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.