Radio Eclectus #92: Joan Tower interviewed (July 22, 2021)

Radio Eclectus visits with Joan Tower to chat about her latest portrait album from Naxos, which features percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Learn what its title—Strike Zones—means, and why Tower enjoys composing for solo instruments.

We also survey a batch of new releases from Europe, featuring music by Bernhard Lang, Elena Firsova, Moritz Eggert, a pair of young London-based composers, and the great Pierre Henry, represented by the premiere recording of an epic tape piece completed a few months before his death. We also hear from our “50 years ago in the avant-garde” department as we commemorate two intriguing recordings of improvised music from a time when experimentation and dense, complex textures were flourishing in the jazz world. Radical new music from the Northwest and beyond with host Michael Schell.

Annotated playlist and photo credits in Comments.