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PGM 958 'AFTERGLOW' : sept. 30-oct.7

In the golden days that follow the autumn equinox, the natural world enters a period of recession. The heat of summer often lingers while the light declines; the evening crickets sing their hearts out in a final quest for immortality, and the withering leaves crackle underfoot as the trees begin their seasonal transformation.

It's a time that calls for a special music: contemplative, melancholy, austere...beyond ambition. A music of pure tones and slow melodies — elegant, unassuming, suffused with quiet beauty. The classic combination of the piano and the cello sounds the season perfectly, with clear, bell-like notes ringing over a rich, dark foundation. For this sound, we return every autumn to the immaculate recordings of the German ECM label.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, sublime chamber music for the autumn transition, on a program called AFTERGLOW.

Music is by pianist KETIL BJORNSTAD with cellists SVANTE HENRYSON and DAVID DARLING, and French pianist FRANCOIS COUTURIER.

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PGM 957 'MYSTERIOSO' : sept. 23-30

[We begin with] a classic piece of electronic spacemusic from France by JEAN-MICHEL JARRE. With just a few notes, it creates a whole world of mystery and imagination. Slow, deep, romantic and sublime, it invites us into a place that's unknown and unpredictable, yet alluring.

It's true that all good music takes you away, but since the 1970s artists have been using electronic tools to craft a sound that takes you to places far beyond the reach of ordinary music. Dark ambient electronics have become a vehicle...for transport to deep virtual worlds and exotic environments.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we travel the dark ambient spaceways, on a program called MYSTERIOSO. Music is by JEAN MICHEL JARRE, A PRODUCE & LOREN NERELL, PAUL ELLIS, MEG BOWLES, RICHARD BONE, ERIK WOLLO, KIT WATKINS, and ANDREW LAHIFF.

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PGM 956 'PIANOSPHERES 2' : sept. 16-23

In the waning days of summer, the crickets sing us to sleep and the night winds turn cool. As we round the season into Indian summer and autumn, it's a good time to revisit the ambient piano. In the right hands, it's a source of personal expression and deep listening satisfaction. Whether on extended solo flights or a supporting role, the piano is at once physically solid and musically unlimited, yet can be weightless and immaterial.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...the gentle, spacious world of the ambient piano, on a program called PIANOSPHERES 2. Music is by RALPH ZURMUHLE, HELEN JANE LONG, HAROLD BUDD and ROBIN GUTHRIE, MICHAEL UYTTEBROEK, and LUDOVICO EINAUDI.

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PGM 605R 'TERROR and HOPE' : sept 9-16

This week we mark the 10th anniversary of the historic attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Memory of traumatic events changes over time; while others will be recounting the facts and events of that day, we will recall some of the feelings it provoked by repeating a special program from the following week. Even after 10 years the wound remains tender, the fear it created remains present, and the hope for a better world remains a vision and a prayer.

It was an epoch-defining event that temporarily rendered everything else insignificant. Even our ordinary diet of violent media had not prepared us to comprehend the implacable hatred and disregard for life/ of this phantom enemy. Perhaps no single act in American history has raised more questions, more emotions, more tears.

In the weeks following the attacks, as we arose from our pain and began to move forward, we remained poised on the edge of catharsis — and it is in that spirit that we bring you a program called TERROR AND HOPE.

If spring is the season of hope, then it is fitting that in the spring of 1999, in advance of the Millenium, Sony Classical released a choral symphony by New York composer JONATHAN ELIAS, titled THE PRAYER CYCLE. As we did in 1999, this week we devote the entirety of Hearts of Space to this extraordinary music. But this week, it will sound different, feel different, and will have a different meaning.

JONATHAN ELIAS began writing THE PRAYER CYCLE in the period immediately before the birth of his first child. "I was excited by the possibilities for my child," he says, "but I also felt anxiety and sadness about the world she was about to enter. With all the wondrous advances of mankind, it was painful to acknowledge the other defining characteristic of the 20th century, which is more calculated and cold-blooded than any other period of recorded history. Is man's inhumanity to man as common in our nature as other forms of survival? With these thoughts and concerns, I began to write 'The Prayer Cycle.'"

The effect of this brilliant multi-cultural, multi-language production is extraordinarily powerful and appropriate. "Prayer," says composer Elias, "is what we turn to when the only thing we have left...is hope."

JONATHAN ELIAS' THE PRAYER CYCLE... a eulogy for the 20th century ...a prayer for the 21st... and a plea for a world where we have no choice but to get along — because anything else is unthinkable. TERROR AND HOPE...on this edition...of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 911R 'GALACTICASTER' : sept 2 - 9

When LEO FENDER re-designed the solid body electric guitar in the 1950s, he wanted to make it louder, cheaper and less fragile than existing instruments. Fender called his first guitar the Broadcaster, renamed it the Telecaster, and followed it up a few years later with the soon-to-be classic Stratocaster.

It seems he was thinking of electronics and…clouds. But he couldn't have anticipated that future guitarists would take the instrument out of the atmosphere completely and into deep space, adding layers of electronic distortion, echo and reverberation to create a sound that can only be called cosmic.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a tribute to Leo Fender on another installment of our long-running Space Guitars series called GALACTICASTER. Music is by CLIVE WRIGHT & HAROLD BUDD, HAMMOCK, MONO, FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN, JEFF BECK, JONSI, and JEFF PEARCE.

[ view playlist ]     [ view Flickr image gallery ]     [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]