What would you do if someone gave you a magical electronic instrument, one that could create any sound you could imagine? You might play it like a conventional acoustic instrument with a distinctive tone; or you might invent entirely new kinds of music, free from the physical limitations of breath, bow, vibrating strings, resonant tubes, stretched skins and skilled fingers...that defined traditional music for centuries. Something like this actually happened to musicians beginning early in the 20th century. Along with recording technology, electronic music started a revolution we still haven't heard the end of a century later — a world of hundreds of new electronic genres, from so called IDM or Intelligent Dance Music, to an almost endless array of contemplative electronic sounds for solitary experience and "deep listening." On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we focus on electronic music for virtual travel, on a program called ELECTRON TRAVELER 3. Music is by PALANCAR, STELLARDRONE, ALIO DIE, CONNECT.OHM, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, ISHQ, and BOB HOLROYD. [ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

It's fitting that we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in March, when we can either be enduring the final insults of winter, or enjoying the gentle rains, green leaves and pink blossoms of spring. Whatever the weather, Celtic music can rise to the occasion. Of all the world's folk musics, the Celtic tradition is one of the most extensive in range and varied in emotional expression. From heroic marches to joyous dances, from melancholy dirges to heart-rending ballads — Celtic music reflects the panorama of human feeling. The Celtic revival of the 1980s and 90s brought new attention to the genre, and motivated native Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Breton musicians to new heights, while many other nationalities of Celtic descent were inspired to extend the boundaries of the genre, leading to a kind of golden era for Celtic music. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another excursion in the Celtic soundscape, on a program called THE ENCHANTED HARP. Music is by AINE MINOGUE, ADRIAN VON ZIEGLER, JEFF JOHNSON & BRIAN DUNNING, WILLIAM COULTER & MARY McLAUGHLIN, DAVY SPILLANE, SKYEDANCE, AOIFE NI FHEARAIGH, TRINE OPSAHL, SARAH COPUS, and MÉAV, [ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

The perception of time is as elusive as a subatomic particle. As soon as you concentrate on it, it changes. Something similar happens in the contemporary music genre called Minimalism. Invented in the 1960s by composers looking for an escape from the bitter dissonances and static textures of academic Serialism, artists like LA MONTE YOUNG, TERRY RILEY, STEVE REICH, PHILIP GLASS and JOHN ADAMS created a new approach to composition that changes our sense of time. Simplicity, silence, repetition, slowly changing phrases, continuous drones, modal tunings and hypnotic patterns created flowing textures and a meditative quality that's influenced Classical and Electronic, Rap and Rock. And the foundations of Minimalism were absorbed by BRIAN ENO in the 1970s and applied to the new language of electronics to create Ambient music. Today the characteristics of minimalism are so embedded in contemporary music that we hardly notice them. And since the turn of the century, there's been a move to "humanize" the strict forms of Minimalism by adding back the melodic and harmonic sensitivity of Classical music. No one has had more success at this than Italian composer and pianist LUDOVICO EINAUDI. As I said about him in 2008: "Like fine Italian food, fashion and design, Einaudi's music has a humanized opulence and sensual appeal. The elements are simple and often repetitive, but the effect is subtle, contemplative, satisfying, even profound." On this transmission of Hearts of Space...the timeless sound of humanized Minimalism, on a program called TIME LAPSE. Music is by LUDOVICO EINAUDI, JIM FOX, HAROLD BUDD, JERI-MAE G. ASTOLFI, and BRUNO SANFILIPPO. [ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

If musical genres had birthdays, electronic music would now be over a hundred years old. The first playable instruments appeared around the 1920s, but things really got going in 1957 with the invention of the first vacuum tube synthesizer. You can still see this electronic fossil at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center at Columbia University in New York City.

Since then, electronic music has been on a roll, merging with the computer to breed new instruments and new sounds in a 50-year period of continuous evolution. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another excursion in the electronic soundscape called KONTINUUM.

The famous "space-time continuum" in physics merges three-dimensional space and time into a single four-dimensional construct. In music, as in science, a continuum is something that retains a common character from beginning to end, and changes by regular degrees. The music on this program by KLAUS SCHULZE, RICHARD BONE, IGNEOUS FLAME and DAVID PARSONS -- fits that definition.

This week we conclude our suite of winter holiday programs with another deep journey into the sublime world of sacred choral music, from our longtime guest producer for classical and sacred music ELLEN HOLMES.

There's a lightness and purity in these subtle harmonies that's often described as angelic. Whether they've come down to us from 800 years ago or just yesterday, by doing less, they achieve more. They engage us on a deeper, more internal level when we simply open ourselves to the sound and listen with the heart.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the ethereal, angelic sound of choral voices, on a program called ANGELICO.

More than any other, during the winter holiday season, we revisit classic melodies — hymns and songs from the past that are loved and enjoyed annually by millions. One of the most popular of these is the Christian Advent hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."

The modern version is thought to derive from an 8th or 12th century Latin text, 15th century French processional music, and a 19th century translation. Whatever the origin, it has a stately and hypnotic character that encourages repeated listening, and it carries a message of remembrance and longing, in this case, for the return of the Messiah.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...music for the winter holiday season, on a program called WAITING FOR EMMANUEL.

In a world of seemingly endless conflict and strife, when the social fabric is being stretched and tattered, the pure, innocent sound of the boys choir arrives on the cold winter air as an audible balm for the soul. For choral singing is not only a venerable religious tradition: in the sound of massed voices, we experience an inspiring example of human harmony, cooperation, and generosity.

The Mass of the Eastern Orthodox church is a particularly rich source of this nourishment, and though the music for unaccompanied voices has liturgical roots, so universal is the sound that you don't have to understand a word to appreciate it.

The Welsh music critic and novelist PAUL GRIFFITHS put it beautifully:

"Melodies in these songs are traces dissolving in

the waters of eternity, [an eternity] implied by

harmonies that sound like reverberations...

This is harmony seeking silence."

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...we dive deep into the choral ocean, on a program called SACRED SONGS. Music is by LIBERA, ARVO PART, CAPPELLA ROMANA, ERIC WHITACRE, and VALENTIN SILVESTROV.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, the chilled months of the winter season begin in earnest, and with them the celebration of light itself, conjoined with the year-end religious celebrations. From the pre-Christian and Pagan festivals of the sun, to Christian, Jewish and Hindu celebrations of light, we chase away the gloom of the season with a special radiance.

The music of midwinter embodies this transition from the dark harmonies of late autumn to the festive atmosphere of the year-end solstice and religious celebrations: lyrical, optimistic, and heartwarming.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, ambient chamber music for the transition to the season of light, on a program called ILLUMINATION. Artists are KEVIN KELLER, RUSSEL WALDER, JENNIFER ZULLI, and TIM STORY.

You're listening to the first wholly electronic musical instrument: the theremin, invented in 1920 by a 21-year old Russian physics student named LEV TERMEN. It emerged out of Russian government research into proximity sensors. Today, every smartphone has them, but back then it was cutting-edge technology. No less a historical figure than VLADIMIR LENIN was so impressed by the theremin that he took lessons to play it, and sent young Termen around the world to demonstrate it as an example of Russian scientific achievement. Lev Terman arrived in New York in 1927 and became LEON THEREMIN. The original name for his instrument was the aetherphone or etherophone, later the Theremin and Thereminvox. It was the first musical instrument played entirely without touching: metal wands for pitch and volume are controlled by the position and movement of the hands and body in air, which makes it very difficult to play. The first real virtuoso of the theremin was a former Russian violinist named CLARA ROCKMORE, who developed a technique called aerial fingering. With this, she could play Romantic classics like this Rachmaninoff Vocalise, as well as the eerie sci-fi soundtracks for which the instrument became known. The late ROBERT MOOG of Moog synthesizer fame built theremins and sold theremin kits, and today the instrument remains a kind of cult classic among electronic musicians. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the theremin and some of its ethereal electronic descendants, on a program called ETHEROPHONIC. Music is by CLARA ROCKMORE, ARMEN RA, GEVORG DABAGIAN, DJIVAN GASPARYAN, MICHAEL MUSED, MAITREYA, BERNARD XOLOTL & DANIEL KOBIALKA, and ROBERT MARGOULEFF & MALCOLM CECIL.

We're descending into the autumn soundscape, a world of deepening colors, diminishing daylight, and declining temperatures. As the sun withdraws, we ride the trail of recession in the natural world. It's a time for patience, acceptance, forbearance. Ambient musicians reflect the feelings of the season with acoustic and electronic sounds, slowing time and stretching space with descending progressions and darkening harmonies. On this transmission of Hearts of Space...an ambient journey for late autumn, on a program called DIMINUENDO. Music is by PATRICK O'HEARN, ERIK WOLLO, PAUL AVGERINOS, BRUNO SANFILIPPO, HAROLD BUDD & BRIAN ENO, ROBERT RICH, and DARSHAN AMBIENT.