Skip to content
Sonic
AI
Sonic
AI
Home
Discover
Ask Sonic
Projects
Use with Claude or ChatGPT
Show me around
Request source or feature
673. What Is Money? | Freakonomics Radio, Sonic AI
Home
/
Freakonomics Radio
/
673. What Is Money? | Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio
Notify me
•
May 1, 2026
•
54:11
Interview
673. What Is Money? | Freakonomics Radio
From
Freakonomics Radio
David Lang
(Composer and Professor of Composition, Yale University, guest)
Get the full transcript next time Freakonomics Radio releases an episode
Summary, key quotes, top claims, and the searchable transcript — emailed automatically. No card needed.
Sign up
Executive Summary
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to create "The Wealth of Nations," an oratorio inspired by Adam Smith's seminal economic text.
The episode follows Lang's creative process, exploring how he translated dense economic theory into an emotional musical experience by focusing on themes of human connection, labor, and community.
Lang incorporates texts from other American thinkers like Frederick Douglass and Eugene V.
Debs to create a broader, more critical conversation about wealth, inequality, and the moral structure of commerce.
The discussion also covers Lang's broader philosophy on music and community, highlighting his collaborative ethos through his work with the Bang on a Can festival and his belief in making music more democratic and participatory.
Continue your research
Keep pulling the thread on David Lang.
Translating Economics into Art
Community and Collaboration in Music
The Artist's Relationship with Money
Or ask anything across 400+ expert conversations
7
quotes
Transcript
Key Arguments
Analysis
Quotes & Entities
7
Related
Loading transcript...
Processed May 4, 2026
Daily intelligence brief →
yt-dlp + mlx-whisper + Gemini