In a rare display of efficiency and common sense, learned from Mom, I promote both my Saturday specialty shows – “Sweetness and Light” and “The Lost Chord” – within a single post, under the unifying theme of Mother’s Day.
First the light stuff, as we indulge in a suite of sweets on nursery themes by Grace Williams, Charles Williams, and Vaughan Williams (all unrelated). Also, Wolfgang Amadeus Williams – er, I mean Mozart.
Of course, Mom deserves more, so we’ll also hear Yo-Yo Ma (despite his name, not really a mother, though if inflected a certain way when spoken, guaranteed to get Mom’s attention) and Luciano Pavarotti (accompanied by Henry Mancini, no less).
Start the day with a musical candygram on “Sweetness and Light, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 EDT.
Then drop back later, as we go long-hair, on “The Lost Chord,” with an hour of more substantial works honoring mothers.
Josef Suk, former pupil and son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, composed the bittersweet cycle of piano pieces “About Mother” to enshrine his tenderest memories of his wife – Dvořák’s daughter Ottilie – in music, for his son, who would have been too young at the time of her death to remember her himself.
Craig Russell conceived the second movement of his Symphony No. 2, “American Scenes,” as a homage to his mother. Given the title “Gate City: Methodist Hymn,” the work is intended not only as a reflection of her personal faith but also the Appalachian beauty of her hometown of Gate City, Virginia.
Finally, Camille Saint-Saëns had his mother very much in mind when he composed his Cello Sonata No. 1. Here, the second movement is constructed on a theme from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera “L’Africaine,” of which his mother was particularly fond. Her influence also looms over the last movement, which the composer wrote as a hasty replacement after she objected to the original version (which was premiere at one of her salons). Gabriel Fauré described the sonata as one of Saint-Saëns’ finest works.
Mama knows best, on “I Remember Mama,” on “The Lost Chord,” this Saturday evening/afternoon at 7:00 EDT/4:00 PDT.
It’s a multifaceted celebration of Mom for Mother’s Day, on “Sweetness and Light” AND “The Lost Chord,” exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream them wherever you are at the link:
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