New Sounds

#4848, American Music Inspired by Gamelans

Episode Summary

Hear five American composers whose music grows out of Indonesian-inspired sounds. There’s music by American composer Lou Harrison, and some of his work for the combination of western instruments with Javanese-style gamelan, featuring pianist Sarah Cahill, and Gamelan Galak Tika. Then, hear synthesizer music with shades of Balinese gamelan and arresting tunings by electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos, from her album, Beauty in the Beast. Listen also to music for retuned sampling keyboard based on an Indonesian scale from the late accordionist, sound experimenter, and innovator Pauline Oliveros. Hear a collaborative work featuring gamelan and contemporary string quartet from American composer Brian Baumbusch. It’s for “American gamelan” instruments, based on various instruments from the Balinese gamelan tradition - designed, tuned, and built by Baumbusch- and the “new music superheroes” JACK Quartet, (Boston Globe.) Also, listen to a microtonal etude by the late Chicago new music composer Easley Blackwood Jr., arranged for acoustic instruments by Matthew Sheeran (yes, Ed Sheeran’s brother.) Orchestral players recorded notes in a booth, which were then retuned by Sheeran and mix engineer Brian Bolger - some with 23 notes to the octave - using the pitch correction program Melodyne, (NY Times.) Hear the striking and surprising results. - Caryn Havlik Program #4848, American Music Inspired by Gamelans (First aired 2/16/2024) ARTIST: Various ArtistsWORK: Gamelan Gon Kebjar: Hudjan Mas [1:11]RECORDING: Explorer Series: Indonesia- Bali: Golden RainSOURCE: NonesuchINFO: nonesuch.com/albums/bali-golden-rain ARTIST: Sarah Cahill / Gamelan Galak Tika with Evan Ziporyn, Jody Diamond WORK: Lou Harrison: Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan, Finale [5:28]RECORDING: Lou Harrison: Concerto for Piano with Javanese GamelanSOURCE: Cleveland Museum of Art Achived EditionINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube ARTIST: Wendy CarlosWORK: Poem for Bali [17:11]RECORDING: Beauty in the BeastSOURCE: Audion Records / East Side Digital ESD 81552INFO: Available at Amazon.com | wendycarlos.com ARTIST: Easley Blackwood Jr/Arr Matthew SheeranWORK: 23 notes. Allegro moderato from Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28 arranged for acoustic instruments [3:59]RECORDING: Acoustic MicrotonalSOURCE: Cedille RecordsINFO: cedillerecords.org/albums/acoustic-microtonal/ ARTIST: Pauline Oliveros WORK: Lion's Tale [8:41]RECORDING: CDCM Computer Music Vol. 7, iEAR studios at RPISOURCE: Centaur #2047INFO: Try Discogs.com ARTIST: Nata Swara, JACK QuartetWORK: Brian Baumbusch: Hydrogen(2)Oxygen : III Oxygen (Aqua) [5:27]RECORDING: Brian Baumbusch: Chemistry for Gamelan and String QuartetSOURCE: New World RecordsINFO: newworldrecords.org

Episode Notes

Hear five American composers whose music grows out of Indonesian-inspired sounds. There’s music by American composer Lou Harrison, and some of his work for the combination of western instruments with Javanese-style gamelan, featuring pianist Sarah Cahill, and Gamelan Galak Tika. Then, hear synthesizer music with shades of Balinese gamelan and arresting tunings by electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos, from her album, Beauty in the Beast. Listen also to music for retuned sampling keyboard based on an Indonesian scale from the late accordionist, sound experimenter, and innovator Pauline Oliveros.

Hear a collaborative work featuring gamelan and contemporary string quartet from American composer Brian Baumbusch. It’s for “American gamelan” instruments, based on various instruments from the Balinese gamelan tradition - designed, tuned, and built by Baumbusch- and the “new music superheroes” JACK Quartet, (Boston Globe.) Also, listen to a microtonal etude by the late Chicago new music composer Easley Blackwood Jr., arranged for acoustic instruments by Matthew Sheeran (yes, Ed Sheeran’s brother.) Orchestral players recorded notes in a booth, which were then retuned by Sheeran and mix engineer Brian Bolger - some with 23 notes to the octave - using the pitch correction program Melodyne, (NY Times.) Hear the striking and surprising results. - Caryn Havlik

Program #4848, American Music Inspired by Gamelans (First aired 2/16/2024)

ARTIST: Various ArtistsWORK: Gamelan Gon Kebjar: Hudjan Mas [1:11]RECORDING: Explorer Series: Indonesia- Bali: Golden RainSOURCE: NonesuchINFO: nonesuch.com/albums/bali-golden-rain

ARTIST: Sarah Cahill / Gamelan Galak Tika with Evan Ziporyn, Jody Diamond WORK: Lou Harrison: Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan, Finale [5:28]RECORDING: Lou Harrison: Concerto for Piano with Javanese GamelanSOURCE: Cleveland Museum of Art Achived EditionINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube

ARTIST: Wendy CarlosWORK: Poem for Bali [17:11]RECORDING: Beauty in the BeastSOURCE: Audion Records / East Side Digital ESD 81552INFO: Available at Amazon.com | wendycarlos.com

ARTIST: Easley Blackwood Jr/Arr Matthew SheeranWORK: 23 notes. Allegro moderato from Twelve Microtonal Etudes, Op. 28 arranged for acoustic instruments [3:59]RECORDING: Acoustic MicrotonalSOURCE: Cedille RecordsINFO: cedillerecords.org/albums/acoustic-microtonal/

ARTIST: Pauline Oliveros WORK: Lion's Tale [8:41]RECORDING: CDCM Computer Music Vol. 7, iEAR studios at RPISOURCE: Centaur #2047INFO: Try Discogs.com

ARTIST: Nata Swara, JACK QuartetWORK: Brian Baumbusch: Hydrogen(2)Oxygen : III Oxygen (Aqua) [5:27]RECORDING: Brian Baumbusch: Chemistry for Gamelan and String QuartetSOURCE: New World RecordsINFO: newworldrecords.org