Since so many parts of my daily life are dominated by music, I’ve had to find at least one non-musical activity to clear my head. I discovered the Radiolab Podcast a few months ago, and have been addicted since: I’m currently listening through the entire back-log of episodes.
The show usually deals with “science, philosophy, and human experience;” music is usually only in the background. The hosts always bring up an interesting and intriguing perspective each episode.
(On a side note, the producers of the show must be raiding my iTunes library for the background, between-segment music, searching for music that’s well-known to music aficionados, but nevertheless isn’t typical of the classical “canon.” I’m always pleasantly surprised. Fauré’s Requiem, David Lang’s Sweet Air, Liszt’s Les Preludes, Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, and Michael Torke’s Saxophone Concerto are a few that I remember— here is a great Spotify playlist that a fan started to compile. Host/producer Jad Abumrad graduated from Oberlin with a music degree!)
The other day I came across an episode titled “In C”, centered on an album of remixes of the seminal work by Terry Riley. Several interviews (with Michael Lowenstern and Zoe Keating along with Radiolab host Jad Abumrad) detail the processes used to break apart and reassemble In C. It was fascinating to hear the different approaches and results— and whether/how each remixer decided to keep Riley’s “trance.” The only instructions: “make a 4-8 minute track.”
The cross-genre album “In C Remixed” is available here, and includes other remixes by David Lang, Nico Muhly, Phil Kline, and others.
Listening to all of this made me wonder: what other “classical standards” could receive similar treatment? Distributed to a group of composers to reimagine and reinterpret— what would result? It’s just as much a reflection of what each person hears originally as it is a new creation.
