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
The saxophone quartet has been around a while, with pieces being written for it as early as 1857 (Jean Baptiste Singelee’s op. 53). After the rediscovery for jazz, it has made a comeback to classical music as well. We’re looking at some different takes on how to approach the ensemble.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Jon Raskin and Steve Adams – Radar 11/19/01
Rova Quartet, from the album Totally Spinning
David Maslanka – Recitation Book (mvt. 1, Broken Heart)
Red Line Quartet
Ben Hjertman – The Mares of ’33
Anubis Quartet
Amy Williams – Univocity
H2 Quartet, from the album Groove Machine
John Mackey – Unquiet Spirits
Zzyzx Quartet, from the album Intersections
Jon Raskin and Steve Adams – Preshrunk
Rova Quartet, from the album Totally Spinning
Steven Mackey – Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
PRISM Quartet
Lucie Robert-Diesel – Issos? (mvt. 2)
Premiere Quartet
Joe Duddell – Circle Square (mvt. 1)
Delta Quartet, from the album Facing Death
This week we explore modern music performed on recycled materials. From Harry Partch’s “Quadrangularis Reversum,” to Dean Drummonds’ “Zoomoozophone,” many recent composers have forsaken traditional instruments in favor of their own invented apparatuses.
Enjoy an hour of new and unique sounds, reiterating the proverb that one man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Harry Partch – Daphne Of the Dunes
Dean Drummond – Then or Never
David Simons – This Hoary Perch
Skip Laplante – Theme and Variations in 13 equal
Terry Dame – invented gamelan – Garden
Joan LaBarbara – Silent Scroll
Gabriel Prokofiev – Import/Export- Fanta
We sat down with composer, Ilya Levinson, to talk about his story as a composer in Chicago. The program also features live performances of Levinson’s works by cellist, Ian Maksin.
Levinson’s body of work varies stylistically, while still maintaining a sound unique to the composer. You can hear his works performed in the Chicago area, and around the world.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Rockin’ Ian Maksin, vc.
In Blue Ian Maksin, vc.
Sevdah Medley Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra: Phil Simmons
Solstice Canyon I Duo Montagnard: Matthew Slotkin, guitar; Joseph Murphy, alto sax
Memory Tango Ian Maksin, vc.; Ani Gogova, p.
Tell-Tale Heart members of the CUBE ensemble: Phil Morehead; David Halloway, baritone
Adventures Civic Orchestra: Cliff Colnot
You send us CDs. Every once in a while we play those CDs on our show. This is the 2013 edition of the CD grab bag! Enjoy this eclectic variety of new music performed by the latest and greatest musicians. This program is straight from our mailbox to your ears.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Derek Johnson – fragments
Motto I. Star Music
Motto II. A song of sorts
Motto III. Blues for Anton
Benjamin Sung, violin; Jihye Chang, piano
Elizabeth Brown – Shinshofukei, or an imagined landscape;
I. Stroll GardenPro Musica Nipponia: Yasushi Inada, conductor
Graham Reynolds – Jabberwocky
Chiaroscuro Trio: Elizabeth Pétillot, Aurélien Pétillot, Yuko Kato
Joseph Pereira – RepoussèIII. ImpastoIV. Monochrome
Los Angeles Percussion Quartet
David Starobin – Berceuse bas de gamme (Cheap Lullaby)
Larry Polansky
Gillberto Mendes – Uma Foz, Uma FalaPoem:
Augusto de Campos, Ensemble Música
Andy Kozar – Invisibility Interlude
Andy Kozar, pianos
Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky – Chang Music III,
TrioXenia Ensemble
Martin Schlumpf – Concerto for solo cello, trumpet obligato, string orchestra and computer
IIMoravian Philharmonic Orchestra: Petr Vronsky, conductor; Petr Nouzovsky, cello; Marek Vajo, trumpet
Elizabeth Brown – Shinshofukei, or an imagined landscape II. Aged Mossy Rock
Brooklyn based quartet Sō Percussion (Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting) collaborate with composer Dan Trueman on their newest album, neither Anvil nor Pulley.
They experiment with different ways of creating sound, using a turntable, a laptop and various gadgets like a video game controller. The result is a piece in five acts, composed with, rather than for the quartet.
We have Eric from Sō Percussion and Dan in the studio to talk about their project and some quirky details of the album.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Neither Anvil nor Pulley
Act 1: Another Wallflower [from Long Ago]
Act 2: 120bpm [or, What is zour Metronome Thinking?]
Act 3: A Cow Call [Please oh Please Come Home!]
Act 4: Feedback [in Which a Famous Bach Prelude Becomes Ill-Tempered]
Act 5: Hang Dog Springar [a Slow Dance]
In our final exploration of the past 100 years of musical modernism, we take a look at composers who fit in neither the uptown nor the downtown traditions of composition.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Aaron Copland – Connotations
Igor Stravinsky – In memoriam Dylan Thomas
Elliott Carter – Cello Sonata
George Rochberg – String Quartet No. 3
John Cage – Music of Changes
George Crumb – Ancient Voices of Children
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich – Piano Trio No. 1
Joan Tower – Petroushskates
This week in our exploration of the past 100 years of modernism in music we take a look at the legacy of Arnold Schoenberg. The 1912 performance of Pierrot Lunaire created a model of atonality that continues to influence modern composers in the present day.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire Part One
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Anton Webern – Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5
Emerson String Quartet
Alban Berg – Violin Concerto
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Pierre Boulez – Structures Book 1
Milton Babbitt – String Quartet No. 2
Bernard Rands – Concertino
Augusta Read Thomas – In My Sky at Twilight
In this week’s program we begin a three part adventure tracing the musical influence of modernist titans Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg from the early 1900s to the present day.
In part one we start with the first performance on the Le Sacre du Printemps, 100 years ago in 1913, and uncover the path that lead all the way to late 20th and 21st century minimalism.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird
Igor Stravinsky – Le Sacre du Printemps
Aaron Copland – Hear Ye! Hear Ye!:Chorus Girls Third Dance Pas-de-Deux #3
Edgard Varèse – Amériques
Béla Bartók- Miraculous Mandarin
Igor Stravinsky – Pulcinella
Igor Stravinsky – Symphony in C: 3. Allegretto
Louis Andriessen – De Staat
Steve Reich – City Life
What do you get when you combine Moravian ululations, Hindustani raga rhythms, and a bass clarinetist that spent a decade in Bali studying gamelan music?
Find out as the new music supertrio Eviyan headlines WFMT’s 2nd annual Thirsty Ear Festival, bringing to audiences “the soundtrack to a 21st century global village.”
We’ll be broadcasting Relevant Tones live from 5-7 PM on July 20th at City Winery, one of Chicago’s hottest new destinations for live music, food, and libations, and you’re invited to join us there as we also feature Chicago’s own Fulcrum Point and microtonal piano ensemble UnTwelve.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Engineered by Joshua Savageau
Since its first performance in 1977, the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) has been the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to commissioning and performing music written by American composers.
We spoke with new Artistic Director, Derek Bermel about his vision for the group, and took a look back at a few interesting and groundbreaking performances by this revolutionary group of performers.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Margaret Brouwer – Breakdown
John Harbison – Piano Concerto
David Bowie – Heroes
Philip Glass – Symphony No. 4
Charles Norman Mason – Addition
Neil Rolnick – iFiddle Concerto
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