#2544: World Post-Minimalism

For this New Sounds program, sample some post-minimalism from around the world. There’s music from “Paranoid Cheese” by Baltimore-born composer Marc Mellits. In places, there are relentless repetitive motifs that rock hard, while other pieces, like the title track, absolutely soar with long lovely phrases. Also, hear music by Kevin Volans, a South African composer now living in Dublin, Ireland. His work, “White Man Sleeps” for string quartet, is a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, and the title refers to the startling silences found in a Nyanga panpipe dance. According to tradition, these quiet interruptions represented an effort not to awaken sleeping white landowners. Plus, listen to music by Philip Glass arranged for the modern Brazilian group Uakti – so named for the legendary Amazonian creature with holes all over his body. Whenever he ran through the forest, the wind passing through his body made wonderful and intriguing sounds, much like the group’s exotic instruments, which were constructed using everyday materials: pipe, glasses, metal, rocks, rubber, and even water. And there's much more.

PROGRAM # 2544, the Minimalist Influence (First aired on Mon., 5/8/06)

ARTIST(S)	RECORDING	CUT(S)	SOURCE
Kronos Quartet	Pieces of Africa	Kevin Volans: White Man Sleeps, Parts 1 &2 [10:00]	Nonesuch #79275** www.nonesuch.com*
Marc Mellits/Mellits Consort	Paranoid Cheese	The Misadventures of Soup [6:00]	www.marcmellits.com*
Uakti	Aguas Da Amazonia – Music By Philip Glass	Japura River/Purus River [12:30]	Point Music #259 464 064. Out of print but try www.philipglass.com
From Scratch	Songs For Heroes	Songs For Heroes 2, excerpt [5:30]	Rattle #002. Available at www.opuscds.com
Robert Lloyd	Nullarbor	Feral, excerpt [10:30]	robertlloyd.org
Kronos Quartet	Pieces of Africa	Kevin Volans: White Man Sleeps, Part 4 [4:30]	See above.