#3962: Musical Stillness
For this show, hear musical stillness, especially in new music from Icelandic composer/violinist Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir, perhaps best known for her work with amiina. Hear her work “Aequora,” commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Then, listen to a two-part work, “Quiet City,” from Canadian-born composer and pianist John Kameel Farah. The title may be misleading, for as some urban center-dwellers can attest, sometimes even when a city is quiet, there is frenetic motion underlying the stillness. Farah calls his work ‘Maximalism’ although in this work, it could also be described as electroacoustic ambient experimentalist pattern-music jazz.
Then, hear a saxophone concerto of sorts for the sax player John Harle from British composer Gavin Bryars, along with a piece by John Luther Adams for four cello choirs – his “Canticles of the Sky,” as performed by the 48-member Northwestern University Cello Ensemble, directed and conducted by Hans Jørgen Jensen which Gramophone magazine describes as “being wrapped in a warm blanket of pure sound.”
PROGRAM #3962, Musical Stillness (First Aired: 3/20/2017)
ARTIST: John Kameel Farah
WORK: John Kameel Farah: Quiet City excerpt [1:30]
RECORDING: Time Sketches
SOURCE: Neue Meister / Edel Kultur Label 0300945NM
INFO: Due out March 24, 2017
ARTIST: Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Daníel Bjarnason, cond.
WORK: Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir: Aequora [12:07]
RECORDING: Recurrence
SOURCE: Sono Luminus DSL-92213
INFO: naxos.com Due out April 7, 2017
ARTIST: John Kameel Farah
WORK: John Kameel Farah: Quiet City A [2:39], Quiet City B [6:40]
RECORDING: Time Sketches
SOURCE: Neue Meister / Edel Kultur Label 0300945NM
INFO: Due out March 24, 2017
ARTIST: John Harle & Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Ivor Bolton, cond.
WORK: Gavin Bryars: The Green Ray [21:23]
RECORDING: Bee Dances / Bryars: The Green Ray / Westbrook: Bean Rows and Blues Shots/
SOURCE: Decca/Argo 433 847
INFO: Out of print. Try Amazon.com, also Re-released on Phillips as a download only: prestoclassical.co.uk
ARTIST: Northwestern University Cello Ensemble, directed and conducted by Hans Jørgen Jensen
WORK: John Luther Adams Canticles of the Sky – 3 Sky with Nameless Colors [4:24]
RECORDING: The Wind in High Places
SOURCE: Cold Blue CB0041
INFO: coldbluemusic.com
