Transmissions
Requiem For A Mother
Miri Berlin (DE 2023)
Miri Berlin (DE 2023)
9 min
This sound composition combines field recordings with electronic elements to document the acoustic and atmospheric character of various stages – from the intensive care unit to the vigil and on to the crematorium.
In the intensive care unit, the rhythmic sounds of the ventilator and the beeps of medical devices are the first things you hear. Afterward, we find ourselves in a Berlin courtyard where the casket, on a metal trolley, is transported from the mortuary to the room where the vigil takes place.
In the middle of the room, the casket is open. The door to the courtyard is ajar, allowing ambient sounds to permeate the space. The final stage is the crematorium, where the sounds of powerful ventilation fans and a relentless drone dominate. The furnace door opens with a loud mechanical sound as the casket glides on the rails. The fire becomes visible, hissing and crackling before the door quickly closes again.
Produced by: Miri Berlin
In The Dark What’s New: The Meaning of Alexa
Owen Duff UK 2023)
The Owen Duff (UK 2022)
6 min
Owen Duff is an independent musician who also works part time for a London council. In the past couple of years he’s been experimenting with sound art, after taking a music masters course at Goldsmiths University.
“The Meaning of Alexa” is one of the pieces that he made on the course - an improvised piano and voice “duet” between Owen and an Amazon Echo smart speaker. It was originally a live performance, with improvised questions and piano playing in response to Alexa’s answer. Owen then edited and augmented this with sound design and also added in recordings that the Amazon Echo took itself, of him. It was inspired by writing on digital capitalism and neoliberalism by authors Han Byung-Chul, Wendy Brown and others.
Produced by: Owen Duff
The Battle of Lewisham
Skevos Loizou (UK 2018)
Skevos Loizou (UK 2018)
18 min
On August 13th 1977 The Battle of Lewisham played a major part in the start of the fall of the National Front in the UK. During the 1970s the NF had made major gains in elections and were building a racist movement. The NF organised a march through Lewisham is South London, they were physically confronted by the local comunity, trade unionists, and anti racisits. Even with Police protection the march capitulated. Set with the backdrop of the music of the time here are Stories from the Battle of Lewisham.
Producer - Skevos Loizou
I Am Better Than I Was
Myriam Pruvot (BE 2018)
Myriam Pruvot (BE 2018)
14 min
Music and spoken word in fragments with texts taken from Mohamed Ali's speech before his fight with George Foreman in 1974 mixed with extracts from the diary of a young woman.
Produced by Myriam Pruvot
Every Voice: The Magic Flute: From Morehouse … to the opera house with Monostatos
David Norville + Terrance McKnight (US 2023)
David Norville + Terrance McKnight (US 2023)
22min Episode 1 of 5
Every Voice spotlights the vibrant stories and perspectives that reflect the whole of the American musical experience. There are many different kinds of classical music, depending on where you are in the world. While this music typically preserves the traditions of a given society, classical music in America remains wedded to its Western European roots. This show explores why — and what America’s classical music really sounds like. Through interviews, historical investigation, and personal storytelling, Terrance McKnight unearths the hidden voices that have been shaping our musical traditions all along. This debut season examines the representation of Blackness in opera. While character flaws are universal, stereotypes often fall along racial lines. We look at the loneliness, jealousy, self-loathing, and cultural appropriation associated with African characters in 18th and 19th century operas by Mozart and Verdi, introducing the African-American personalities found in the operas of Atlanta-based composer Dr. Sharon Willis.
Hosted by Terrance McKnight
Produced by David Norville
Contributing Strategic Advisor Tony Phillips
The Juggler
Bridey Addison-Child (UK 2023)
Bridey Addison-Child (UK 2023)
16 min
A sonic meditation on juggling. There is of course the physical act of throwing balls (and not stones) in the air but of course juggling contains so many other metaphores for how we manage different aspects of our lives.
This piece was originally performed live onstage as part of an event for In The Dark
This piece was originally performed live onstage as part of an event for In The Dark founded by Nina Garthwaite, and run by Talia Augustidus.
Featuring Lucy "Juggles" Eden
Sound designed by Bridey Addison-Child
Violin by Alexander Tay
Outside Is The Sky
James Ginzburg and Patrick Eakin Young (UK 2021)
James Ginzburg and Patrick Eakin Young (UK 2021)
31 min
The jagged surfaces and iridescent veneers of electronic artist Aho Ssan’s labyrinthine debut become the material and psychological furnishings of a sonic dystopia in this chilling allegorical fable. Like all Class 8 citizens, Désiré has spent his entire life confined to cramped living quarters, with no access to the outside world. When his parents suddenly vanish from the apartment, he is forced to confront his own role in their disappearance, and begins to question everything he thought he knew about his situation.
From the award winning Soundworlds - an audio stage for diverse stories told in extraordinary ways. It’s a place for an exciting new form of audio drama that we call sonic theatre.
Written with artist/musician James Ginzburg
Directed by Patrick Eakin Young
Produced by Eleanor Turney & George Warren
The Dreams
Delia Derbyshire and Barry Bermange (DE 1964)
Delia Derbyshire and Barry Bermange (UK 1964)
45 min
The Dreams is one of four programmes "Inventions for Radio", this is surprisingly modern collection of spliced/reassembled interviews with people describing their dreams.
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop provided a base for a series of exceptional composers and sound designers but none of them generated quite the same level of interest and fascination as Delia Derbyshire.
Delia's editing and repetition, together with her dissonant, often terrifying musique concrete soundbeds, make this distinctly uneasy bedtime listening.
Producers: Delia Derbyshire and Barry Bermange
Radio Ballad: The Travelling People (1964)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (1963)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (UK 1963)
59 min
This new revolutionary format - radio ballad (BBC) conceived by folk musicians Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and the brilliant radio documentary maker Charles Parker in 1958, combining sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. This had never been done before, and still sounds incredibly fresh today.
This ballad gives voice to travellers in the UK as well as the people who have a distrust or fear of this group. Note this was recorded in 1963 and some people featured are quite outspoken about their racist beliefs.
Producer: Charles Parker
Music: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Listen to more Radio Ballads
The Solitude Trilogy: The Idea of North
Glenn Gould (CA 1967)
Glenn Gould (CA 1967)
56min Episode 1 of 1
A visit to the archives with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's landmark radio documentary, The Idea of North, first aired on CBC Radio in 1967.
In his boldly experimental program about the Canadian north, the pianist used a technique he called "contrapuntal radio," layering speaking voices on top of each other to create a unique sonic environment situated in the space between conversation and music.
The North provided Gould with an ideal subject matter for exploring the condition of solitude.
"hybrids of music, drama, and several other strains, including essay, journalism, anthropology, ethics, social commentary, and contemporary history."
The densely layered radio pieces presented a real challenge to audiences at the time, and they still do. Yet their enduring cultural impact — a rare feat for radio programming — speaks to the inspired balance of music and meaning that Gould was able to achieve.