Extra Eclectic

Steve Seel offers up an essay on poets and poetry for this week's episode, featuring such works as Lou Harrison's "Air for the Poet," John Corigliano's "Soliloquy" for clarinet, and Jennifer Higdon's "Scenes from the Poets Dreams." Plus, John Adams' choral symphony "Harmonium," with sung text based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson and John Donne, is the centerpiece of the first hour.

This week's episode features composers honoring the past in some way: from salutes to earlier composers (Lukas Foss' "For Aaron," Thomas Canning's "Fantasy on a Hymn Tune of Justin Morgan") to tributes to American history (John Cage's "Aparatment House 1776"). Steve Seel also features works by Peter Sculthorpe, Erkki-Sven Tuur, and more.

It's a meditation on "vastness" this week, as Steve Seel showcases music exploring the sky, the sea, and the horizons where they meet. Works include John Adams "The Dharma at Big Sur," Elena Rueher's "Let's Sit Beneath the Stars" from her String Quartet No. 1, Max Richter's gorgeous "Written on the Sky II," and works from Nico Muhly, Osvaldo Golijov, and more.

It's a dark time right now, with so much uncertain and scary. But in the darkness there is light, with acts of heroism we see around us from our health care workers. On this National Nurses Day, Steve Seel brings us glimpses of light amidst the darkness, with works including Aaron Jay Kernis' "Musica Celestis," Eric Whitacre's "Cloudburst," Keith Jarrett's "Bridge of Light," and much more.

It's a program of doubles, duos, and diptychs this time out, as Steve features a set of "music for two" in the second hour of this week's program - including music from David Borden, Kenneth Fuchs and Michael Fine, and performances by Double Edge, the Cobalt Duo, and more. Steve also showcases more new music from Dobrinka Tabakova as well as Einojuhani Rautavaara, Lou Harrison, and Ola Gjeilo.

Steve Seel shares a particularly "cosmic" Earth Day edition of the program this time out, with an ode to our planet's place in the universe and the inter-connectedness of all things. Composer Terry Riley contributes the work that the episode is named for, and Steve also features pieces from Urmas Sisask's "The Milky Way" to Nimrod Borenstein's "The Big Band and Creation of the Universe."

On this week's show, Steve Seel features modern works that utilize elements from previous centuries to sound timeless -- or at least disconnected from the present moment in inventive and sometimes eerie ways. Composers featured include Michael Nyman, Caroline Shaw, Michi Wiancko, and many others.

Derek Bermel describes his "A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace" as an ode to Bela Bartok, coming to New York as a refugee and finding alienation in a foreign land. Steve Seel also features music by Colin Jacobsen ("The Flowers of Esfahan"), Bryce Dessner ("Music for Wood and Strings"), Meredith Monk (from "The Games") and much more.

This week Steve Seel offers two hours of contemplative modern works, including Aaron Jay Kernis' "Air" for cello, Jacob Cooper's intensely moving and emotional "Stabat Mater Dolorosa," two intimate chamber works by Richard Danielpour, and more from the new choral release from British/Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova.

In the grand tradition of works like Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" comes Steve Reich's "The Four Sections" - a kind of minimalist take on the time-honored tradition of showcasing what the different sections of the orchestra can do (with a title that's suitably minimalist as well). Steve Seel features Reich's majestic orchestral work this week, as well as pieces by John Adams, Judd Greenstein, Paul Bowles, and more.