continues the Greek/Turkish theme that has been developing over the few past weeks. Tune in this Wednesday from 8-11am Central Time by pointing your browser to http://www.umfm.com/

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Nikos Skalkottas: Series III from 36 Greek Dances (1936-49)

Nikos Christodoulou - conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra

BIS Records, CD-1333/34

35:07

2. Roberto Gerhard: Symphony No.3 "Collages" (1960)

Matthias Bamert - conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra

Chandos, CHAN 9556

19:40

(Electronics meets music in this symphony for orchestra and sounds on tape played back on loudspeakers. Loudspeakers? Did I mention loudspeakers? Is it not superfluous to mention loudspeakers? How many people today experience musical sound that doesn't come from loudspeakers?

Back in the concert hall, there is a conflict between sound projected from loudspeakers and that produced by the orchestra. From the booklet notes: "The tape part is innovatory; it is designed to synchronize and combine with the orchestra and requires a musician operator, who is part of the orchestra. In the first performance... the mono tape was played out on four 15-watt speakers placed among the orchestra. The technical difficulties were considerable.... For this recording the tape was played on speakers placed in front of the orchestra on each side and recorded acoustically."

The symphony was inspired by a view of the sunrise from an airplane at 30,000 feet. For a free Komodo Dragon Show coffee mug tell me what other symphony follows a day from dawn to night?)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 11:00am

3. Iannis Xenakis: Kraanerg (1968)

Charles Zacharie Bornstein - conductor, ST-X Ensemble

Asphodel/Sombient, O975

74'

(A ballet score commissioned for the opening of Canada's National Arts Centre in Ottawa. An anthem for the rebellious youth of 1968. Cataclysmic eruptions of dissonance from the orchestra alternate with processed orchestra sounds on quadraphonic tape. Xenakis likens his music to cicadas or the rain: "These sonic events are made out of thousands of isolated sounds; this multitude of sounds, seen as a totality, is a new sonic event." His musical material is generated and transformed using mathematical models.)

4. Tulum of Hemşin: Bagpipes from Northeastern Turkey

Yaşar Çorbacioğlu - bagpipes

Earthcds, n.n.

44'

Yaşar Çorbacıoğlu-1 by CAKUTLU

Where to buy CDs featured on today's show:

Nikos Skalkottas - ArkivMusic

Roberto Gerhard - CD Universe

Iannis Xenakis - Amazon

Yaşar Çorbacioğlu - CDBaby

This week's KDS, from 8-11am Central Time on 101.5 in Winnipeg and http://www.umfm.com/, ventures quickly into thorny musical territory, politics too.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:30am

1. Nikos Skalkottas: Series II from 36 Greek Dances (1936-49)

Nikos Christodoulou - conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra

BIS Records, CD-1333/34

48:29

2. Diamanda Galás: Schrei X Live (1995)

Diamanda Galás - voice

Mute, 9037-2

26:26

("Her works largely concentrate on the topics of suffering, despair, condemnation, injustice and loss of dignity." In programming today's episode, I strove for maximum emotional contrast between the first two pieces. The booklet advises: "PERFORMED IN TOTAL DARKNESS PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME ONLY THIS IS NOT AMBIENT MUSIC" — a prescription for the next piece too.)

Set #2 - 9:30am - 11:00am

3. Iannis Xenakis: Persepolis (1971)

Fractal Records, FractalOX

55:06

(The Goldberg Variations of electroacoustic music! Composed in 1971 for a multi-media spectacular celebrating the 2500th anniverary of the Persian empire. Others have conjured up better metaphorical descriptions of the music than I can. Today, I'm primarily interested in Persepolis and its political connotations: An unpopular Iranian regime, which was about to be deposed, commissioned a Greek composer to create a piece named after the ancient capital which Alexander the Great burnt to the ground in 330 BCE. Was most recently [November 2010] performed in Los Angeles.)

4. Sote [Ata Ebtekar]: Dastgaah (2006)

Dielectric Records, n.n.

34:17
("Voices of ancient Persia" reflected in a distorting electronic mirror. Seeing this album described as "electro-ethnic" gave me pause, but it's far from the inane thumping I expected.)

Where to buy CDs featured on today's show:

Nikos Skalkottas - ArkivMusic

Diamanda Galás - CD Universe

Iannis Xenakis - Amazon

Sote - CDBaby

Crossing the Greek/Turkish frontier, I was asked: "Business or pleasure?" I said: "My business is pleasure." That's this morning on The Komodo Dragon Show, from 8-11am Central Time on 101.5 in Winnipeg; http://www.umfm.com/ in the Bosphorous.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

†1. Kostas Tzovenos: Enas mangas sto teke mou (rec. 1930s)

Roza Eskenazi - voice, Dimitris "Salonikios" Semsis - fiddle

3:20

2. Traditional-Greek: Kanun Taxim in Makam Saba

2:09

3. Traditional-Greek: Pséftise pléon o douniás

5:22

4. Traditional-Greek: Elenáki

5:11

5. Traditional-Greek: Éla pashá mou

3:26

6. Traditional-Greek: Mes' to pashá limani

2:52

Tracks 2-6 (rec. 1998)

Niki Tramba - voice; Ross Daly - oud & musical director; Socrates Sinopoulos - kemenche [spike fiddle]; Giorgos Symeonidis - ney [reed flute]; Giorgos Marinakis - violin; Giorgos Kotsinis - clarinet; Ruth Hill - bendir [frame drum], wooden spoons, darabuka [goblet drum], riq [tambourine]; Simon Hill - bendir; Panos Dimitrakopoulos - kanun [zither]; Angelina Stathopoulou - santur [hammered dulcimer]

Niki Tramba, Ross Daly & Labyrinth: At the Café Aman

Network Medien, 29.668

7. Nikos Skalkottas: Series I from 36 Greek Dances (1931-35)

Nikos Christodoulou - conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra

BIS Records, CD-1333/34

26:25

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

8. Carol Barnett: Vignettes after Pierides (1999)

Claudia White - flute, Laura Sewell - cello, Marianne Fleming Bryan - piano

Cyprus: First Impressions

Innova Recordings, 657

16:24

9. Kathryn Mishell: Suite for Piano: Images of Greece (1984)

Nancy Garrett - piano

Kathryn Mishell: Musical Voyages

Pierian Recording Society, 0014

18:55

10. Traditional-Turkish: Muhabet

3:53

11. Traditional-Turkish: Ah, Bir Atas Ver

2:49

12. Traditional-Turkish: Harman Dali

1:58

13. Traditional-Turkish/Azeri: Aman Avci Vurma Mani

2:36

14. Zeki Muren: Bir Demet Yasemen

8:11

Tracks 10-14 (rec. 1998)

Turku Eurasian Folk Ensemble: Ted Monnich - saz [long-necked lute] & kasik [wooden spoons]; Farzad Roberts - violin & oud; Shahriar Panahi - tar [long-necked lute]; Carla Monnich - davul [double-headed drum] & zils [finger cymbals] ; Dav'id Korup - tombak [goblet drum], djembe [African goblet drum], riq, ankle bells & kasik

Turku: Alleys of Instanbul

Hittite Sun Productions, HSCD-1101

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

15. Manos Hadjidakis: Topkapi (1964)

Manos Hadjidakis - conductor

Topkapi Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Kritzerland, KR 20013-1

42'

†16. Evangelos Papazoglou: O xemangas (rec. 1930s)

Rita Abadzi - voice

3:18

(Just say no thank you.)

†17. K. Karipis: Ta hanumakia (rec. 1930s)

Rita Abadzi - voice

3:13

†Tracks 1, 16 & 17

The Rough Guide to Rebétika

World Music Network, RGNET 1142 CD

18. Traditional-Greek: Clarinet Taxim in Makam Rast (rec. 1998)

Giorgos Kotsinis - clarinet

Niki Tramba, Ross Daly & Labyrinth: At the Café Aman

Network Medien, 29.668

3:11

Where to buy CDs featured on today's show:

The Rough Guide to Rebétika - CD Universe

Niki Tramba, Ross Daly & Labyrinth - Amazon

Nikos Skalkottas - ArkivMusic

Carol Barnett - Innova

Kathryn Mishell - ArkivMusic

Turku Eurasian Folk Ensemble - Amazon mp3

Manos Hadjidakis: Topkapi - out of print

Today's show, from 8-11am Central Time on 101.5 in Winnipeg and http://www.umfm.com/ in the stream, spotlights the human voice augmented by electronics and percussion. Other musical trajectories intersect, but you'll need to tune in for those.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Messe au monastère (rec. 1980)

The monks of the Benedictine Monastery of Keur Moussa

Messe et chants au Monastère de Keur Moussa, Senegal

Arion, ARN 64095

27:37

(Gregorian chant + Senegalese kora and percussion.)

2. David Fanshawe: Salaams (c. 1970)

John Lambert - conductor; David Fanshawe - cantor; Rosemary Ashe, Elizabeth Harrison & Pamela Smith - sopranos; Margaret Cable, Linda Hirst & Pat Hogan - contraltos; Peter Bamber & Gareth Roberts - tenors; Richard Jackson, David Beavan & Antony Ransome - basses; Harold Lester - piano & drums

David Fanshawe: African Sanctus

Philips, 426 055-2

21:53

(Cantor, 11 singers, piano, tape + drums.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

3. Gregorian Chant: Spiritus Domini

3:19

4. Gregorian Chant/Guillaume de Machaut: Kyrie eleison (14 century)

14:12

5. Jacob Obrecht: Pater noster (15th century)

7:03

6. Henry Purcell: Now That the Sun (pub. 1688)

5:32

7. Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium (1937)

16:37

8. Gregorian Chant: Spiritus Domini (II)

6:21

Tracks 3-8 (rec. 1993)

Arranged by Vladimir Ivanoff

Johannes Rahe - conductor, Osnabrücker Jugendchor

Metamorphoses: The Genesis

Teldec Classics, 0630-11700-2

(4-channel electronics + mixed voice choir.)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

9. Sabrina Peña Young: Creation Oratorio (2010)

Michael Engelhardt - conductor, Millkin University Women's Chorus & Millkin University Percussion Ensemble

17'

(Women's choir, percussion, keyboard + tape. Click here to download the score for free! Then follow along.)

10. Excerpts from Liturgies coptes (rec. 1999)

Georges Kirollos - director, Ibrahim Ayad - solo voice, Ensemble David

Institut du monde arabe, 321022

30'

(Monophonic Coptic chants + time-keeping bell.)

Where to buy CDs featured on today's show:

Monks of the Benedictine Monastery of Keur Moussa - Amazon mp3

David Fanshawe - CD Universe

Vladimir Ivanoff - out of print

Liturgies coptes - CD Universe