November 26, 2019

Listen to music that pushes the idea of chamber music (technically a small ensemble, playing one to a part) with combinations of keyboards and strings, as well as some electroacoustic music. Hear arrangements of Radiohead’s Pyramid Song, as well as the original. Plus, other works that feature the combination of keyboard and strings by Shida Shahabi, Mario Diaz de Leon, and Missy Mazzoli with Victoire.

Listen to music from Swedish-Iranian pianist, composer, and sound artist Shida Shahabi, who is currently based out of Stockholm. On her latest release, Shifts, she weaves together cello (provided by Linnea Olsson, whom Shida calls “the best cellist I know in Sweden”) and what sounds like an upright piano with very audible foot pedals, and perhaps a microphone on the piano’s insides.   

There’s also music from American composer Frank Becker, played by flutist Ransom Wilson. Frank’s scores for film and television have been heard on HBO, NBC and ABC and he lived and worked in Japan for a number of years, collaborating on multimedia works.

Also, from Mario Diaz de Leon’s latets, Cycle and Reveal, listen to his work for the Talea Ensemble, “Sacrament.” It’s music that “owes as much to his metal background (he performed under the moniker Oneirogen) as his chamber music studies (he’s been on the music faculty at Columbia University).” (Hannis Brown, for Q2 Music.)  

Plus, hear an arrangement of Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song” by pianist Christopher O’Riley & cellist Matt Haimovitz, along with music by Missy Mazzoli for the band-semble Victoire, where keyboard melodies meet swirling strings, spoken samples, and minimal processing.

Program #4302: Beyond Chamber Music (First aired: 11/26/2019)

ARTIST: Christopher O’Riley & Matt Haimovitz
WORK: Pyramid Song [4:38]
RECORDING: Shuffle.Play.Listen
SOURCE: Oxingale 2019
INFO: oxingale.com | christopheroriley.com | matthaimovitz.com  

ARTIST: Shida Shahabi
WORK: Futō [6:49]
RECORDING: Shifts
SOURCE: FatCat / 130701
INFO: https://shida-shahabi.bandcamp.com/album/shifts

ARTIST: Radiohead
WORK: Pyramid Song [4:49]
RECORDING: Amnesiac
SOURCE: Capitol/EMI Records – #CDSFHEIT 45101
INFO: store-us.wasteheadquarters.com or available at Amazon.com, iTunes

ARTIST: Victoire
WORK: Mazzoli: A Door Into the Dark [5:21]
RECORDING: Cathedral City
SOURCE: New Amsterdam 25
INFO: missymazzoli.com | newamrecords.com

ARTIST: Ransom Wilson
WORK: Frank Becker: Stonehenge [15:23]
RECORDING: Ransom Wilson Plays Reich, Glass, Becker
SOURCE: Angel #47331
INFO: Try Amazon.com  

ARTIST: Talea Ensemble
WORK: Mario Diaz de Leon: Sacrament [12:39]
RECORDING: Cycle and Reveal
SOURCE: Denovali
INFO: mariodiazdeleon.bandcamp.com

BY/NEW SOUNDS HOST: John Schaefer
READ/LISTEN AT: New Sounds