The Tonic

1-bit sound, spectral minimalism, sleep cassettes and the life and death of one the last great Romantics feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Cyprus, Greece, Canada and the US.With music by Lena Platonos, Yannis Kyriakides, Angélique Ionatos & Nena Venetsanou, Claude Vivier, Barbara Monk Feldman, Patrick Giguère, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Tristan Perich, Pauline Anna Strom (Trans-Millenia Consort) and James Tenney.The featured image shows Audible Chairs (2022), a study in mechanically produced sound, movement and interaction by Finnish designer Hemmo Honkonen.

07/08/2024 • 119:43

Chromesthesia, a text-sound classic, dispatches from the Antarctic frontier, sixth-tone chords and a mega-cistern feature amongst others in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from the Armenian Diaspora, Austria and the US.With music by Joseph Bohigian, Charles Amirkhanian, Vahram Sarkissian, Judith Berkson, Lea Bertucci, Stuart Dempster, Clarice Jenson, Cheryl E. Leonard, Klaus Lang and Bernhard Lang.The featured image shows Nonversation - a sound sculpture using found audio of U.S. politicians discussing climate change, by interdisciplinary sculpture artist Sara Dittrich.

17/04/2024 • 115:51

Psychotropic strings, autonomous snare drums, cave music, the meta-voice and a trombone alone on the beach feature among others in a new episode of The Tonic, broadcasting this Wednesday between 1300-1430 (GMT), with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Latvia and the US.With music by Georgs Pelēcis, Aulejas Sievas (women from Auleja), Maija Einfelde, Pēteris Plakidis, Uģis Prauliņš, Ben Vida, Odeya Nini, Samuel Adams, Noah Jenkins, Austin Wulliman, Yvette Janine Jackson and Andrew McIntosh.The featured image shows 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System (2009), a video installation by Swiss Artist and composer Zimoun. 

21/02/2024 • 119:52

Interspecies communication, pipe organ techno, old time and a prelude for four diesel locomotives and harp feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium and the US.With music by Henri Pousseur, Ann Eysermans, Maxime Denuc, Pierre Slinckx, Baudouin de Jaer, Gabriela Smith, Michael Byron, Emily Pinkerton, Jim Nollman, Tyondai Braxton, Sarah Kirkland Snider, David Friend and Jerome Begin.The featured image shows Bass mit zwei saiten (1993), an interactive mechanical-electronic Sound Object by German artist Peter Vogel.

10/02/2024 • 119:20

To mark the end of 2023 Luke Fraser presented a special edition of The Tonic including a personal selection of pieces featured in the show over the past twelve months.Featuring some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK and USA.

03/02/2024 • 89:55

Sleep deprivation, the sound of reanimation (= creepy), 88 tambura and X Chairman Maos feature among others in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Sweden and the UK.With music by Georgia Rodgers, Anthony Manning, Jack Sheen, Natasha Barrett, John Leely, Leo Chadburn, Lo Kristenson, Adrian Knight, Marcus Fjellström and Catherine Christer Hennix.The featured image shows Koka’s Drone Box No. 1, a music machine built by Oslo-based artist and composer Koka Nikoladze.

01/11/2023 • 118:52

The politics of migration, the toll of separation, the sounding of painting and the poems of Walt Whitman and Lauren Rile Smith feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Brazil, Australia and the US.With music by Carolyn Chen, Molly Herron, John McGuire, Dana Jesson, Kate Moore, Paul Clift, Melissa Dunphy, Luiz Henrique Yudo, Lina Pires de Campos and Marcus Balter.The featured image shows Radiance (2020), a sculpture by Ukrainian artist Andrij Savchuk.

25/09/2023 • 114:39

Skeletons expunged, the hyper-visuality of Lagos, Boy Meets Girl (broken for you) anda spectral freeze of the scream from Psycho along with 29 spatialised piccolos feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Italy, Nigeria and the US.With music by Valentina Magaletti, Marco Baldini, Ibukun Sunday, Emeka Ogboh, Joshua Uzoigwe, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Yaz Lancaster, Derek Tywoniuk, Michael Harrison, David Bird, Carl Stone and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.The featured image shows God and I (1996), a mixed media work by Taiwanese artist Huang Wen-Hao.

06/09/2023 • 121:30

Griot classics, hardanger fiddle, tactile transducers and Messiaen in a tiki bar all feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Canada, Norway and Mali.With music by Alison Cameron, Fjóla Evans, Emilie Cecilia LeBel, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Mamadou Diabaté, Rokia Traoré, Øyvind Torvund, Helga Myhr, Thov G. Wetterhus, Dei Kjenslevare and Jon Øivind Ness.The featured image shows Sound Sculpture (2023) from the exhibition Oh Lord, Don‘t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me, by Austrian performance and media artist Valie Export.

14/06/2023 • 108:38

Interspecies communication, pipe organ techno, old time and a prelude for four diesel locomotives and harp feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Belgium and the US.With music by Henri Pousseur, Ann Eysermans, Maxime Denuc, Pierre Slinckx, Baudouin de Jaer, Gabriela Smith, Michael Byron, Emily Pinkerton, Jim Nollman, Tyondai Braxton, Sarah Kirkland Snider, David Friend and Jerome Begin.The featured image shows Bass mit zwei saiten (1993), an interactive mechanical-electronic Sound Object by German artist Peter Vogel.

19/04/2023 • 119:20

Pagan minimalism and robotic folklore rub shoulders with live coding, textile design and the auspicious thirteenth sound in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Lithuania and Mexico.With music by Carlos Chavez, Julián Carrillo, CNDSD, Robotic Folk, Juste Janulytė, Bronius Kutavičius, Egidija Medekšaitė, Jonas Tamulionis, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė and Mantvydas Leonas Pranulis.The featured image shows Nocturne for My Father (2018) a sculpture by US artist Adrian Nivola.

22/02/2023 • 122:26

The mysterious Nok culture, the sound of Sealand, a ride of the ghost train, Martian ballet, the God of sleep, and (probably) Viking bagpipes feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Nigeria, the Netherlands and the UK.With music by Chris Watson, Jasmine Morris, Duval Timothy, Rebecca Clarke, Classical Mechanics, Ayo Bankole, Fela Sowande, Nok Cultural Ensemble, Henk Badings, Emmy Wegener and Jacob TV.The featured image shows Man Ray’s Objet Indestructible (1923 / replica 1965)

13/02/2023 • 118:49

Zombies, mouth synthesisers, the scraping of shoe heels on a pavement, the reclusive pianist nun and the sound of Ethiopiyawi all feature in a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new and recently released instrumental and electronic classical music from Ethiopia, Haiti and Sweden.With music by Nathalie Joachim, Frantz Casseus and Lolita Cuevas, Ludovic Lamothe, Jean Rudy Perrault, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Ethiopian Records, Sofia Jernberg, Girma Yifrashewa, Anna Lindal and Eva Lindal, Malin Bång, and Anna von HausswolffThe featured image shows Crowd Crowd (2021), a collaboration between Japanese sound and visual artists Miyu Hosoi and Yuri Suzuki.

06/02/2023 • 119:44

This month in The Tonic: from Kenya - the sounds of Nairobi, the peace places of childhood, and the best of new ambient; from Denmark - echoes of jazz fusion and musicians as insects en masse; and from Holland - the lodestone of minimalism, math rock for normies and just a smatter of panpipe fun. Presented by Luke Fraser.With music by Nyokabi Kariuki, Joseph Kamaru (KMRU), Sophia Bauer & Raphael Kariuki (Citysynthesis), Birgitte Alsted, Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, Nancy Dalberg, Martijn Padding, Michiel Mensing, Floris van Bergeijk and Simeon ten Holt.The featured image shows Composition #11 (2016), an interactive sound sculpture by Norwegian composer and artist Eirik Brandal.

30/01/2023 • 119:52

The politics of migration, the toll of separation, the sounding of painting and the poems of Walt Whitman and Lauren Rile Smith feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Brazil, Australia and the US.With music by Carolyn Chen, Molly Herron, John McGuire, Dana Jesson, Kate Moore, Paul Clift, Melissa Dunphy, Luiz Henrique Yudo, Lina Pires de Campos and Marcus Balter.The featured image shows Radiance (2020), a sculpture by Ukrainian artist Andrij Savchuk.

23/01/2023 • 114:39

An orchestral cyborg, an autotune choir, trick repetitions, trans and queer sonics, a forgotten Minimalist classic and The Four Pillars Appearing Under Resonating Apparitions of the Eternal Process in the Midwinter Starfield feature in a new Episode of the Tonic, with some of the best new and recent instrumental and electronic classical music from Ireland and the US.With music by Randy Gibson, Sarah Hennies, Jordan Dykstra, Kate Soper, Daniel Lentz, Jennifer Walshe, Alex Dowling, Linda Buckley, Sam Perkin and Rhona Clarke.The featured image shows Hard Times Soft Sounds (2020), an audio installation by German musician and robotics engineer Moritz Simon Geist.

16/01/2023 • 118:30

The faded charm of old Hollywood, the sonic decay of old gramophones and the last embers of summer feature in a new episode of The Tonic, focusing on slow, quiet or otherwise gradually unfolding pieces that appear on new and lesser known instrumental and electronic classical music releases from across the UK and Spain.With music by Clara de Asís, Enrique Granados, Edith Alonso, Isaac Albeniz, Raquel García-Tomás, James Weeks, Kit Downes, Claire M Singer and Oliver Leith.The featured image shows Space Bell (2001), a sound installation by German artist Björn Schülke.

09/01/2023 • 119:22

Bach refigured, the thread of Ariadne, Joropo, Llanera, Bagualas, Habaneras and a dig into some vintage Cuban electronic music flesh out a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new and lesser known instrumental and electronic classical music from Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba.With music by Gabriela Montero, Antonio Lauro, Beatriz Bilbao, Heraclio Fernández, Ignacio "Indio" Figueredo, Benito Canónico, Leda Valladares, Osvaldo Golijov, Graciela Castillo, Jose White, Leo Brouwer, Carlos Fariñas and Juan Blanco.The featured image shows Closer (2014), a sound installation by Israeli artist Naama Tsabar.

02/01/2023 • 116:50

Beguine mysticism, extended modes, the Mexico City subway system, dithered quantisation and a river of butterflies feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Mexico, the US, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sardinia, Italy, and France.With music by Caterina Barbieri, Luciano Berio, Carlotta Ferrari, Maria Granillo, Javier Álvarez, Gabriela Ortiz, Ana Lara, Lady Viola Kinney, Evelyn Saylor, Robert Wannamaker and Catherine Lamb.The featured image shows the Aluminium Piano (1962), a musical instrument designed by the French artists Bernard and Francois Baschet.

26/12/2022 • 119:08

Process music, Turkish poetry, timbral fusion, electronic ethnography and Mahler suspended in zero gravity feature in a new episode of The Tonic, with Luke Fraser presenting some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico and the US.With music by Franca Sacchi, Roberto Musci, Franziska Baumann, Jürg Frey, Cem Güney, Fazil Say, Michael Winter, Eric Wubbels and Mary Jane Leach.The featured image shows Superclub (2002) an audio installation by German artist Björn Schülke.

19/12/2022 • 117:41

The sound of the Flatlands, Slovakian folk, Looney Tunes, Cyborg synthesis, ASMR, and an Enhanced Interrogation of Authenticity fill out a new episode of The Tonic, in a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from The Netherlands, Slovakia and the US. Presented by Luke FraserWith music by Ilja Zeljenka, Adrián Demoč, Iris Szeghy, Cathy Berberian, Matt Carlson, Holly Herndon, Antoine Beuger, Henriëtte Bosmans, Tera de Marez Oyens and Louis Andriessen.The featured image shows Radial Eruption (2011), an installation by Korean artist Byoungho Kim.

12/12/2022 • 119:56

The Tonic returns in a show featuring some of the best new instrumental and electronic classical music from Icelandic, Swedish and Black British composers.With music by Marta Forsberg, Maria W Horn, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Skúli Sverrisson, Thurídur Jónsdóttir, Hafdís Bjarnadóttir, Elaine Mitchener, Errollyn Wallen, Philip Herbert, Eleanor Alberga and James Wilson.The featured image shows Hydra (2020), a sound installation by Icelandic musician and artist Jónsi.

05/12/2022 • 119:54

Ancient tunings, Inuit throat singing, Carnatic lyricism, Doom Metal (but polite) and forbidden erotic poetry combine and cohere in a new episode of the Tonic, focusing on music by Norwegian, Canadian and Indian-American composers.With music by Marc Sabat, Bekah Simms, Alexina Louie, Shirish Korde, Asha Srinivasan, Shruthi Rajasekar, Arne Nordheim, Ruth Bakke and Bertil Palmar Johansen.The featured image shows Barricade (2016), part of a series of installations by Israeli artist Naama Tsabar.

28/11/2022 • 119:47

Persian mystic poetry, Iranian sci-fi, Nordic herding calls, Tudor jazz, lesser-known English pastorals, and some by-all-reasonable-assessment fairly ravishing pieces for cello feature in the latest episode of The Tonic, in a show weaving ties between electronic and acoustic classical music from Sweden, England and Iran.With music by Karin Rehnqvist, Ákos Rózmann, Ellen Arkbro, Reza Vali, Sote (Ata Ebtekar), Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Ahmad Pejman, Gerald Finzi, Anna Clyne and Herbert Howells.The featured image shows the Cristal Baschet, a musical instrument developed in the 1950s by brothers Bernard and François Baschet.

21/11/2022 • 119:56

The latest episode of The Tonic features standout electronic and instrumental classical music by African American, Ukrainian and Canadian composers.With music by Matana Roberts, Hale Smith, Shelley Washington, Olly Wilson, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Nikolai Kapustin, Bohdana Frolyak, Valentin Silvestrov, Sarah Davachi and Kali Malone.The featured image shows I blóma [In Bloom] (2019), an audio installation by artist and Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi.

16/11/2022 • 119:54

Luke Fraser presents Episode 17 of The Tonic, featuring both new and classic instrumental and electronic music with a special focus on Canada, Germany and the US.With music by Christina Kubisch, Michael Oesterle, Ana Sokolović, John Luther Adams, Nicole Lizée, James Tenney, Jocelyn Morlock and Henry Cowell.The featured image shows Black Hole Horizon (2020), an audiovisual installation by Swiss-German composer and artist Thom Kubli.

15/11/2022 • 119:24

Episode 16 of The Tonic features both new and classic instrumental and electronic music from South Korea, South Africa, Italy, Germany, Norway, France, Belgium, the UK and the USA.With pieces by Giacinto Scelsi, Moniek Darge, Howard Skempton, Ruth Anderson, Kevin Volans, Maja SK Ratkje, Gérard Grisey, Eva-Maria Houben and Unsuk Chin.The featured image shows Risonanti pressioni materiche (2014), an installation by Italian artist Roberto Pugliese.

14/11/2022 • 127:12

The Tonic returns for 2020 with a show featuring evocative modern instrumental and electronic classical music from Romania, Moravia, Iceland, Argentina, USA and France.With music by Maurice Duruflé, Anna Thorsvalsdottir, Jessie Montgomery, George Enescu, Molly Joyce, Jean-Claude Risset, Beatriz Ferreyra and Leoš Janáček.The featured image shows Ad lib. - a sound installation by the Italian artist Michele Spanghero (2013)

02/09/2022 • 118:41

Electroacoustic orchestras, the sound of pure data and some gorgeous organ music are featured in this month’s episode of The Tonic - hosted by Luke Fraser, with modern classical music originating from Puerto Rico, Japan, Russia, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, USA and the UK.Featuring music by Miroslav Raichl, Gabriella Frank, Maria de Alvear, Ryoji Ikeda, Dobrinka Tabakova, George Walker, Angélica Negrón, Lera Auerbach and Christopher FoxThe featured image shows Three Hundred Silent Pollens, a sculpture by Korean artist Byoungho Kim.

02/09/2022 • 114:13

In this latest episode of The Tonic, Luke Fraser explores instrumental and electronic classical music from Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria and Brazil.Featuring work by Giya Kancheli, Annea Lockwood, Phil Harmonic, Jocy De Oliveira, The Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, Miriam Gideon, Pēteris Vasks, William Walton and Matthew Wright.

02/09/2022 • 115:05