Episode Thirty-One: Daniel Lentz

Episode 31 features music and conversation about one of the many composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that have been celebrated throughout contemporary music worlds. His musical vision has not had the audience that it deserves.  This episode of The Relache Chronicles will provide an insight to Daniel Lentz and one of his most dynamic works, “Wolf Mass.” Arthur Sabatini and Tressa Berman were close associates of Daniel’s at Arizona State University’s Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Program. They provide information and analysis on sections of “Wolf Mass” as well as references to other musical works by Daniel.  Joseph Franklin, Arthur Stidfole and Joe Kasinskas provide other impressions of Daniel’s music and legacy.  

Episode 30!  Wow. We at The Relache Chronicles cannot believe that we’ve crafted thirty episodes of the podcast over a five-year period featuring recorded performances and commentary of a time in American music history that, to our minds will likely not be repeated any time soon.  Sure enough, we’ve selected composers and music that celebrates our admiration for them – socially and artistically  - while telling stories that reflect our times together.  Episode One features two artists whose artistic visions gave rise to The Relache Ensemble.  To tie together this totemic period (mid-to-late twentieth century),  Episode Thirty  is wrapped around the music of composer Aaron Jay Kernis.As you will learn from our conversation with Aaron, we’ve known him since the early years of The Relache Ensemble. Our conversation with him is full of good memories and stories. The music that we’ve featured is an early work of Aaron’s titled “Music for Trio IV” composed for flute, cello and piano composed in 1982, and performed by Laurel Wyckoff, flute; Charles Forbes, cello; and guest artist  Marc-Andre Hamelin  The performance is from  New Music America 1987 in Philadelphia. So, settle back and enjoy this trip down the proverbial memory lane. 

Episode Twenty-Nine: Michael NymanMichael Nyman is a composer of concert music, film scores and the author of a book  that   influenced countless composers and educators in the late twentieth century that embraced musical styles counter to the modernist music of European and American composers whose works dominated university faculties worldwide. Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond certainly influenced the producing team here at The Relache Chronicles. Michael’s music for films is likely best known for those directed by Peter Greenaway. His score for Jane Campion’s film, “The Piano” is possibly his best-known work. Michael’s music has been referenced as “…taking no prisoners…” It is hard-driving, episodic, repetitive, at times very loud, and always unique. So, of course, it attracted the Relache Ensemble who then commissioned him to write a piece that is titled “HRT.”  Composed in 1995-96, “HRT” was a dominant work in The Relache Ensemble’s repertoire during those years, and it was recorded on the Monroe Street Music label in 1997, now out of print. It is that recording  and a conversation about Michael we’ll feature on this episode. The members of The Relache ensemble were Laurel Wyckoff, flutes and piccolo;  Ken Ulansey, saxophone and clarinet; Lloyd Shorter, oboe and English horn; Jon Gaarder, bassoon;  Kathleen Carroll, viola; Douglas Mapp, bass and electric bass. 

On February 25, 2026 “Comin’ On Home – A Concert for Guy” was held at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY. On the day before what would have been his 79th birthday, the concert celebrated the life and music of accordionist, composer and performer, Guy Klucevsek who passed away on May 22, 2025.  Guy was well known to international audiences for his exquisite playing.  His compositions for solo accordion number in the hundreds. He performed and recorded numerous works by other composers that were commissioned specially for him. He was a sideman or leader of numerous ensembles in the United States and Europe. He created pieces for ensembles such as Relache and Little Big Top (both of them are featured in this episode). His quartet Accordion Tribe toured Europe and became the subject of a documentary film. You can see a complete listing of his compositions, solo performances and collaborations with artists worldwide on his website .  Three earlier episodes of The Relache Chronicles are dedicated to Guy’s music. Episodes 4 and 10 feature conversations with him and the team as well as recordings of his music. Episode twenty-three is a personal tribute to Guy by the Relache Chronicles producing team, all close personal friends. To those episodes, we add Episode Twenty-Eight. “Comin’ On Home – A Concert for Guy” featured thirty-one works played by eight soloists and twenty-four ensemble players who were friends and collaborators of Guy’s. From those thirty-one works, we have selected eight to play on this episode. They are performed by The Relache Ensemble, Little Big Top Ensemble, accordionists Nathan Koci, Alex Meixner and Will Holshauser, violinists, Andie Tanning and Todd Reynolds, pianist Joe Kubera, and singer Kamala Sankaram. We have included links to the complete audio and video recording of Comin' On Home - A Concert for Guy and the 28-page program booklet (with program notes on each piece in the concert order.) The complete audio and video recordings of the concert can be found on the Roulette website HERE. You can download the program booklet HERE.  

Created, written and performed by Arthur Sabatini, The Walkings are literary and poetic musings and commentaries set to music of William Duckworth’s “The Time Curve Preludes,” played by pianist Neely Bruce from a recording on the Lovely Music label. (Episode Twelve of The Relache Chronicles features Bill’s music plus commentary from the Relache Chronicles Team, who were all friends of Bill’s.) Arthur’s personal and professional association with Bill Duckworth and his wife, media artist, Nora Farrel is explained by Arthur as he charts a mythical path through time as “The Chronicler,” the name he adopted as a member of The Cathedral Band. (Cathedral, the iPod Opera and iOrpheus were creations of Bill and Nora in collaboration with a group of artists.) This episode consists of thirteen preludes from The Walkings. Click HERE for a full recorded performance of all twenty-four preludes. Although different from Arthur’s collaborations with Bill, Nora and The Cathedral Band, The Walkings represent a tribute to their artistic legacies. It is beautifully performed by Arthur and Neely Bruce. The Walkings is somewhat of a departure from the format of earlier episodes, but true to the intent of The Relache Chronicles, it honors the music and related projects created and performed by members of Relache’s extended family.   

Composer Joe Kasinskas moved to the Philadelphia area when the Relache Ensemble was still in a formative stage of defining itself as a performing  entity. Its mission was, of course, performing new music within the experimental music traditions. In those days, the ensemble  tossed a wide net, hoping to snare young composers with visions of how to incorporate evolving performative styles and emerging electronic and computer technologies in a compelling  manner that would appeal to a new, inquisitive audience. Joe’s timing was impeccable. He  envisioned musical works that used analog audio-acoustic systems to enhance, alter and extend the sounds generated by traditional musical instruments. He often used mythological stories as vehicles within which to set his musical creations. That is the focus on this episode of the Relache Chronicles.Two works will be featured that were incorporated into a musical theater  piece titled “Demeter’s Lament.” The first, titled “Vesperal Span” for solo flute  features an analog delay technique that produces an aural illusion of sound moving in space. The second work, titled “Flight of Birds”  for solo violin uses an analog delay to create an environmental echo suggesting a group of birds talking flight, an illusory image emanating from the violin. Each work was intended to serve as a concert performance piece as well as a part of “Demeter’s Lament.”  

Three works by composer and media artist Eve Beglarian titled “Fresh Air,” “Machaut in the Machine Age,” and “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” performed by the Relache Ensemble and the MATA Ensemble are featured. Throughout her extensive composing career, Eve has collaborated with numerous performers - poets, theater artists and directors, choreographers, and visual artists – to create works in a variety of media, including her long-term project named Book of Days. Listen as Eve and the podcast team discuss her career and how each of the works performed were created. Duration is 49’30.”

Bertolt Brecht, playwright, director, poet and provocateur, was a dynamic figure throughout his life, whether it be in his native Germany or during his residence in the United States.  Best known for collaborating with composer Kurt Weill to create a unique style of music and theater in the early years of the 20th century, Brecht also collaborated with other composers, principally Hanns Eisler with whom he shared a distinct political perspective. Both Brecht and Eisler resided in Los Angeles with other European artists and intellectuals, after fleeing their respective homes prior to and during WWII. During those years in Los Angeles and upon their return to what became East Germany following the war, they collaborated on a collection of songs as Brecht continued to write poetry and plays. Their collaboration is the focus of Episode Twenty-Five.In the early 1980’s members of the Relache Ensemble – and friends – developed a music theater work that celebrated Brecht and Eisler’s songs and poetry. The title of the piece is “Bertolt Brecht and Song.” Part One of the work features songs by Brecht-Weill sung by Relache’s featured vocalist, Barbara Noska accompanied by the late accordionist-composer, Guy Klucevsek. Part Two features songs by Eisler-Brecht and poetry by Brecht performed by Barbara Noska, actor Christopher Hayes and guitarist Joe Kasinskas. “Bertolt Brecht and Song” premiered at the Yellow Springs Institute in Pennsylvania. This is the performance that is featured on Episode Twenty-Five of The Relache Chronicles. 

This is a major work by the pioneering composer, sound artist and activist, Pauline Oliveros. Created in collaboration with dancer-choreographer, Deborah Hay, and the Relache Ensemble while in residence at the Yellow Springs Institute for the Arts and Humanities in Chester Springs, PA, “The Well” has been performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South America by Relache and recorded on Hat Hut Records. The podcast team discusses how “The Well” was developed and shaped in collaboration with Pauline and Deborah, with assistance from Guy Klucevsek, who was an original member of the Relache Ensemble. Duration is 34’34.”

Episode No. 2 Joe Kasinskas.  One of the more dynamic works in the Relache Ensemble’s extensive catalogue of site-specific performances is titled “Echoes in Palindromes” by composer Joe Kasinskas. Following a carefully scripted graphic score, four performers move throughout a performance space playing notated musical palindromes amidst reverberant echoes, the result of audio-playback procedures while two “microphonists” follow their movements in search of the resonant frequency of the room. Part dance, part ritual, part dream, this work is an intuitive leap toward sonic truth. Duration is 33’10.”