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PGM 1304R 'CANTO ELECTRONICO' : dec. 2-9

The best-kept secret in European minimalism must be the late Dutch composer SIMEON TEN HOLT, who died in 2012. After experimenting with complex chromaticism and serialism early in his career, Ten Holt arrived at his own style of "humanized" minimalism: infused with traditional musical values, rhythmically rigorous, wonderfully melodic, and flexible in performance.

His most famous piece, composed in 1976, is called CANTO OSTINATO, which in Italian means "obstinate song," a reference to its continuous, repeating quintuplet rhythm base: 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5. Its structure is based on 106 "cells" of a few phrases each which allow great latitude for repeats and interpretation by the performers. The piece can take from two hours to more than a day, and there are dozens of versions for 1, 2, 3, and 4 pianos, pianos plus organ, harp, or marimba, pipe organ, strings, and synthesizer.

Canto Ostinato has been a popular phenomenon in the Netherlands for 40 years and hundreds of sold out performances. Despite its appeal, it's hardly ever been performed or broadcast in the U.S. We tried to help fix that a couple of years ago when we featured a mesmerizing live version for two pianos, performed by the Dutch husband/wife duo JEROEN and SANDRA VAN VEEN.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a buoyant, energetic version for synthesizer, programmed and performed by SANDRA and JEROEN VAN VEEN. Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato for synthesizer; let's call it CANTO ELECTRONICO, on this transmission...of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 1331 'CELLO ELEGIES 2" : nov.26-dec.2

Mournful...plaintive...melancholy...somber...sonorous...resonant: the cello is all this and more — a compact, versatile string orchestra in one instrument, with a four-octave range that comes fully alive in the dark days of autumn. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an autumn journey featuring the plangent tones of the cello, on a program called "CELLO ELEGIES 2." Music is by DAVID DARLING, HANS CHRISTIAN, MAYA BEISER, BLACK TAPE for a BLUE GIRL, ERALDO BERNOCCHI & HOSHIKO YAMANE, JESSE AHMANN, MAX RICHTER, and MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI.

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PGM 853R 'INFINITE LOOPS' : nov.18-25

In the early 1970s, English guitarist ROBERT FRIPP (of the seminal progressive rock band KING CRIMSON) began a series of experiments with tape delay echo loops that he came to call "Frippertronics."

Fripp's collaboration with fellow electronic experimentalist BRIAN ENO yielded two influential albums of treated electric guitar and synthesizers. NO PUSSYFOOTING (from 1972) and EVENING STAR (in 1974) defined a new sound: the infinite spatial guitar. Whether endlessly looped or indefinitely sustained, Fripp transformed, expanded and dematerialized the electric guitar by feeding it back on itself — and created one of the foundations of today's ambient soundscapes.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE we borrow a term from computer programming, on a descending journey for fall called INFINITE LOOPS. Music is by HAROLD BUDD & CLIVE WRIGHT, ROBIN GUTHRIE, HAMMOCK, and RICHARD BONE.

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PGM 1330 'DEEP FLUTES' : nov.11-18

With all the attention given to guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers these days, it's easy to overlook the oldest musical instrument on the planet: the flute. With examples made from bird and animal bones going back over 40,000 years, the flute has played a seminal role in the evolution of music on six continents.

For simplicity, ancient flutes can't be beat: a tube, some holes — done!  In Europe, the modern concert flute evolved to play complex classical music, but since the 1960s, a dedicated group of Native, Ambient and New Age artists has embraced older, simpler ethnic flutes from Native American, South American, Asian, and western folk cultures — combining them with reverberant environments and resonant percussion instruments as vehicles for meditation and healing.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the quiet evolution of indigenous aerophones, on a program called DEEP FLUTES. Music is by SHERRY FINZER & WILL CLIPMAN, R.CARLOS NAKAI, ANN LICATER, JAMES MARIENTHAL, VIANNEY LOPEZ, and RAPHAEL GROTEN.

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PGM 1232R 'SHADES and SHADOWS' : nov. 4-11

In the waning days of late autumn, the sun falls ever lower in the sky, the air becomes crisp as the restless wind strips the leaves from the trees, and the nights grow quiet, as the last lovelorn crickets of the season succumb to the cold.

The autumn harvest brings a bounty of fruits and flowers, grains and nuts, in a rainbow of complex colors from bright orange pumpkins to deep purple cranberries. The sounds of the season are darker, slower, deeper — a somber interlude before the bright celebrations of the holiday season.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an ambient-electronic journey for late autumn, on a program called SHADES AND SHADOWS. Music is by ASCENDENT, MARCONI UNION, STEVE ROACH, RUDY ADRIAN, APERUS, MILES RICHMOND & PETER GRENADER, IAN BODDY, and JUTA TAKAHASHI.

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PGM 1329 'NETHERSONIC' : oct.28-nov.4

Welcome to the astrological house of Scorpio...a time of darkening in the world around us, when Celtic mythology considered the veil between this world and the "world of the spirits" to be at its thinnest. The advent of Scorpio each year brings us the dark ambient genres of gloom, gothic, and dark atmospheres. This music displays a quest for strangeness, a taste for the ominous, and a fascination with darkness, death, and decay that's appropriate for the fall season, and celebrated on All Hallow's Eve.

Solemn sounds, fear, depression, doleful wailing, and mournful processions are the order of the day, but this music also has a mysterious restorative power that comes from the confrontation with challenging emotions. The Greeks called it...catharsis.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a doom-y, gloomy, dark ambient descent for Halloween called NETHERSONIC. Music is by ATRIUM CARCERI, MONOCUBE, HINTERLAND, RAISON D'ETRE, SOUND PHENOMENON, CAUL, FRANK BEISSEL & STEVE ROACH.

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PGM 1328 'SPACEJAZZ 9 : 'RESTRAINED' - oct.21-28

When it comes to jazz, great musicianship is the standard. But there’s a bright line between virtuosity, power, and technical complexity, and the slow, modal, atmospheric lyricism of beloved artists like pianist BILL EVANS and trumpeter MILES DAVIS, on his classic album KIND OF BLUE.

Quiet. Subtle. Spacious.  It's not about how many notes you play, but how beautifully you play them. As one musician says, it's about "loving every note."

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, lyrical, atmospheric European jazz from the German ECM label, on a program called SPACEJAZZ 9: RESTRAINED. Music is by the TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO, the SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS QUARTET, the MATS EILERSEN TRIO, GIOVANNI GUIDI, ELENI KARAINDROU, and DOMINIC MILLER.

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PGM 1298R 'SHADOWLANDS 2' : oct.14-21

Autumn brings transformations both subtle and powerful. The shadows lengthen as the focus of the sun moves south below the equator. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we now experience rapid seasonal climate change on top of slow global climate change. It's a transition marked by familiar changes in temperature, color, and activity in the natural world, disrupted by increasingly extreme weather events.

For ambient musicians, it's a time for complex tone colors burnished with glints of silver and gold, bittersweet harmonies, descending progressions, and gently melancholy emotions.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we transition to the darkening electro-acoustic soundscapes of autumn, on a program called SHADOWLANDS 2. Music is by MYCHAEL DANNA & TIM CLÉMENT, STEVE ROACH & MICHAEL STEARNS, MIGUEL NOYA, CLIFF MARTINEZ, ALEX HAAS, and LISA BELLA DONNA.  

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PGM 1327 'WANDERING' : oct. 7-14

One of the key built-in features of music is movement. Fast or slow, steady or changing, ascending or descending in musical space — music invites us to move within it when we listen, while also inspiring us physically to move with it.

When we move in physical space, we normally have a destination, goal, or purpose. But when we explore a new environment, we like to be goal-free, take our time, and savor the experience. We can do this with the virtual environments of ambient music.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the underrated pleasure of unplanned exploration, on a program called WANDERING.

Music is by ROBERT RICH & LUCA FORMENTINI, BJÖRN MEYER, JON DURANT & ROBERT JÜRJENDAL & PETER CHILVERS, SECONDFACE, and EIVIND AARSET.

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PGM 1172R 'THE TRANSCENDENT PIANO' : sept.30-oct.7

With its bell-like high notes, rich bass tones, subtle touch dynamics, and endless chordal, melodic and rhythmic possibilities—the piano is indispensable for many genres of contemporary music. In the history of the national Hearts of Space program, we've done more than 50 shows focused on the piano. The guitar may be the world's most popular instrument, but for range, versatility and personal expression, the piano takes the prize.

When played with sensitivity and imagination, the acoustic piano alone is capable of taking us into rarified spaces. Today in Europe, a new generation of classically trained, technically creative and musically talented Ambient musicians are exploring minimalist trance patterns, combining the piano with traditional chamber instruments, extending it with electronics, and transporting the instrument into new dimensions of contemplative sound experience.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a program of recent discoveries called THE TRANSCENDENT PIANO. Music is by NILS FRAHM, MAX RICHTER, ANGUS MACRAE, DUSTIN O'HALLORAN, DMITRI STÖKL, KAI SCHUMACHER, STEN ERLAND HERMUNDSTAD, and BRUNO SANFILIPPO.

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