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PGM 1416 ‘WINTERTRONIC 5’ : feb 20-27

As winter weeks turn into winter months, and recurring storms disrupt travel and disorder the familiar patterns of everyday life—even hardy cold-weather enthusiasts begin to long for the relative ease, efficiency, and comfort…of spring.

Yet…hidden in the diminished activity of the natural world and enforced limitations on the human one, is an opportunity for quiet reflection and contemplative solitude. Fueled by sullen skies and monochromatic landscapes, it’s an opportunity that’s also embraced by ambient musicians. On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE…the chilled tones and solitary electronic soundscapes of winter ambient, on a program called “WINTERTRONIC 5.”

Music by ROBERT RICH & MARCUS REUTER, JEFF GREINKE, BARRY CLEVELAND, BRUNO SANFILIPPO, MAX CORBACHO, BARRY SCHRADER, R.L. HUBER, KENT SPARLING, and ISOSTATIC.

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PGM 1308R ‘NORTHERN NIGHTS 3’ : feb. 13-20

The heart of a long, cold winter is a good time to return to the far north folk music of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. While not as celebrated as the music of its Celtic neighbors to the south, it’s every bit as warm and soulful.

Originally distinguished by traditional instruments like the Finnish box zither called the kantele, and the Norwegian hardanger fiddle with its sympathetic strings — like other folk genres, in recent years electronics and studio recording techniques have been added to enrich and modernize the sound.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, traditional and contemporary winter music from Scandinavia, on a program called NORTHERN NIGHTS 3. Music is by BUKKENE BRUSE, ANNBJØRG LIEN, PRISCILLA HERNANDEZ, SINIKKA LANGELAND, ARJA KASTINEN & PETER PHIPPEN, TRINA OPSAHL, LAKKI PATEY, and ØYSTEIN SEVÅG.

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PGM 1415 ‘SUBLIME CONTINUITIES’ : feb.6-13

The ancient kingdom of Tibet, high and remote in the Himalayan Mountains dividing India and China, is physically and culturally about as far as westerners can go from home.

The Buddhist religion of Tibet was derived from the Mahayana Buddhism of Northern India in the 8th century. It’s a rich tradition. For over a thousand years, Tibetan Buddhist monks have created some of the world’s most extraordinary sacred art and architecture. They also invented resonant metal percussion instruments—bells, “singing” bowls, gongs, and cymbals—and giant horns that emit sepulchral bass drones that seem to summon the spirits of the dead.

These bronze instruments and the ceremonial religious music they created were kept secret for centuries until the 1960’s, when a new breed of western artist-adventurers made the arduous trek over the mountains to the monasteries. Facing existential threats from China, the monks allowed these unofficial emissaries from the west to buy authentic Tibetan instruments and bring them home for safekeeping.

Before 1972 there were only a few ethnographic field recordings of Tibetan religious rituals. That was the year that HENRY WOLFF, NANCY HENNINGS, and DREW GLADSTONE returned to London from Tibet, booked a famous recording studio, and produced “TIBETAN BELLS,” the first album of original music for Tibetan instruments. It could hardly have been more exotic, but it was beautiful, and in the open-minded culture of the 1970s the album attracted the attention of Island Records—home of Bob Marley and reggae—and was given a worldwide release. The bells of Tibet had come to the west.

The sound they pioneered was not based on Tibetan religious music or western experimental percussion, but an invented language of pure tones with uncanny sustain, harmonic and inharmonic drones, fractal waveforms, spectral overtones, and extended resonant decays. In the intervening decades, it inspired practitioners of therapeutic “sound healing,” and more recently, the immersive group meditations of the “sound bath” movement.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the eternal sound of Tibetan bells, bowls, and gongs, featuring sonic meditations by KEVIN BRAHENY-FORTUNE, plus music by HIMALAYAN VOICES, HANS CHRISTIAN, JACUB LEONOWICZ, and KENT SPARLING. A program called “SUBLIME CONTINUITIES”—on this transmission of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 1032R ‘POLAR VORTEX’ : jan. 30-feb. 5

Chicago during the polar vortex

This week a frigid mass of North Pole air spun south and descended on the United States. In addition to sub-zero temperatures, disruption of travel and general misery, it introduced a new phrase to describe extreme winter weather.

We were working on an Ambient electronic winter show and we already had a pretty good title for it, but this new phrase, well, it just blew it away.  On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a super-chilled winter journey called “POLAR VORTEX.”  Music is by IAN BODDY & ERIK WOLLO, SIMON LOMAX, STORMLOOP, DILATE, TUU, and NETHERWORLD.

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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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