#5133, Simplicity
Listen to music from two late-20th century British composers – Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies who had “made Manchester the hotbed of British musical modernism”, until their friendship went on hiatus in the 1970s, (BBC3). Listen to “Farewell to Stromness” by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a piece written as a protest against a proposed uranium mine on the remote Orkney Islands. Listen also to short pieces by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, as interpreted by guitarist Sean Shibe, who performs some of the works on Sylvette (2021), “a guitar made by luthier Simon Ambridge in collaboration with French-British artist Lydia Corbett. A muse to Pablo Picasso – who was himself an important influence for several of Birtwistle’s works – Corbett also inspired Picasso’s celebrated Sylvette series,” (Pentatone liner notes).
There’s also spare and simple music by French composer, eccentric, & proto-minimalist Erik Satie (1866-1925) – and his Gymnopedie No. 1. Then, listen to a piano piece called "Satie Blues," written for Margaret Leng Tan on piano and toy piano by Toby Twining. Also, hear music by John Cage, as performed by pianist Michael McHale, from a collection of works called A Place Between, from the Louth Contemporary Music Society, based in Ireland. Another arrangement of “Farewell to Stromness”, as played by harpist Lauren Scott, and her recent record, Beyond the Horizon – New Music for Lever Harp rounds out the show.
Program #5133, Simplicty (First aired 4/21/26)
ARTIST: Erik Satie / Frank Glazer
WORK: Gymnopedie #1 [2:00]
RECORDING: Satie: Complete Piano Music
SOURCE: Vox SVBX 5422
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Sean Shibe
WORK: Harrison Birtwistle: Sad Song (Arr. for guitar by Forbes Henderson) [1:28]
RECORDING: Vesper
SOURCE: PentaTone
INFO: https://www.pentatonemusic.com/product/vesper/
ARTIST: John Tilbury
WORK: Howard Skempton - Well, well, Cornelius [3:05]
RECORDING: Pianoworks
SOURCE: Sony Classical
INFO: Try Discogs.com
ARTIST: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
WORK: Peter Maxwell Davies: Farewell to Stromness [5:36]
RECORDING: Maximum Max
SOURCE: Collins Classics
INFO: Try Discogs.com
ARTIST: Louth Contemporary Music Society
WORK: Cage: In a Landscape [10:08]
RECORDING: A Place Between
SOURCE: LCMS
INFO: https://louthcontemporarymusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/a-place-between
ARTIST: Erik Satie / Frank Glazer
WORK: Gymnopedie #1 [2:54]
RECORDING: Satie: Complete Piano Music
SOURCE: Vox SVBX 5422
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Margaret Leng Tan
WORK: Toby Twining: Satie Blues [6:10]
RECORDING: Art of the Toy Piano
SOURCE: Point Music
INFO: https://www.margaretlengtan.com
ARTIST: Takeshi Nishimoto
WORK: Slow Snow [4:55]
RECORDING: Across The Horizon Vol. 2 Drop 3
SOURCE: Northern Spy Records
INFO: https://acrossthehorizon.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-horizon-vol-2-drop-3
ARTIST: Sean Shibe
WORK: Harrison Birtwistle: Sleep Song [2:27]
RECORDING: Vesper
SOURCE: PentaTone
INFO: https://www.pentatonemusic.com/product/vesper/
ARTIST: James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg
WORK: Howard Skempton - Well, well, Cornelius [3:05]
RECORDING: All Gist
SOURCE: Paradise of Bachelors
INFO: https://jameselkingtonandnathansalsburg.bandcamp.com/album/all-gist
ARTIST: Lauren Scott
WORK: Peter Maxwell Davies: Farewell to Stromness [4:11]
RECORDING: Beyond the Horizon -New Music For Lever Harp
SOURCE: Astute Music
INFO: https://laurenscottharp.bandcamp.com
