Episodes
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The Virtual Concert was developed by composer-educator Mark Weber for Music in Motion. Mark and the team discuss the creation The Virtual Concert and the tools he created to compose a work for the Relache Ensemble while sharing those tools with the audience, both in person and virtually. Two works of Mark’s will be played, Disconnect IV, and Asphalt Grooves.
All Episodes
Episode Number One - Introducing The Relache Ensemble
Joseph Franklin, Arthur Stidfole, and Joe Kasinskas reminisce about the ensemble’s early days in Philadelphia and how the name “Relache” was chosen. The musical works featured are “Forever and Sunsmell” by John Cage and “She Was a Visitor” by Robert Ashley, both performed by the Relache Ensemble.
Episode Two - Joe Kasinskas "Echoes in Palindromes"
In Echoes in Palindromes by composer Joe Kasinskas four performers move throughout the space playing musical palindromes amidst reverberant echoes. Part dance, part ritual, part dream, this work is an intuitive leap toward sonic truth.
Episode Number Three - Pauline Oliveros "The Well"
Pauline Oliveros created The Well in collaboration with dancer-choreographer, Deborah Hay, and the Relache Ensemble during a residence at the Yellow Springs Institute for the Arts and Humanities in Chester Springs, PA,
Episode Number Four - Guy Klucevsek
Accordionist-composer, Guy Klucevsek joins us to discuss some of his innovative musical works. Pianist Jenny Lin performs Oscillation No. 2 and The Flying Pipe Organ of Sian is played by the Relache Ensemble.
Episode Number Five - Eve Beglarian
Meet composer and media artist Eve Beglarian. Hear the Relache Ensemble and the MATA Ensemble play three of her works Fresh Air, Machaut in the Machine Age and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Eve and the podcast team discuss her career and how each of the works performed were created.
Episode Six - Fred Ho
Baritone saxophonist, composer, band leader, recording artist, writer, and social activist, Fred Ho was a prodigious artist who integrated Chinese folk songs and music from an African American diaspora into his works, Contradiction Please! The Revenge of Charlie Chan composed for The Relache Ensemble. His passing at 57 in 2014 has left a void in American Music. We hope this episode will rekindle an interest in Fred Ho’s music.
Episode Seven - Phill Niblock
As the founding director of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Phill Niblock presented hundreds, if not thousands of concerts at his space in downtown New York City. He has created numerous musical works for performing ensembles worldwide and he made films that have been shown at festivals throughout the world, often accompanied by his music.
Before he passed away on January 8, 2024, we interviewed Phill to discuss a work of his titled "Not Untitled, Knot Untied, Old" that was created for the Relache Ensemble, and performed by Relache in 1984 in Philadelphia.
Episode Eight - Romulus Franceschini
Romulus Franceschini was a composer, arranger, music editor and assistant curator at the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral music in Philadelphia, his hometown. “I’m an eclectic composer.” His “eclecticism” was immensely valuable to the growth and maturity of the Relache Ensemble, for whom he served as a guiding force for all things musical. Romulus passed away in 1994. This episode of the Relache Chronicles celebrates the life and music of Romulus Franceschini.
Episode Nine - New Music America 1987 Philadelphia (1 of 3)
In 1979, a group of composers, performers, video artists, producers, presenters met at The Kitchen, a renowned Downtown performance space to create a festival called New Music New York. Based on this model, The Walker Art Center produced and presented a festival the following year and called it New Music America. New Music America Festivals were held in a different city each year for nine years. In 1987, the festival was produced by the Relache organization in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia. Over a 10-day period, concerts, installations, videos, parties, and a seminar called “Talking Music” took place at venues throughout the city.
Episode Ten - New Music America Part Two "Polka from the Fringe"
This episode features the premiere of accordionist-composer Guy Klucevsek’s “Polka from the Fringe,” an investigation of Polkas in all their glory. Guy’s performance at a funky bar in Olde City Philadelphia is a must-hear for all “new music” fans. He dedicated the performance with Charles Mingus’s remark, “Let the white man develop the polka.”
Episode Eleven - New Music America 1987 Part Three
Sound installations and outdoor performances in some unlikely locations was part of New Music America throughout its eleven-year history. We’ve selected three outdoor events and an example of a computer influenced work. The composers Alvin Curran, Bob Goldberg, Joel Chadabe and the collaborative team of Christopher Janney and Joan Bingham. From the bowels of Philadelphia’s Broad Street Subway station to the Delaware River waterway, these works celebrate the diversity of musical events that were part of New Music America 1987 – Philadelphia.
Episode Twelve - Bill Duckworth
William Duckworth often collaborated with the Relache Ensemble. He was not only a composer, but also an author, educator, and professor of music at Bucknell University. He published five books on twentieth century music and theory. We discuss and listen to an early work of Bill’s titled “Pitch City Breakdown” for amplified piano and “Simple Songs About Sex and War “for mezzo-soprano and synthesizer.
Episode Thirteen - James Tenney and Critical Band
The world premiere of Critical Band, by the Relache Ensemble in 1989, is the single work to be heard and discussed on this episode. It is an extraordinary composition by James Tenney that has been described as a “sound poem,” or an “aural flower” slowly unfolding as the pitch tableau becomes evident and clear to the listener.
Episode Fourteen - Annson Kenney
Annson Kenney was a dynamic presence in Philadelphia from the mid-sixties until his death in late 1981. He was a visual artist, writer, performer, and composer. In the 1970’s Annson designed a remarkable series of works using neon tubing to explore a variety of linguistic concepts and musical gestures while he composed musical works for himself and members of the Relache. In this episode his friends and collaborators share their memories and insights into his life and we’ll hear some of those sonic works.
Episode Fifteen - Robert Ashley
Episode Fifteen of The Relache Chronicles features the work of one of the most fascinating artists of “New Music,” Robert Ashley. This episode focuses on two works that explore sound production with technology and instrumental/timbral contrasts in performance. Music includes Outcome Inevitable and excerpts from The Wolfman.
Episode Sixteen - Lois V Vierk
This episode of The Relache Chronicles features a work Lois composed for the Relache Ensemble in 1992 titled “Timberline.” Hear a conversation with Lois, Laurel Wyckoff, Joe Kasinskas and Joseph Franklin as they discuss her influences and some of the events that led to her creating “Timberline.”
Episode Seventeen - Music in Motion Part 1
Mexican composer, Arturo Marquez (seen above with Joseph Franklin and Eduardo Soto Millán) collaborated with the Relache Ensemble while in residence at Arizona State University West in Phoenix. Together they created a work titled Octeto Malandro.
Episode Eighteen - Music in Motion Part 2
Episode Eighteen is a continuation of Music in Motion, a project created by the Relache Organization in partnership with the Atlantic Center for the Arts. A total of thirty composers participated in the project. One of those was Mary Ellen Childs whose work “Parterre” was written for the Relache Ensemble.