Stay ConnectedA podcast about the most fascinating time in classical music history: right now.
Relevant Tones features interviews with and music by some of the most creative figures in contemporary classical music, themed shows exploring new trends in classical music and frequent live streamed shows featuring conversations and music performances.
Hosted and produced by Seth Boustead, Austin Williams, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Matt Dotson.
Copyright: © Seth Boustead
A master of orchestral timbre and an ardent individualist, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner has been one of the most prolific composers in the 20th and 21st centuries. He visits our studios to talk about his life and music.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Joseph Schwantner: Aftertones of Infinity
Juilliard Orchestra/Slatkin
Schwantner: September Canticle (excerpt)
Dallas Symphony/Litton; Diaz, org.
Schwantner: …And the Mountains Rising Nowhere
Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble/Thompson
Schwantner: Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra, III
Nashville Symphony Orchestra/Guerrero
Thanks to virtuoso performers like Gary Karr, François Rabbath and Edgar Meyer, the double bass is leaping to the front of the concert stage and composers are taking note. This week we’ll listen to some of the music written in the last few decades for this sonorous and incredibly versatile instrument.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarter
Adam Ben Ezra: Can’t Stop Running (excerpt)
Adam Ben Ezra, bass
Frank Proto: Four Rogues, No. 1, Calm
John Ebinger, bass; Roy Hakes, piano
Dave Anderson: Duets
II- Parade of the Pigs
V- Lament
Dave Anderson & Hal Robinson, double basses
Gunther Schuller: Quartet for Double Basses, II
Robert Gladstone, Frederick Zimmerman, Orin O’Brien & Alvin Brehm, basses
Patrick Neher: Grig’s Dance
Patrick Neher, bass; Mark Rush, violin
Tom Johnson: Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for String Bass
Robert Black, bass & narrator
George Pearle: Monody II
Robert Black, bass
Edgar Meyer: Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra, I
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Wolff; Meyer, bass
Manuel Enriquez: Mobil II
Bertram Turetzky, bass
Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk (excerpt)
Superbass (Ray Brown, John Clayton, Christian McBride, basses)
Just as influenced by the blazing energy of Count Basie’s big band as Steve Reich’s minimalism, Dutch composer Louis Andriessen was a true trailblazer in the 20th century. We celebrate his 75th birthday by looking back at his illustrious career.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Louis Andriessen: Life, Part I- Wind
Bang on a Can All-Stars
CA 21074
5:02
Andriessen: De Staat (excerpt)
Schoenberg Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw
Nonesuch 79251
11:45
Andriessen: Materie, Part I
Schoenberg Ensemble/de Leeuw
Nonesuch 79367
6:19
Andriessen: Lucifer & The Garden of Earthly Delights fr. La Commedia (excerpts)
Dutch Nat’l Opera, ASKO Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw
Nonesuch 534877
7:25, 6:45
Andriessen: Worker’s Union (excerpt)
Bang On a Can All-Stars
Cantaloupe 21012
2:20
Composers like Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bartók and have sought to musically depict their environs for centuries. How are landscapes, both urban and pastoral, being represented musically today?
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
David Sampson: Grant Park from Chicago Moves
Gaudete Brass
Toshio Hosokawa: Landscape V (excerpt)
Munich Chamber Orchestra/Alexander Liebreich; Mayumi Miyata, sho
Peter Sculthorpe: From Oceania
New Zealand SO/James Judd
Michael Daugherty: George Washington fr. Mount Rushmore
Pacific Symphony/Carl St. Clair
Joan Tower: Big Sky
Chee-Yun, v.; André Emelianoff, vc.; Joan Tower, p.;
John Luther Adams: The Far Country of Sleep (excerpt)
Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
Christopher Tin: Haf Gengr Hriðum (The Storm-Driven Sea)
Royal Philharmonic & Schola Cantorum/Christopher Tin
Pierre Jalbert: Glass is a Place fr. Icefield Sonnets
Ying Quartet
Versatile singer, pianist and composer Errollyn Wallen is creating a unique body of work and making an international name for herself along the way. We talk with her and play as much of her music as we possibly can.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Wallen: Dervish
Dominic Harlan, p.; Matthew Sharp, vc.
Wallen: “Beehive” and “White Christine” from Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals?
Patricia Rozario, s.; David le Page, v.; Kirsty Staines, v.; David Aspin, vla.; Joseph Spooner, vc.
Wallen: “Dark and Mysterious” fr. Horseplay
Continuum Ensemble/Hedlem
Wallen: Daedalus (excerpt)
Wallen, voc. & piano
Wallen: Daedalus
Brodsky Quartet; Wallen, voc.
Wallen: In Our Lifetime
Mike Henry, baritone
Wallen: My Feet May Take a Little While
Wallen, voc. & piano
Ever since its creation by Haydn in the 18th century, the string quartet has been one of the preeminent vehicles for more musical innovation. This show features new directions for the string quartet, pairing the quartet with unusual other instruments like frame drum, alto flute and more.
William Kraft: Music for String Quartet and Percussion, III: The Winds of Evanescence
Southwest Chamber Music
Romano Crivici: Flat Earth for didgeridoo and string quartet (excerpt)
Elektra String Quartet; Crivici, didgeridoo
Mason Bates: Bagatelles, I- Rough Math
Del Sol Quartet
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Apsheron Quartet, II- Reverse Time
Kronos Quartet; Ali-Zadeh, p.
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, IV
Kronos Quartet, David Krakauer, clarinet
Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic- Buddha’s Bedroom
Kronos Quartet; Wu Man, pipa
Diego Schissi: Liquido
Spektral Quartet; Julien Labro, bandoneon
Scriabin so linked color to his music that he created a “light organ” to display colors that corresponded to different notes in his pieces. How does color and visual art affect composers and their music today?
Michael Torke: Bright Blue Music for Orchestra
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Zinman
Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel
California EAR Unit
Jennifer Higdon: Short Stories for Saxophone Quartet, I & V
Ancia Saxophone Quartet
Dan Welcher: Light Coming on the Plains & Starlight Night from Prairie Light: 3
Texas Watercolors of Georgia O’Keefe
Honolulu Symphony Orchestra/Johanos
Gunther Schuller: The Twittering Machine fr. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra/Antal Dorati
Cindy McTee: Twittering Machine
North Texas Wind Symphony/Eugene Migliaro Corporon
Stephen Hartke: King of the Sun, I & IV
Dunsmuir Piano Quartet
He played with Miles Davis, was principal horn of the Cleveland Symphony at age 18, is the co-creator of the “third stream” movement and so much more. Seth talks with Schuller about his incredible life and legacy in music.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Gunther Schuller: Conversations
Modern Jazz Quartet & Beaux Arts String Quartet
Schuller: Of Reminisces and Reflections
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra/Bernardi
Schuller: Abstraction
Beaux Arts String Quartet + Ornette Coleman, sax; soloists
Schuller: String Quartet No. 3, III
Emerson String Quartet
Schuller: Little Blue Devil from Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee
Minneapolis Symphony/Dorati
We invite some of our favorite musical friends to bring a new recording into the studio for listening, lively discussion and the joy of new discoveries.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Max Grafe: “Bantams in Pine-wood” fr. Three Madrigals
Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
Michael Gordon: Industry
Maya Beiser, amplified cello
Peter Ablinger: Drei Minuten für Orchester
SWR Sinfonieorchester/Sylvain Cambreling
Peter Ablinger: Angela Davis
Mark Knoop, p.
Amanda Feery: Squarepushers
Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
Jan Sandström: Acintyas
Stockholm Chamber Orchestra/Leif Segerstam
One of the world’s largest cities and a mecca for diverse art and culture, Mexico City is also the home of a fascinating array of creative musicians and composers. Part 1 of a two-part series will feature interviews and music from the city’s musical leaders.
Ana Lara: Y Los Oros, La Luz (excerpt)
Ana Lara: Concierto para Corno di Bassetto, II + III (excerpt)
Georgina Derbez: Double Concerto for Orchestra, Piano and Flute
Jorge Torres Sáenz: Órbitas
Rosino Serrano: Adam & Eve film score (excerpt)
Federico Ibarra: String Quartet No. 2, Prestoo
Cuarteto Latinamericano
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