harry Partch, Vol. 3: Sonata Dementia
SOURCE: Bridge Records
INFO: https://bridgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-of-harry-partch-vol-3-sonata-dementia

ARTIST: Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Signal, Brad Lubman
WORK: As He Looks Out to Sea [5:32]
RECORDING: Penelope
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO: https://sarahkirklandsnider.bandcamp.com/album/penelope