Episode 5 of Reverberations centers on a book of piano preludes written and performed by conductor, composer and pianist Teddy Abrams. In the episode, Connery and Abrams discuss his social and pedagogical agenda to reach amateur pianists around the country and the world. “I realized that there are very few living composers who have entered the repertoire for pianists,” says Abrams. “I wanted to write some music that would literally be accessible to anyone.” The episode also explores Abrams’ striking decision to use electronic production on the album. The ultimate result, a collaboration with producers Gabriel Kahane and Casey Foubert, exemplifies Abrams’ desire to enliven the classical music of today through novel juxtapositions with neighboring musical worlds.

Support the show

Episode 4 of Reverberations explores the question: “Can music go out of style?” Composer Juri Seo’s Obsolete Music album suggests that music is ageless. Obsolete Music is Seo’s collaboration with the flexible ensemble Latitude 49. Each track on the record pays homage to a form or style from the past (e.g. “Fugue” or “Ostinato”) in order to reimagine it. Seo’s own decision to become a musician is rooted in an important encounter with Bach and species counterpoint at the age of 11. The episode begins with Seo explaining this epiphany: “My mind and body came together through a fugue.”

Support the show

This episode of Reverberations is a conversation with composer and trombonist Alex Paxton about his album called Delicious. Host Majel Connery and Paxton discuss his early adulthood as a children’s music educator and how that experience still frames his compositional approach. They delve into the complexity of Paxton’s scores, his concept of melody, and his teenage fantasy of speaking exclusively in trombone. Says Paxton, with characteristic zest for colliding opposites: “my music is influenced by biting into a strawberry, but also by brushing your teeth every day for thirty years, playing a spontaneous game with a child when you’re really engaged but also maybe playing with a child doing a repetitive game for four hours.”

Support the show

In this episode of Reverberations, host Majel Connery talks to David Longstreth about his album, Song of the Earth, an orchestral song cycle featuring Longstreth and his band The Dirty Projectors along with a host of other collaborators, including the commissioning ensemble, s t a r g a z e. Beginning with the album’s titular inspiration, Mahler’s Song of the Earth, Connery and Longstreth discuss the surprising proximity of Mahler and the Beach Boys; the courage to write a triad; Longstreth’s affinity for echo chambers; and what it means to try to write music about the environment. Of the album’s penultimate song he says: “[Given] the legitimate despair that...the record conjures, to summon the opposite, to summon hope, didn’t feel easy. It did feel insane. It’s an insane way to end the record.”

Support the show

The opening episode of Reverberations Season 2 is a conversation with Owls, a pioneering string group that flips the traditional string quartet model to produce an ensemble with 1 violin, 1 viola and 2 cellos. All four members of the group are represented on the call: violinist Alexi Kenney, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko. In the episode, we explore the implications of this “inverted string quartet” in terms of musical dynamics, and how Owls co-creates the repertoire it plays. We also touch on Owls’ childhood love of hockets, pitch matching, and their debut album, Rare Birds. Says Kenney: “We love trying to be each other’s sounds.”

Support the show

For the lastepisode of the first season of Reverberations, host Majel Connery talks to William Brittelle, one of New Amsterdam Records' co-founders and co-artistic directors, about his album Alive in the Electric Snow Dream, which was released earlier this year and developed in collaboration with Metropolis Ensemble during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support the show

In this episode of Reverberations, host Majel Connery talks to pianist Adam Tendler about his upcoming album, Inheritances. This commissioning project became a live show and, ultimately, an album containing compositional pieces by Laurie Anderson, Missy Mazzoli, Devonté Hynes, and many more artists. Connery and Tendler talk about fragments on Inheritances that involve Adam’s speaking and singing voice. They also discuss Adam’s views on the relationship between music, grief, public healing, and queerness in music.

Support the show

On this episode of Reverberations, host Majel Connery and Peni Candra Rini discuss her double album, 'Wulansih' and 'Wani.' Candra Rini, who is from Indonesia, talks about her stylistic flexibility, vocal abilities, and the diverse regional influences in her music. She also addresses the recurring theme of climate change in her work and her ambition to become one of the few prominent female composers from her country.

Support the show