31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN (DAY 1)
For Paul Dukas’ birthday, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasia-4ea9ebc01a74ea59a5867853
Category: Daily Dispatch
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Remembering Jessye Norman
PLAYING RIGHT NOW: Jessye Norman’s lush rendering of Ernest Chausson’s “Poème de l’amour et de la mer” (“Poem of Love and the Sea”). It’s the first of multiple performances we’ll be sharing to celebrate the late soprano, who died yesterday at the age of 74. Coming up between now and 4:00, we’ll also hear her beloved recording of Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs.”
In addition, we’ll remember pianist Paul Badura-Skoda and hornist Myron Bloom, whom we also lost within the past few days.
David Osenberg will have some Norman bonuses, some Mahler and some spirituals, later on this afternoon.
Jessye is the voice of choice, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Remembering Jessye Norman Her Superpowers
We all know that Jessye Norman had superpowers, but does anyone else remember her actually foiling a crime? It’s on the cusp of memory, something that happened within the past decade or so (unfortunately too recent to be within my wheelhouse), but I just can’t find anything right now, doing an internet search, beyond her countless obituaries. Norman, of course, died yesterday at the age of 74.
This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll celebrate this great soprano’s artistry through a number of her recordings, including – to coincide with the Jewish High Holidays – Maurice Ravel’s “Deux mélodies hébraïques.”
For variety’s sake, we’ll also enjoy performances by pianist Paul Badura-Skoda and hornist Myron Bloom, both of whom also died within the past several days.
Norman’s voice was powerful yet creamy, at once opulent and seductive. She never made an ugly sound. I was lucky enough to hear her live a couple of times with the Philadelphia Orchestra, back in the 1980s. It seems as if I have the uncanny ability to remember everything from 30 years ago (that’s MY superpower), but I can’t remember what happened last week.
In particular, her performance of Berlioz’s “Les nuits d’été” (“Summer Nights”), part of an all-Berlioz evening I attended at the height of my Berlioz mania, was exquisite. And boy, did she have presence.
Her recordings are presents I can’t wait to share.
First, on today’s Noontime Concert, we’ll have something completely different. We’ll travel the Silk Road from China to Spain with the Eurasia Consort in a program titled “On the Road through Dunhuang: Music from the Dunhuang Caves, the Ottoman Empire, and Medieval Spain.”
The concert was recorded on January 3, 2018, at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, in New York City. Free Midtown Concerts are held at St. Bart’s every Thursday at 1:15 p.m.
Today’s broadcast is another made possible in part by Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York devoted to Early Music. For more information and a complete events calendar, visit gemsy.org.
It’s all silk and velvet this afternoon. Prepare yourself for another Norman conquest, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT (with more to follow with David Osenberg, from 4 to 7 p.m.), on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Rosh Hashanah Concert Celebrating Women Composers
For those of you who celebrate, I extend my best wishes for a good and sweet new year. The two-day observance of Rosh Hashana began last night at sunset.
To mark the occasion, and with the shofar still fresh in our ears, this afternoon on The Classical Network, I’ll present Meira Warshauer’s “Tekeeya: Concerto for Shofar, Trombone and Orchestra.”
Warshauer’s unusual concerto nicely dovetails with my month-long celebration of women composers, to coincide with the bicentennial of the birth of Clara Schumann.
On this last day of September, I’ll have one more work by Schumann herself; also the “Psalm” for cello and orchestra by Irish composer Ina Boyle (a pupil of Ralph Vaughan Williams).
As if all that weren’t enough, I’ll send out musical birthday greetings to Johan Svendsen, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, David Oistrakh, and Valentin Silvestrov.
The playlist will be as sweet as a mouth full of apples and honey, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Rosh Hashanah ’80s Vibe on The Lost Chord
Shana Tova! Are you ready for the ‘80s?
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” to coincide with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, we welcome 5780, and greet the High Holidays with two complementary works.
Jacob Weinberg’s String Quartet, Op. 55, of 1950, falls into three movements: “Rosh Hashana,” “Yom Kippur” and “Sukkot.” “Yom Kippur” is based on the cantorial chant “Kol Nidre.” (You know, the same one famously employed by Max Bruch.)
Ernest Bloch’s “Israel Symphony,” composed between 1912 and 1917, is more like an orchestral rhapsody, with its three sections – “Prayer in the Desert,” “Yom Kippur” and “Succoth” – played continuously and capped by parts for four vocal soloists.
Sukkot, which follows Yom Kippur by only five days, is the harvest festival, during which temporary dwellings (or sukkot) are erected to commemorate the Jews’ 40 years wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. In modern times, these are decorated with fruits and vines. In contrast to the austerity and fasting of Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a celebration of life and abundance. But in ancient Israel, it was a solemn affair, with sacrifices offered at the temple.
The High Holidays are a period of reflection, ten days of awe and repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
I hope you’ll join me in welcoming 5780, on “Totally Awesome,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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