Happy birthday, Abraham Lincoln! We’re honoring you right now, with Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” (with Marian Anderson narrating and the composer conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra) and Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 6 “Gettysburg.” These musical celebrations top an afternoon of Lincoln tributes. It’s all Abe until 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Category: Daily Dispatch
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Sounds of Light and Shade New Music Concerts
So what exactly do light and shade sound like? Network for New Music would have us know.
Join me for today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network as we listen to pieces by contemporary composers Ingrid Arauco, Anna Weesner, Morton Feldman, Joan Tower, Pierre Jalbert, and Augusta Read Thomas, most of them presented under the unifying theme of “The Sounds of Light and Shade.”
Network for New Music’s mission is to perform a great diversity of new musical works of the highest quality by both established and emerging composers; to strengthen the new music community in the Philadelphia region; and to build support for new music by engaging in artistic and institutional collaborations, as well as educational activities. Now in its 34th year, Network for New Music has commissioned 147 works from leading composers.
The organization’s next program, “Millennial Music,” will be presented twice: this Sunday at 3 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Rose Hall, 3340 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, and Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Stockton University’s Campus Center Theatre, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, in Galloway, NJ. For more information and a complete schedule, look online at networkfornewmusic.org.
Featured prominently on today’s broadcast, as well as on the upcoming concerts, will be Clipper Erickson, piano. Erickson is arguably the world’s foremost champion of the music of R. Nathaniel Dett.
Dett was born in what is now Niagara Falls, Ontario. The grandson of a former slave who found freedom on the Underground Railroad, he became an important figure in the American music of his time. Yet if he is remembered at all, it is probably for his piano suite, “In the Bottoms,” or perhaps only its concluding dance, “Juba,” which was championed by Percy Grainger and others.
Erickson was the first to record Dett’s complete piano works. We’ll sample some of them following today’s concert, from a 2-CD set, “My Cup Runneth Over,” issued on Navona Records, PARMA Recordings.
Then it’s music in celebration of the Great Emancipator, on this, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Stick around for Robert Russell Bennett’s “Abraham Lincoln: A Likeness in Symphony Form,” Jennifer Higdon’s “Dooryard Bloom,” Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 6 “Gettysburg,” and of course Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” in a live concert recording featuring Marian Anderson as narrator and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by the composer.
Our 16th president will take precedence, this Tuesday afternoon from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTOS: Lincoln light and shade
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Keyboard Birthdays on Classical Network
It will be quite the day for keyboard enthusiasts, as we will celebrate the anniversaries of the births of Hans von Bronsart (1830-1913), a pupil of Franz Liszt; Rudolf Firkušný (1912-1994), a student of Leoš Janáček and Josef Suk and a friend and champion of Bohuslav Martinů; and Philadelphia-born Jerome Lowenthal (1932- ), on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1991.
In addition, we’ll mark the birthday of Scottish-born conductor Sir Alexander Gibson (1926-1995). So it’s possible that any “burr” could be attributed to something more than a nip in the air.
The ivories will sparkle and the snow will glisten, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Black Composers Garcia & Walker on “Lost Chord”
Hear contrasting works by José Maurício Nunes Garcia and George Walker tonight on “The Lost Chord.”
Walker was the first African-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music – as recently as 1996 – for his “Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra.” He was the first black musician to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music. He also studied at the Eastman School and was a pupil of Nadia Boulanger. Tune in for Walker’s Trombone Concerto of 1957.
Then it’s off to South America for Nunes Garcia’s Requiem Mass of 1816. Nunes Garcia was Master of Music of the Royal Chapel in Rio de Janeiro. He composed over four hundred pieces of music, including the first Brazilian opera. The Requiem was written at the request of John VI of Portugal for funeral services for his mother, Maria I.
Join me for this second installment in celebration of the reissue on Sony Classical, after 40 years, of the legendary Black Composers Series. We’re sharing highlights throughout #BlackHistoryMonth, Sunday nights at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Black Composers Series Reissue Neglect
This is really weird. Arguably the most exciting set of reissues in years, and Sony Classical is giving it absolutely no promotion. It’s not on their Facebook page. It’s not listed anywhere on their official website. Instead, they keep pushing their recording of the same old tired New Year’s Concert from Vienna.
Yet I know for a fact that my postings about, and airing highlights from, the newly released “Black Composers Series” have generated notable enthusiasm and resulted in a number of confirmed orders. It’s evident from social media that others who have learned of its reappearance are no less excited. Unfortunately, it looks like, if this set is going to achieve anywhere near the success it deserves, it’s going to have to be totally through word of mouth. Which is a real shame, Sony.
The Black Composers Series was a bold undertaking in the 1970s, a pioneering effort and an idealistic investment in the future – nine albums of unknown repertoire by minority composers, only several of whom may have been on the very periphery of a few collectors’ consciousness, at best. Even so, it’s rumored that the series was originally intended to run to 20 volumes. We are so lucky to have what we got.
On some level, it’s hardly surprising that the plug might have been pulled 40 years ago. After all, the series was a bold gamble. (On the other hand, record labels did take more chances back then, and it was an accepted fact that classical records needed time to find their audience.)
Sadly it appears that, even all these years later, the Black Composers’ Series struggles for the exposure and respect it deserves. It’s especially distressing that the company that produced it displays so little confidence, or perhaps awareness, of its true worth that they have essentially just dumped it on the market.
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I am so, so happy that Sony finally got around to making these recordings available again. I only wish the label were more nurturing.
Be that as it may, I’ll continue to do what I can by devoting the entire month of February, #BlackHistoryMonth, to airing highlights from this terrific set. Tune in tonight to hear works by George Walker (pictured) and José Maurício Nunes Garcia.
Walker was the first African-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music – as recently as 1996 – for his work, “Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra.” He was the first black musician to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music and a pupil of Nadia Boulanger. We’ll hear his virtuosic Trombone Concerto of 1957.
Then we’ll travel to South America for music by Nunes Garcia. Nunes Garcia was Master of Music of the Royal Chapel in Rio de Janeiro. He composed over four hundred pieces of music, including the first Brazilian opera. We’ll hear his Requiem Mass, from 1816, written at the request of John VI of Portugal for funeral services for his mother, Maria I.
It’s just an example of this set’s amazing diversity. I hope you’ll join me “Black to the Future, Part II” – the second of four programs devoted to Columbia Records’ forward-looking, if neglected, Black Composers Series – this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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