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PGM 1289 'JON HASSELL RETROSPECTIVE' : july 23-30

American avant-garde composer JON HASSELL died in June 2021 aged 84. Of all the artists that have been featured on Hearts of Space, due to his wide influence, theoretical brilliance, and open-minded innovation, no one deserves a retrospective more than JON HASSELL.

His 1978 debut album VERNAL EQUINOX set out his vision of what he called "Fourth World" music, which he defined as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." It's a vision that was influential with other musicians because it opened up new creative vistas rather than just rearranging the elements of old ones.

His embrace of exotic cultures was always respectful and creative, never casual or exploitive. He saw less developed countries as places where tradition was still alive, and spirituality was inherent in their music. His principal instrument was the trumpet — electronically softened, harmonized and spatialized into what one writer said "sounded as if it were played by a Berber on a distant sand dune, or from a minaret in a deserted city."

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a JON HASSELL RETROSPECTIVE.

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PGM 1288 'THE NEXT DIMENSION' : july 9-16

It's utterly without tension, reliably tonal and melodic, and wouldn't hurt a fly. Yet New Age music has been the subject of decades of casual ridicule.

Originally a grassroots phenomenon with a do-it-yourself creative ethic made possible by the home studio movement, after a period of mainstream success in the 1980s, it retreated to serving its core audience. Despite the criticism, New Age remained a popular niche, showing that a therapeutic music for relaxation, meditation, virtual travel, and alternative forms of spirituality had become something of a psychological necessity in high-intensity modern life. 

Around 2004, a critical reappraisal of the genre began, led by music blogger Douglas McGowan and by serious music collectors, Gen X'ers and Millennials who were children during the glory days of New Age. Evaluating musicians on their own merit rather than writing off the entire genre led to the conviction that some of the artists had been underappreciated, and the genre itself had been overcriticized.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, New Age music reconsidered, on a program called THE NEXT DIMENSION. Music is by DEAN EVENSON, SCOTT HUCKABAY and PHIL HEAVEN, JONNY LIPFORD, DAVE EGGAR, HIROKI OKONO, UMA SILBEY, MICHAEL BRANT DEMARIA, FORREST SMITHSON, MIKE CLAY, IASOS, and PAUL AVGERINOS.  

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PGM 1287 'PARALLEL WORLDS' : july 2-9

Of all the artists that have been featured on Hearts of Space, due to his wide influence, theoretical brilliance, and tireless innovation — no one has earned a celebratory retrospective more than JON HASSELL. An avant-garde composer and inventor of "Fourth World" music, he described it as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." Jon Hassell died this week at the age of 84.

We'll work on that retrospective, but for now we'll use one of his classics to introduce a program of the kind of globe-trotting, culture-hopping, creative ambient he inspired. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a program called PARALLEL WORLDS. Music is by JON HASSELL, TRANCE MISSION, GREEN ISAC ORCHESTRA, RICHARD BONE, DARSHAN AMBIENT, DANIEL LANOIS & ROCCO DELUCA, ALEX HAAS, and FORREST FANG.

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PGM 1286 'SUMMER STARS' : june 25-july 2

Many kinds of music are associated with one of the seasons, but ambient and environmental electronic music? — more than most. The music has to BE the season: to reflect, inhabit, and merge with the space and feeling of the seasonal environment. And when it comes to summer ambient, the pace gets slower, the harmonies get warmer, and the ethereal sounds inspire weightless floating.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we float peacefully through the star fields on the warm breezes of a summer night, on a program called SUMMER STARS. Music is by ERIK WØLLO, SUFJAN STEVENS, STEVE ROACH, RUDY ADRIAN, and AMONGST MYSELVES.

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PGM 1285 'SLACK KEY PARADISE' : june 11-18

Hawaii, ladies and gentlemen: our 50th state, a subtropical archipelago of 137 volcanic islands arising from the Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles southwest of the U.S. mainland. Unique in many ways, it's a rich multi-ethnic melting pot of indigenous Hawaiian, Polynesian, East and Southeast Asian, and North American cultures.

All this diversity gives Hawaiian music a sweetness and charm that led to popularity for the steel guitar and the ukulele in the early 20th century, and a revival of the so-called "slack key" or re-tuned finger-style guitar in the 1970s. The languid pace and tropical ambience of the music echoes the astonishing beauty of the natural setting. One visit to the Garden Island of Kauai turns a word like "paradise" from hyperbole...to description.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the languid music and lush subtropical ambience of Hawaii, on a program called SLACK KEY PARADISE. Music is by BRUCE KAPHAN & JAKE SHIMABUKURO, BOB BROZMAN & LEDWARD KAAPANA, KEOLA BEAMER & R.CARLOS NAKAI, TAIMANE, KAWIKA KAHIAPO, and WAYNE POWELL.

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PGM 1284 'FLOATING WORLDS 3' : june 4-11

The concept of a "soundscape" was defined in the 1960s as a combination of sounds that create an immersive environment. It includes sounds of the natural acoustic environment and weather—called the geophony; animals and insects—called the biophony; and sounds made by humans—the anthropophony.

In Canada, the soundscape idea was established for a whole generation of musicians by composer and educator R. MURRAY SCHAFER. Among his students were two young Canadian electronic musicians — MYCHAEL DANNA and TIM CLEMENT. In the mid 1980s they were creating what they called "environmental electronic music" like this classic track from the album SUMMERLAND.

DANNA went on to become an A-list film composer known for non-traditional scores for films like The Life of Pi, while the combination of natural acoustic environmental sounds and electronic music became one of the enduring trends in the ambient music of today. Like scores for imaginary films, they can entertain, challenge, or sooth us, sending signals to our ancient limbic alert system that tell us to be vigilant, or relax.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a collection of immersive environments and electro-acoustic soundscapes called FLOATING WORLDS 3. Music is by DANNA & CLÉMENT, SINEPEARL, TOM EATON, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, ALIO DIE & REMCO HELBERS, and STEVE ROACH.

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PGM 1283 'THE SOUND of BLISS' : may 21-28

THE GROUP BLISS was a warm breeze that emerged from chilly Denmark in 2001, the project of writer/producers MARK-GEORGE ANDERSON and STEFFEN AASKOVEN. Original vocalists TCHANDO from Guinea-Bissau and ALEXANDRA HAMNEDE (hahm-NYED-eh) from Sweden, brought soulful African and refined jazz elements to the group's polished mix of pop songcraft, subtle ambient electronics, ethnic and classical elements.

Successful in Europe from the start, their music appeared on dozens of compilations and soundtracks. Four more excellent albums followed between 2003 and 2013, establishing BLISS as elite artists in the popular ambient/downtempo/chill genre. It took five years before they released an album in the U.S. and started building an international fanbase. They'd be household names in the States if not for the fact that the word "bliss" is apparently irresistible to musicians; more than a dozen other artists exploit the name or use it as a title, leaving a confusing mess for all of them.

So when it comes to "Danish Bliss" we're not talking about pastry, but as you'll hear, a superior contemporary world-ambient-downtempo experience. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an overdue retrospective called THE SOUND OF BLISS.

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PGM 1282 'SANCTUM SANCTORUM' : may 14-21

Composer CONSTANCE DEMBY passed peacefully in 2021 at age 81. She was an original character, a fun-loving free spirit who emerged out of the creative upheaval of the 1960s as a "sound sculptor" of resonant steel instruments, and member of an anarchic hippie musical group from Maine. After the group disbanded in the mid-1970s, she was drawn to the spiritual path, studied yoga, made the pilgrimage to India, and began to compose devotional music.

Back in the U.S., she settled in Northern California, started her own cassette label, and pursued a recording career armed with a modest musical education enhanced by great intuitive intensity. She was gifted with a profound talent for melody and a lavish gift for orchestration that served her well. From her earliest recordings she aimed to create what she called "sacred space music" — at first with acoustic instruments, later with electronic synthesizers and studio tools. She was one of the earliest adopters of electronic sampling keyboards, which gave her access to the full spectrum of orchestral instruments she employed in her choral symphonies.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a Constance Demby posthumous retrospective, on a program called SANCTUM SANCTORUM.

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PGM 1281 'ANTIPODEAN SPACE' : may 7-14

The great Southern lands known today as Australia and New Zealand were once called "the Antipodes" (an-TIP-ohdees) by the British. The word literally means 'the other side of the world.' If you tunneled straight down from the British Isles through the center of the earth, Australia is roughly where you'd emerge — upside down, of course.

Even after it was colonized by the British, for centuries Australia was seen by the rest of the Western world as remote, exotic, and inaccessible. And even in the internet age, this isolation has meant that Australian music, art and culture has often gone unnoticed. Yet since the late 1970's, Australia has seen talented composers creating rich veins of contemporary music, including space-creating instrumental music in a variety of styles.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space guest-produced by our Australian colleague MIKE G (the man behind the essential web site AmbientMusicGuide.com) a selection of ambient and atmospheric music by Australian artists from the 1980's to the present, on a program called "ANTIPODEAN SPACE."

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PGM 1280 'DRONES and MICROTONES' : apr. 23-30

DRONES—not the ones that fly, take pictures and drop bombs, but sustained musical reference tones—have been used for thousands of years. Simple, effective, and popular, drones originated in ancient southwest Asia, and spread to Europe, India, and Africa.

For many contemporary listeners, their first encounter with a drone was in Indian classical music. It's normally produced by a dedicated instrument called the tamboura (or tanpura), which creates a sustained buzzing sound with the reference pitch and a harmonic fifth above it. Some Indian instruments like the sitar, sarod, and saranghi have drone strings built-in. Not to be outdone, western bagpipes produce multiple drones, as does the medieval hurdy-gurdy. And today, drones are common in electronic and avant-garde music.

Microtones are another basic feature of Indian music. Where western music uses just 12 equally spaced tones to the octave, Indian scales typically have 22, allowing more elaborate melodies and ornamentation. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the entrancing sounds of Indian contemplative music, on a program called DRONES & MICROTONES.

Music is by SAMIR BODHI, HANS CHRISTIAN, AL GROMER KHAN, J.J. GREGG, RAMAN & SRIKANTH, MANOSE, and AMELIA CUNI & WERNER DURAND.

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PGM 1279 'IMAGINARY WORLDS' : apr.16-23

Music is something we literally create out of thin air. For millennia it was defined by the sound of physical instruments and the human voice. As instruments evolved and became more refined, music became more complex and sophisticated. By the late 19th century, French composers like Debussy and Ravel were creating orchestral "impressions" of imaginary places and events—an early form of what we now call Virtual Reality.

Since ancient times, literary and religious texts have described mythic fantasy worlds with magical and supernatural elements. It took music centuries to catch up, but in the 20th century, electronic instruments finally gave composers a virtually unlimited set of tools to create imaginary environments. Today we have music for fantasy films and video games, and ambient composers invent fantastic immersive environments for our traveling pleasure.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, virtual realms of fantasy and imagination, on a program called IMAGINARY WORLDS.

Music is by ISHQ, DESENSITIZED, STEVE ROACH & SERENA GABRIEL, DEBORAH MARTIN, KEVIN BRAHENY FORTUNE, and KRILL.MINIMA.

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PGM 1278 'IMMORTAL MELODIES 2' : apr.2-9

No European musician has achieved the status of JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, who is regularly cited as the greatest composer in history. He dominated the Baroque era of 18th century Germany, and in retrospect, played a key transitional role in the evolution of Western classical music.

His virtuosity as a performer, productivity and brilliance as a composer, the vast range of his secular music and sublime profundity of his religious music — have never been equaled. An innovator in his time, he expanded the role of the pipe organ in the church and embraced new styles, while his adoption of the "well-tempered" scale set the course for the future.

Beyond its breadth, depth, intellectual and emotional power, the appeal of Bach's music can be attributed to something more basic: Bach was a master of melody. The spacious lyricism of his chorales and contemplative arias creates an atmosphere of sacred mysticism that's as relevant today as it was in Baroque Germany.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space from our regular guest producer for classical and sacred music ELLEN HOLMES, an all-Bach program called IMMORTAL MELODIES 2. Performances by pianists CHAD LAWSON, MARTA & GYORGY KURTÁG, and ANNA GOURARI, cellists YO-YO MA and ELISE ROBINEAU, organists FRANZ HAUK and OLIVIER LATRY, and strings by FRETWORK, the BBC PHILHARMONIC and the BBC SYMPHONY.

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PGM 1277 'SECRETS OF THE STARS' : mar.26-apr.2

It's well established that electronic music naturally creates images of cosmic space. Almost fifty years ago, it was given the logical name: spacemusic. The genre has two common modes: flying music is rhythm-powered and goal-oriented, moving through space bound for distant galaxies; floating music is static and timeless, resting peacefully in vast, silent starscapes.

As the genre evolved, electronic composers gave expression to the drama in the supreme adventure of exploring the cosmos — a feeling we share today even on missions close to our home planet. They ask the existential and extraterrestrial questions: Who are we? and Are we alone?

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, it's another cosmic-electronic journey, on a program called SECRETS OF THE STARS. Music is by EXTRAWORLD, STARTERRA, DAVE LUXTON, SEABAT, JONN SERRIE,  DREAMSTATE LOGIC, and JAJA.

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PGM 1276 'SIX STRING SPRING' : mar.19-26

This week we transit the Spring Equinox, the official beginning of spring and a good time to check in on the ambient space guitar. Acoustic or electric, live or sampled, looped or direct, straight up or processed, folk, jazz, or classical — even in the electronic age, the venerable six string guitar continues to make itself indispensable almost everywhere music happens.

Guitarists of the Ambient persuasion take it slow, quiet, and spatially expanded, leaving the virtuosic fireworks to their rock brothers and sisters. Occasionally...a heroic rock guitarist like JEFF BECK or BUCKETHEAD will journey to the contemplative side of the instrument just to do something completely different.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a spacey, twangy, laid-back, subtle, turn-of-the-season journey for ambient guitar — on a program called SIX STRING SPRING. Music is by CHRIS HAUGEN, LISA BELLA DONNA, CLAES NILSSON, CARL WEINGARTEN, BLUE STAR, and TONY GERBER, with PHIL KEAGGY and DREAMHUB. 

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PGM 1275 'OPTIMISM' : mar. 5-12

I think we can all agree that the last year of the pandemic — from March 2020 to March 2021 — has been one of the most difficult, disrupted, and disheartening in American history. One memorable commercial starring the devil and his girlfriend dubbed it "The Year From Hell." No one argued.

The unprecedented strain on our collective nerves led to a boom in therapeutic, calming, psychologically healing music and media. Much of it here on Hearts of Space was dark and melancholy, reflecting feelings of fear, isolation, depression, and loss.

With the arrival of powerful vaccines and new management, things have finally started to improve. And while it's not yet time to celebrate, we've begun to allow ourselves a positive view of the future. Optimism emerges when hope turns into real, positive change. Like prayer, hope is intangible—a hazy image of a better future. Optimism is hope fulfilled, based on real events and how they're moving.

Optimism inspires music with a positive tone, fresh energy, a sense of comfort, and expanding possibilities. It's a rest stop on the road to joy. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, optimistic ambient for improving times, on a program called — OPTIMISM.

Music is by THIERRY DAVID, DAVID HELPLING, DIGITONAL, and LIQUID MIND.

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PGM 1274 'SOLEMN HOPE' : feb.19-26

The ambient-neoclassical duo of pianist DUSTIN O'HALLORAN and electronic musician ADAM WILTZIE — collectively A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN — have a name that not only sets them apart, but needs some explanation.

As you might expect for two Americans who met in Italy while touring, their music has more to do with European art than their roots in California and Texas. It starts with the Greek goddess Nike, who became the Roman goddess of victory, conveniently named Victoria. She's familiar to students of art history as a triumphal winged figure on coins, jewelry, and architecture. Her most famous monument is The Winged Victory of Samothrace, now in the Louvre—a masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture and the very classical embodiment of the spirit of triumph.

So it's a stroke of post-classical genius to address their work to "the sullen," and a shrewd way of managing the expectations of a possibly cynical post-modern audience: the regal pace and transcendent beauty of their music brings a feeling of quiet reassurance. They're members of a popular group of modern classical composers with an integral ambient sensibility. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, reassuring neo-classical ambient for trying times, on a program called SOLEMN HOPE.

Music is by A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN, TERJE RYPDAL, BEN LUKAS BOYSEN, JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON, JEFF GREINKE, VOLKER BERTELMANN & DUSTIN O'HALLORAN, and SLOW MEADOW.

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PGM 1273 'MYSTIC METALS 2' : feb.12-19

BELLS, BOWLS, and GONGS — charter members of the struck idiophone family of resonant percussion.

BELLS originated in Neolithic China in the 3rd millennium BC. They were made of bronze, glass, ceramic, or minerals like quartz with a crystalline molecular structure. When formed into a circular cup shape and struck, bells produce a pitched tone and harmonics, which fade away slowly. Mechanical resonance gives bells their characteristic ringing sound.

GONGS are another member of the resonant percussion family from East and Southeast Asia. Suspended gongs are flat circles that produce clouds of sound without a central pitch; bossed gongs have a raised center, and are tuned to produce pitched tones.

BOWLS or more accurately bowl gongs, are both; they start as a flat circle like a gong, and are then bent into a bowl shape like a bell. They also produce a pitched tone and are often called singing bowls.

So much for the physics — the real mystery is the metaphysics. For millennia, these simple instruments have been used for ritual and ceremony, religious services, meditation and contemplative experience. Today there's a quiet boom in subtle, psychoactive sound, with hundreds of dedicated artists creating "deep listening" concerts, "sound baths," and recordings. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the wintry tones of bells, bowls and gongs, on a program called MYSTIC METALS 2.

Music is by JARGUNA, HANS CHRISTIAN, KARMA MOFFET, SATORIO, SHAWN FEENEY, SCOTT LAWLOR, and THE LOVELY MOON.

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PGM 1272 'RESONANT HEART' : feb. 5-12

In Part 1 of our posthumous retrospective of cellist DAVID DARLING called 'RESONANT DARK,' we focused on his groundbreaking early albums for the German ECM label. Darling told the story of his first session with ECM producer MANFRED EICHER, who set the agenda definitively by saying "I want you to go as deep as you can go." In ten albums from 1980 to 2000, they did just that, defining and setting a standard for darkly serious ambient chamber music.

But there was other music in David Darling's heart. In the early 1990s, he began to pursue a more varied, romantic, even playful direction in recordings for other labels. Rather than the two day recording schedule at ECM, he took his time. Working with patient, supportive engineer/producers like MICKEY HOULIHAN and TOMMY SKARUPA, Darling achieved new heights of beauty in his solo recordings, collaborated generously with other artists, and broadened his appeal. Through it all, he continued to inspire, teaching and leading improvisation workshops for his non-profit organization Music For People, and working with spiritual teachers like AL HUANG, SYLVIA NAKKACH, and COLEMAN BARKS.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we focus on David Darling's post-ECM recordings EIGHT STRING RELIGION, CELLO BLUE, GRATITUDE, HOMAGE TO KINDNESS, and his Grammy-winning PRAYER FOR COMPASSION.

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PGM 1271 'RESONANT DARK' (David Darling Retrospective Pt.1) - jan.22-29

The hypnotic pizzicato rhythm; the patient exploration of contemplative space; the ardent lyricism and emotional depth of the virtual string orchestra — these are hallmarks of the music of cellist DAVID DARLING, who left us at the beginning of 2021 after a long and exemplary life in music. When HOS launched our nationally syndicated program in 1983, David Darling was featured in program number one, and was already one of our core artists.

Born in Indiana in 1941, he studied cello at Indiana State University, became the first cellist of the pioneering jazz/classical fusion ensemble THE WINTER CONSORT in 1970, and played principal cello in the Nashville Symphony. His 1980 solo debut on the respected German jazz label ECM began a twenty year creative relationship with producer MANFRED EICHER, and ten albums that set a standard for creative contemporary string recordings.

In a unique career that extended over 50 years, David Darling distinguished himself as much more than a contemporary musician. His work as a music educator, contributions to humanitarian projects, and collaborations with poets and spiritual teachers, set an example of a musical life devoted to service and inspiration.

In addition to his ECM recordings, Darling sought out collaborations from outside the world of contemporary jazz, resulting in many diverse and richly romantic recordings, which we'll cover in a second retrospective. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the ECM recordings of DAVID DARLING, on a program called RESONANT DARK.

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PGM 1270 'WINTER FOG' : jan.15-22

The forlorn, hypnotic sound of foghorns echoing over San Francisco Bay, recorded in 1981 by the pioneering environmental sound artist BILL FONTANA. It's an artifact of a bygone era: the fog horns are still there, but as an aid to navigation they've mostly been replaced by GPS. Fortunately, Fontana's work has now been memorialized in a deluxe CD edition from the Bay area New Music label Other Minds Records. It makes a lovely souvenir of foggy, hypothermic summer nights in San Francisco.

As an atmospheric phenomenon, fog has been with us since the earth cooled enough for water vapor to condense into tiny droplets that float on air. For humans, fog reduces visibility and makes it difficult, even dangerous, to move around; on the plus side, fog creates subtle monochromatic dreamworlds of endless beauty and fascination for both visual artists and ambient musicians.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, chilled, soft-focus, atmospheric dreamworlds...on a program called WINTER FOG. Music is by BILL FONTANA, INGRAM MARSHALL, BRIAN ENO, JEFF GREINKE, MICHAEL BRÜCKNER, and ROBERT RICH.

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PGM 1269 'TRANSLUCENT DRIFTS' : jan. 8-15

This is our second retrospective of the music of Southern California ambient/minimalist composer HAROLD BUDD. Part 1 covered 1978 to 2006, when he announced his "retirement" at age 70. He wasn't serious. After a brief rest, he was more active than ever. Between then and his death at the end of 2020, he added 16 additional collaborations, soundtracks, and solo albums to his already large catalog.

Early in his career, Budd rejected the ugly, dissonant sounds of the 20th century avant-garde, embraced traditional consonant tonality, and made it new: “In my music the focus has shifted to consonance as a thing in itself," he told The New York Times in 1987. "I hear an absolute whole life in consonant chords.”

His classic "soft pedal" piano style, described as "yearning piano motifs and reverb-laden impressionism," developed and matured during his work with BRIAN ENO. After making his reputation in England, Budd returned to Los Angeles and started a second family in his 60's. While the early years had been about establishing his approach to meditative, atmospheric music, now he worked with sympatico English ambient guitarists who instinctively understood the aesthetics of his "poetic dreamworlds" and "esoteric reveries." Budd relaxed into his comfort zone, while expanding into film and TV scoring and chamber music. His career had a certain inverse symmetry: after abandoning academic classical music in the beginning, at the end he was writing for string quartets.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, our second HAROLD BUDD retrospective called TRANSLUCENT DRIFTS, featuring late solo works and collaborations with ROBIN GUTHRIE, CLIVE WRIGHT, and JOHN FOXX.

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PGM 1268 'THE ETERNAL HARP' : dec. 11-18

Quick quiz: what's one of the oldest instruments in the world, heard in musical cultures in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, and revered by folk, classical and contemporary musicians alike?  Here's a hint: you can think of it as a large guitar, or a small piano.

Give up? It's the harp — a descendant of the Persian chang and the Sumerian lyre — still with us after four thousand years. With tones ranging from seductively soft and warm to bright and bell-like, scales from diatonic to chromatic, and now acoustic and electric versions, the harp is both the original therapeutic instrument, and a vehicle for avant-garde experimentation. Now that is range.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE — folk, classical and contemporary music for acoustic and electric harp, on a program called THE ETERNAL HARP. Music is by LISA LYNNE & ARYEH FRANKFURTER, TRINE OPSAHL, LAVINIA MEIJER, CECILIA CHAILLY, SOMEI SATOH, and from Belgium ECHO COLLECTIVE.

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PGM 1267 'COSMIC ELECTRONIC 2' : dec.4-11

Just over a hundred years ago, English composer GUSTAV HOLST created the hugely popular orchestral suite THE PLANETS. He used conventional acoustic instruments. Just think of what he'd have done with the electronic instruments of today. In fact, if you give a musician a synth the odds are they'll use it to create some of the cosmic brand of ambient we like to call "spacemusic."

It's been that way since the earliest days of electronic music. The cool, abstract, non-material tones of electronic instruments were intuitively associated with the moon, the planets, the stars and the entire cosmic panorama.

Cosmic music led to another discovery: rhythm created by electronic tones generated by programmable machines called sequencers, instead of drums. Why? Because drums grounded the music in the physical world, and tethered the imagery of the music to acoustic space. The goal was the infinite release and infinite freedom...of infinite space.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another cosmic electronic journey across the starfields to distant galaxies, on a program called COSMIC ELECTRONIC 2. Music is by STARTERRA, EXTRAWORLD, TRANSPONDER, ASC, OVNIMOON, and SYNC24.

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PGM 1266 'RECESSION 2' : nov. 27-dec. 4

In a normal year, the autumn season brings music with smoky timbres, dissonant harmonies, descending progressions, and gentle melancholy. This year we have to include the emotions that accompany a devastating global disease, isolation, and loss. We're challenged to reach into our battered hearts and summon up additional generosity, to give thanks for what we have.

Now the days grow short, the nights grow long, and a chill descends on the land as the northern hemisphere slowly tilts away from the sun. It's a time for quiet reflection and the cultivation of inner strength to confront the challenges ahead. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, ambient, chamber and sacred music for a haunted autumn, on a program called RECESSION 2. Music is by KEVIN KELLER, ÓLAFUR ARNALDS, DAVID DARLING, GUNNARD DOBOZE, and MAX RICHTER.

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PGM 1265 'SCORPIANO' : nov.13-20

 

The evolution of the pianoforte into the modern piano since the 18th century created an artistic platform for both players and composers. By the 1970s solo piano recordings emerged as a vehicle for personal expression and statements of musical identity. Ubiquitous and flexible, the piano supported virtuosity and musical complexity as readily as simplicity and sentimentality. Recordings ranged from the intense improvised outpourings of KEITH JARRETT and the folk impressionism of GEORGE WINSTON, to the "generative music" algorithms of BRIAN ENO.

Today the solo piano medium can be truly personal, while on a deeper level, quiet, spacious, serene ambient music addresses a collective psychological need for relief from the tension and intensity of daily life. That still leaves room for many different approaches. Along with typical new age sweetness and trancey minimalist repetition, we find artists attracted to dark worlds, somber tone colors, and dissonant harmonies, with sophisticated production techniques that add textural complexity and intrigue to the conventional sound of the acoustic piano.

As we transit the house of Scorpio in this plague year 2020 transmission of Hearts of Space...a darktime excursion, on a program called SCORPIANO. Music is by JILL TRACY, MATTHEW LABARGE, DAVID NORLAND, and BRUNO SANFILIPPO.

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