Other Minds' recent release of new works commissioned and performed by pianist Sarah Cahill.

A Sweeter Music is a collection of new compositions based on the theme of peace and war.

The composers on this disc are Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Yoko Ono, The Residents, Phil Kline, Kyle Gann, and Carl Stone (in the entire project there are eighteen composers involved). Sarah commissioned these particular composers because of their commitment as anti-war activists or their strong political conscience.

Track Listing:

1.  Terry Riley: Be Kind to One Another (Rag)
(2008/2010) (12:41)

2.  Meredith Monk: Steppe Music (excerpts)
(1997) (8:02)

Frederic Rzewski: Peace Dances (2007/2008) (13:06) 

3.  I (1:35)
4.  II (1:07)
5.  Ill (1:30)
6.  IV (1:25)
7.  V (1:10)
8.  VI (3:43)
9.  VII (2:36)

10.  Kyle Gann: War Is Just a Racket (2008) (9:14)

11.  Carl Stone: Sonamu (2010) (6:42) with Carl Stone, electronics

Phil Kline: The Long Winter (2009) (12:56)
12.  Crash (6:32)
13.  Embers (6:25)

14.  Yoko Ono: Toning (2008) (6:31)

15.  The Residents: drum no fife (2008) (9:07) text and narration by The Residents

Total Time (78:20)

–London’s Financial Times calls A Sweeter Music “a unique commissioning programme that unites artistic aspirations with moral philosophy.” 

–According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “the music, helped along by the impassioned force of Cahill’s playing, amounted to a persuasive and varied investigation of the subject.” 

–The Village Voice wrote that the new commissioned pieces “will live as event-driven art long after this war finally ends, in the fashion of Picasso's Guernica.”

Read Joshua Kosman's review of A Sweeter Music here at SF Gate