Ambient Clarinet and more...

This Thursday (June 30) on SoundScape, we will hear some music composed by Jorge Peixinho, who passed away on that day in 1995.

We will also be able to enjoy pieces by Dire Straits, Brian Eno, John Stanford and Karl Verkade. Tune in to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 from 9 pm or get it streamed live from the website.

Jorge Peixinho (born in 1940) was a Portuguese composer, pianist, and conductor. Upon having completed both his music courses: "Piano" and "Composition", by the age of 16 he received the Diploma for Composition - and by the time he was 18 he received similarly the Diploma for Piano, at the National Conservatory of Lisbon.

In 1970 he created the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group
his music gives the dimension of time as it were a three-dimensional space where musical objects float and evolve - so as to provide the listener with a "view" of the musical piece from different angles.

His presenting of John Cage's music in Lisbon - in the early 60's - caused great scandal in Portuguese society, as did his 'multi-media happenings 1965, 1967. We will hear three of his pieces, including the haunting Metamorphosis concerto for clarinet. 

This weeks Goon Show will be 'Mystery Of The Fake Neddie Seagoon', played at 10 pm.

"Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, I presume..."

This Thursday (June 23) we will have another trip into the ambient world by hearing the music that was inspired by a best-selling book...

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull will be remembered in different ways - as a wonderful soundtrack by those who first watched the movie, and as a philosophy by those who first read the book written by Richard Bach.

Richard David Bach (born 23 June 1936) is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. He claims to be a direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach.

He served in the United States Navy Reserve, then later in the New Jersey Air National Guard's 108th Fighter Wing, 141st Fighter Squadron (USAF) as a F-84F pilot. Afterwards, he worked a variety of jobs, including technical writer for Douglas Aircraft and contributing editor for Flying magazine. He later became a barnstormer. Most of his books involve flight in some way, from the early stories which are straightforwardly about flying aircraft, to Stranger to the Ground, his first book, to his later works, in which he used flight as a philosophical metaphor.

In 1970, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story about a seagull who flew for the love of flying rather than merely to catch food, was published by Macmillan Publishers after the manuscript was turned down by many other publishers. The book, which included unique photos of seagulls in flight by photographer Russell Munson, became a number-one best-seller. The book contained fewer than 10,000 words, yet it broke all hardcover sales records since Gone with the Wind. It sold more than 1,000,000 copies in 1972 alone.

In 1973, the book was turned into a movie, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, produced by Paramount Pictures Corporation. The movie included a soundtrack by Neil Diamond.

Tune in to SoundScape on Yarra Valley FM 99.1 Thursday from 9 pm to hear some music from the movie, or get it streamed live from the website.

This week's Goon Show (at 10 pm) will be "The Personal Narrative Of Capt N Seagoon".

Scary Monsters and their music...

This Thursday (June 16) from 9 pm on SoundScape, we will hear the music composed by Murray Gold for the BBC series of Dr Who.

Many shows, like Dr Who, are remembered for their special effects, or their main characters, however, music is an integral part of the atmosphere of the show. Some characters even get their own music as a theme.

Murray Gold has done much of the music for the series since 2005. Tune in to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 or get it streamed live from the website to catch this special feature.

This week's Goon Show will be 'The Great Bank Robbery'.

Take a few seconds also to have your say in the Poll (just there on the right) about whether you prefer Ambient or Classical music.

To boldly go where no-one has gone before...

This Thursday (June 9) on SoundScape, we will celebrate the message of diversity, coming to a solar system near you!

In 1977, two Voyager satellites were launched, and after their short-term goal of doing fly-by's of some our neighbouring planets, they were unleashed onto the wider universe with messages for any inquisitive aliens out there.

Each Voyager satellite has a 'gold record' on board. And on each record was a sampling of music from a variety of cultures around the world.

We will have time to listen to quite a few of these tracks, which were chosen by a panel led by Carl Sagan.

The Goon Show this week will be 'The Sleeping Prince'.

Tune in from 9 pm on Thursday to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 or get it streamed live from the website.

Take a moment also to have your say on our Poll of Classical and Ambient music (just up there on the right...)

Inaugral SoundScape

..and a welcome to the new Classical and Ambient show, 'SoundScape', on Yarra Valley FM 99.1 each Thursday from 9 pm. SoundScape can also be heard streamed live from the website.

June 2 just happens to be the birthday of several interesting composers. Two big names are Michail I Glinka (1803), and Edward William Elgar (1857).

However, we will be featuring a couple of lesser known composers on SoundScape this week. We will start with Robin Orr, who composed hundreds of liturgical pieces, and we will hear a very fitting piece for SoundScape.

The second composer takes a different tack, having composed some very well known pieces for stage shows and musicals. We will hear an interview and music of Marvin Hamlisch.

This week's Goon Show will be the 'Spectre Of Tintagel'.