#2224: Bang on a Tank

Hear melodious beatings on this New Sounds program, as featured in different works by Lou Harrison, Steve Reich, and Aaron J. Kernis. In the early 1970's, Harrison and his partner devised an "American Gamelan" of aluminum tubes and slabs with #10 tin can resonators, and modified oxygen tanks suspended in wooden frames. Hear it together with the violin in his "Suite for Violin and American Gamelan." Also on the show is Reich’s “Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ,” a hypnotic work of repeating musical patterns, duplicated and layered out of phase, which gradually slow down. Plus, listen to “Musica Celestis” by Aaron J. Kernis, an ethereal and soaring response to Hildegard of Bingen’s poetic imagery of angels singing God's praises eternally.

PROGRAM #2224, Kernis, Harrison, Reich (First aired on 12/3/03)

ARTIST(S)	RECORDING	CUT(S)	SOURCE
Aaron J. Kernis	On Wings of Light	IO [5:00]	Not commercially available.
Lou Harrison	La Koro Sutro	Suite for Violin & American Gamelan, excerpts [12:30]	New Albion #015** www.newalbion.com
Steve Reich	The Four Sections	Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ [17:00]	Nonesuch #79220** www.nonesuch.com OR Amazon.com*
Aaron J. Kernis	Symphony In Waves/Musica Celestis	Musica Celestis [12:20]	Argo#448 900. Out of print, but try Amazon.com*

*, ** - Find the recordings you've heard - go to the New Sounds Recordings Information page