Archives

PGM 1414 “FROZEN TIME 3” : jan.23-30

We’re descending into the winter soundscape with MAX RICHTER’s “recomposed” version of “Winter” from Vivaldi’s Baroque masterpiece “The Four Seasons.”  It introduces a program of new “atmospheric classical” and electronic music from Europe, featuring the superb Polish pianist, composer, and singer HANIA RANI.

Full disclosure here……we missed Hania Rani’s debut album in 2019 and never caught up.  Since then, she’s created an enormously impressive body of work—11 solo albums, 25 singles and collaborations, and a dozen film soundtracks, including her infinitely subtle music for Norwegian director JOACHIM TRIER’S film “Sentimental Value”—winner of the 2025 Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE…an atmospheric classical journey to the quiet heart of winter, on a program called “FROZEN TIME 3.”  Big Thanks to listeners DAVID S. FAY, FRED STRILEY, and BILL G. from Atlanta for their tactful reminders, and we’re finally on to HANIA RANI six years late—with a great supporting cast including MAX RICHTER, EYEDÍS EVENSEN, ÓLAFUR ARNALDS & TALOS, ELDBJØRG HEMSING, HILDUR GOdNADÓTTIR, GABRIEL ÓLAFS, FEDERICO ALBANESE, and LUDOVICO EINAUDI.

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PGM 898R “ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS” : jan.16-23

The winter skies are a broad, constantly changing panorama: flat, gray shadowless light… chilled fogs with subtle, desaturated colors… dramatic dark storm clouds… and brilliant clear days, with infinite horizons of the deepest transparent blue.

The ambient music inspired by these environments displays a corresponding range of tones, textures, and techniques: from foggy soundscapes and dark drones, to crystalline percussion and ethereal harmonics.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a program inspired by the winter skies called “ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS.” Music is by RUSSEL WALDER, JEFF GREINKE, KEVIN KELLER ENSEMBLE, PETER GARLAND, STUART DEMPSTER, TOM HEASLEY & ERIC GLICK RIEMAN, JOHN LUTHER ADAMS, and TIM STORY.

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PGM 1413 ‘NORTHWEST PASSAGE’ : jan.9-16

The Northwest Passage is a legendary trans-Arctic sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sought for centuries as a shortcut between Asia and the West for international trade, it was blocked by ice year ‘round until climate change made it relatively more navigable.

It’s a vast, cold, desolate, often dangerous environment. Crossing it takes powerful ice breakers with two-inch-thick steel hulls, and with hundreds of miles between native villages, there’s little in the way of infrastructure or emergency services. Despite the difficulties, the extraordinary beauty and power of the environment and the audacity of the challenge has inspired a genre of so-called “isolationist” ambient music.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space…a trans-Arctic winter journey, on a program called “NORTHWEST PASSAGE.” Music is by ERIK WØLLO, BIOSPHERE, CHRISTIAN WITTMAN, DREAMSTATE vs. HEIKI, NETHERWORLD, SEETYCA, ISOSTATIC, JEFF PEARCE, and PANGAEA PROJECT.

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PGM 1135R “OVERCAST” : jan. 2-9/

The typical winter atmosphere is muted and monochrome, under a sky of dense grey-blue clouds. Above, chilled vapor waits to return to earth as cold rain, sleet or snow. On the ground, it’s a world of desaturated colors and diffuse shadows, punctuated by storms and relieved briefly by short bright days. Nature sleeps, awaiting the awakening of spring.

The sound of winter is slow, ethereal, subtle, with occasional accents of brilliant white or deep black. Bell sounds and the metal strings of the piano ring across the landscape, supported by profound dark drones.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we ride the sounds of winter to a place of deep calm, on a program called OVERCAST.

Music is by BEN LUKAS BOYSEN, JANNE HANHISUANTO, LIBRARY TAPES (DAVID WENNGREN), BRUNO SANFILIPPO & MATHIAS GRASSOW, BIOSPHERE, and SIGUR ROS.

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PGM 1211R ‘ELECTRON TRAVELER 4’ : dec.16-jan. 6

Flying and floating in electronic soundscapes

Flying…and Floating. As a literal description of the experience, it goes back to the early days of popular electronic music and the early days of Hearts of Space. Over the years we’ve done programs called Floating Whispers, Floating Worlds, Floating Gardens, Floating Reveries, Floating Waves, Floating Winds, and yes, Flying and Floating 1, 2, and 3.

Back then I said “flying music is rhythm-powered and moves through space, heading for worlds beyond; floating music is goal-free—ethereal, static, and timeless.” You know, I can’t really add anything to that; we still enjoy expanding into unlimited virtual spaces, and yearn for the quiet pleasure of weightless suspension in time.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another journey in our electronic touring series, on a program called “ELECTRON TRAVELER 4.” Music is by ASCENDANT, KEVIN KELLER, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, DWIGHT LOOP, MASSERGY, and ERIK WØLLO.

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PGM 1412 ‘SACRED HYMNS and TIMELESS MELODIES’ : dec. 19-26

Western sacred music was created for use in monastic religious rituals and the liturgies of the early Christian church. Plainsong or Plainchant developed during the early centuries of Christianity, influenced by the music of the Jewish synagogue and by the Greek modal system. Plainchant, and later Gregorian chant, was simple, monophonic, and vocal.

With the patronage of the Catholic church, it existed in the rare and heightened atmosphere of spiritual belief. In the awe-inspiring reverberant spaces of stone churches and cathedrals, it evolved into the diverse sacred choral repertoire of today.

Western classical art music began around the 9th century A.D. with the introduction of Polyphony and a practical system of notation. It was also influenced by the music theories of ancient Greece and Rome, and evolved, with the patronage of the royal courts of Europe, into the diverse classical repertoire of today.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, it’s another winter holiday special from longtime guest producer ELLEN HOLMES, featuring some of the most revered hymns and beautiful melodies from the European classical and sacred choral traditions, on a program called “SACRED HYMNS and TIMELESS MELODIES.”

Music by MOZART, J.S.BACH, HANDEL, PRFAETORIUS, GOUNOD, MORAN, CASSIDY, GERRARD ++

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PGM 1386R ‘LIGHT TIME’ : dec.12-19

In the brief interlude between Thanksgiving and the winter holiday celebrations, we undergo a rapid change in emotional tone. Gone are the fearful ghosts and goblins of Halloween, the somber melancholy of the autumn season, and the quiet gratitude of Thanksgiving. Approaching the shortest day and longest night of the year on the winter solstice, we celebrate the return of the light.

Today, we chase away the gloom and transform our environment with millions of colorful lights and dazzling screens. From the brilliance of our seasonal displays to the hypnotic warmth of a single candle — we embrace the joy of light and color, and the fulfillment of sound and music. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, electronic ambient for the season of light, on a program called ‘LIGHT TIME.’

Music is by DAVID HELPLING and singer MIRIAM STOCKLEY, JOHAN AGEBJÖRN and singer LISA BARRA, ERIK WØLLO, TOM EATON, ROSS CHRISTOPHER, ROBERT RICH & LUCA FORMENTINI, JON HOPKINS & ÓLAFUR ARNALDS, and WILL BANGS. https://bit.ly/HoS-1386R

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PGM 1411 ‘ARCADIA’ : dec.5-12

The name “Arcadia” is associated with a vision of pastoral simplicity and harmony with nature. The term was inspired by the remote, mountainous Greek province ARKADIA, over 2500 years ago. In time it came to symbolize an unspoiled wilderness of natural splendor and harmony—an unattainable, lost Eden—virtuous and uncorrupted by civilization.

For New York composer KEVIN KELLER, Arcadia was a natural extension of his love for “plainsong” or “plainchant”—the medieval sacred vocal music that originated in the early years of Christianity, and led to the development of the more sophisticated “Gregorian” Chant beginning in the 9th century. Keller’s 2023 album EVENSONG included plainchant melodies and Latin texts by HILDEGARD VON BINGEN, who played a key role in the evolution and eventual dominance of the Gregorian Chant in the 12th century.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey from “Contemporary-Medieval” to “Ethereal Electronic Classical,” on a program called “ARCADIA.” Music is by KEVIN KELLER with SOFIA CAMPOAMOR, BRIAN ENO, IMMERSION THEORY, MEG BOWLES, DEBORAH MARTIN & J.ARIF VERNER, BLUETECH, and JEFF PEARCE.

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PGM 615R ‘THE CONSTANT FLAME’ : nov.28-dec.5

In the russet and golden days of autumn, we gather round the fire and the table with family, friends, and food—to give thanks. It’s an inflection point, a moment of warmth and communion in the busy days of year’s end.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space called ‘THE CONSTANT FLAME,’ we honor the emotional fire that fuels music with creativity and passion, and the inner flame in us that seeks it. In the words of composer ALEX CLINE, “it’s a fire that can warm, consume, illumine, destroy, purify, blind…or save.”

With music by SECRET GARDEN, BILL DOUGLAS, THE MARQUIS ENSEMBLE, GEORGE WINSTON, MICHAEL GETTEL, TIM STORY, ALEX CLINE ENSEMBLE, and MASAJI WATANABE.

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PGM 1410 ‘META MODAL’ : nov. 21-28

THIS WEEK on Hearts of Space: a journey across cultural history and music theory, time and tuning

A look at the history of “modal” music and 7 note “diatonic” scales, which set the standard for Western music for over 1100 years. We journey across the musical space between ancient Greece , the Byzantine Empire, the Medieval church, the European folk tradition, and modern chamber-jazz, with the SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS QUARTET, ELENI KARAINDROU, TIGRAN HAMASYAN, CRAIG TABORN, YANN KEERIM.

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