music

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 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 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 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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PGM 1357R ‘AUTUMN TWILIGHT’ : nov.14-21

Of all the seasons, fall is the one that comes with the most mixed emotions: relief at the return of moderate temperatures, pleasure at nature’s autumn color show, and a feeling of melancholy at the darkening of the light.

Technical interventions like Daylight Saving Time can’t hide the fact that the amount of daylight is decreasing. In the northern hemisphere, we’re counting down to the Winter Solstice—the shortest day of the year, around December 21st.

For ambient musicians, fall offers a darker palette, more somber harmonies, and a call to explore deeper feelings. On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we descend into the dimming light of fall, on a program called “AUTUMN TWILIGHT.”’

Music is by TOM EATON, BOB HOLROYD, SUBDREAM, DEEPSPACE, STEVE ROACH, and RUSSEL WALDER.

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PGM 1409 ‘ADAGIETTO’ : nov.7-14

Sublime melodic classics for string orchestra and small ensembles

The language of music notation is Italian, and the Italian word “adagietto” calls for a musical tempo that falls between adagio—”slow and stately”—and andante—”at a walking pace” — calm, flowing, relaxed.

By far the best known adagietto in the classical repertoire is the gorgeous 4th movement of GUSTAV MAHLER’s Symphony No. 5, which due to its length and beauty is often performed as a standalone concert piece. We’ll be hearing it on this transmission of Hearts of Space from longtime guest producer for classical and sacred music, ELLEN HOLMES, on a special program of much-loved orchestral and chamber classics called ADAGIETTO.

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PGM. 1331R ‘CELLO ELEGIES 2’ : oct.31-nov.7

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, it’s 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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