Poster Missy Mazzoli
This episode of 'Extra Eclectic' features music by Missy Mazzoli.
Caroline Tompkins
Extra Eclectic

Whimsy and wonder

Extra Eclectic - May 7, 2025

Composer Missy Mazzoli imagines a hurdy gurdy — that wheezing, droning instrument dating from the middle ages — “flung out into space” and into orbit, in her piece Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres). Yes, it’s a whimsical idea, and whimsy is on the docket on this week’s Extra Eclectic. Steve Seel also features Caroline Shaw’s The Observatory, Christopher Cerrone's Ode to Joy, and Laurie Spiegel’s inversion of Charles Ives’ famous title in her work The Unquestioned Answer. Listen now!

Playlist

Alleluia in Form of a Toccata
Louise Talma
Orion Weiss, piano
First Hand 129

The Observatory
Caroline Shaw
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Platoon DALIA01

Please Be Still
Jlin
Third Coast Percussion
Cedille 236

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
Missy Mazzoli
Tim Weiss, conductor
Arctic Philharmonic
Bis 2572

A Boy and a Makeshift Toy
Mary Kouyoumdjian
Jessica Oudin, viola
Navona 6644

Ode to Joy
Christopher Cerrone
Sandbox Percussion
Pentatone 7403

Polar: The Waves
Gabriel Olafs
Viktor Orri Arnason, conductor
Reykjavik Orchestra

saman
Olafur Arnalds
Jess Gillam Ensemble
Jess Gillam, soprano saxophone
London/Decca 4870832

Lignum
Jekabs Jancevskis
Kremerata Baltica
Alina Vizine, Zane Kalnina, Rakele Chijenaite, svilpaunieki
ECM 2745

Season of Light
Fuse & Xavi Torres
Fuse
Fusemusic 2024

Organum Light
Dobrinka Tabakova
Julian Azkoul, conductor
United Strings of Europe
Bis 2739

The Unquestioned Answer
Laurie Spiegel
James McVinnie, organ

Absence
Magnus Lindberg
Nicholas Collon, conductor
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ondine 1436

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