Flotation Device wishes saxophonist Evan Parker a happy 80th birthday, and explores the world of Giacinto Scelsi, highlighting its influence on the classic spectralism of France's preeminent living composer, Tristan Murail. We check out a John Adams miniature written for Marin Alsop, who's just given it its first recording, and commence a deep dive into Josh Modney’s new monument to complex hybrid composition: Ascending Primes. We’ve got avant-electronica from Belgium and Ukraine, a Jack Van Zandt piano piece inspired by an ancient Irish monument, and a pair of alternatingly austere and spiky compositions by one of Germany’s leading composers, Wolfgang Rihm. And we look back fondly on the Kronos Quartet’s 50-year history on the occasion of the retirement of two of its longstanding members. Cameos by Frank Zappa and Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis Sextet round out the wide-ranging playlist on the Northwest’s premiere and longest-running radio show devoted to new and exploratory music.
