On Sunday, I posted about the final broadcast of Roger Sherman’s long-running radio program, “The Organ Loft.” I was feeling a little melancholy about it. After all, the show was an institution, produced since 1993, and as I mentioned, it had become part of my Sunday night routine.
Last night, I was notified by KWAX that my light music show, “Sweetness and Light,” will be repeated in the vacant slot – a very different program. I hope listeners accustomed to hearing organ and choral music at that hour are okay with it. It’s a lot of sugar before bed! Ideally, it will also put a smile on your face for the new week. Michael Barone’s organ program, “Pipe Dreams,” will continue in its regular slot, immediately following.
So if anyone happens to miss “Sweetness and Light” during its initial broadcast, Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, you’ll now have another chance to hear it, Sunday evening at 9:00 EDT/6:00 PDT.
Every year on Romeo Casacarino’s birthday, I try to come up with a fresh angle, if I am able, to remember him and to promote the music of this rewarding Philadelphia composer, still too little heard, but gaining traction all the time. A longtime professor at the now-defunct Combs College of Music, Cascarino emerged from South Philadelphia a child prodigy, a “student” of Paul Nordoff (he was also invited to Tanglewood to take lessons with Aaron Copland), but really an autodidact, who dug deep into the collections of the Philadelphia Public Library.
He wrote a Bassoon Concerto for army buddy Sol Schoenbach, principal bassoonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which still gets a lot of play. He labored over a handful of exquisitely-crafted tone pictures that often radiate a seductively dreamy “magic hour” glow. If only he had written more. But he was a meticulous artist, always in search of “le mot juste” – or rather, “la note juste” – the absolute correct note or combinations of notes to express precisely what he intuited. No doubt he would have written more, had he not poured so much of himself into his magnum opus, the opera “William Penn,” which he labored at for a quarter century. The work was given its first performances at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in 1982, with Metropolitan Opera bass-baritone John Cheek in the title role.
And this is where I come to the fresh approach, brought to mind, sadly, because of the passing of Cascarino’s champion and dear friend, Tom Di Nardo. Tom was a music writer for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the Philadelphia Daily News, the author of several books, and a guy who, in his quiet, unassuming way, managed to move mountains. He did so without flash and often without recognition. He was the very definition of modesty and selflessness, always thinking of, and often doing things for, others. Some of these things could be extraordinary.
Several of his efforts contributed to Cascarino’s wider exposure and boosted his reputation significantly. I would go so far as to say that, after the composer’s wife, soprano Dolores Ferraro, Tom was Cascarino’s greatest champion. Somehow, without the composer’s knowledge, he managed to secure the Academy of Music (actually the easy part) and assemble an army of musicians and technicians to give “William Penn” its debut. He also saw to it that the performances were recorded and archived.
Furthermore, several years after Cascarino’s death, he was instrumental in pulling together an orchestra (principally musicians of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and arranging for a recording with conductor JoAnn Falletta of Cascarino’s orchestral works, which was released on the Naxos label in 2006.
Still more recently, he assisted in securing performers for a recording of Cascarino’s collection of eight songs, “Pathways of Love,” and his setting of “Danny Boy.” These performances are now available as digital downloads.
Tom wrote about his experiences with staging the opera at the Academy of Music and arranging for the orchestral recordings for Naxos, and a great deal more. He made it a point to interview as many prominent musicians who came through Philadelphia as possible, classical or otherwise, including Renée Fleming, Stéphane Grappelli, Sarah Chang, Bill Evans, John Williams, Andrés Segovia, Eric Owens, Max Roach, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Peter Schickele, and André Watts, as well as every Philadelphia Orchestra music director from Eugene Ormandy to Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He also shared anecdotes about his colorful encounters with Luciano Pavarotti, Mel Tormé, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, and Denyce Graves, among others.
These achievements are all the more remarkable as music was Tom’s avocation, if his life’s great passion. To keep food on the table, he worked as an engineer for Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO).
Long since retired, Tom died last week while on a trip to Sicily. I was astonished to learn that he was 89 years old. I knew Tom through Dolores, so I encountered him socially on a number of occasions, and interviewed him once, about Romeo, for my radio program “The Lost Chord.” The last time I chatted with him was at a concert of the Main Line Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago.
I share the news of his passing today, because I see some of his other friends have already done so and also because of his close association with Romeo Cascarino. I encourage you to check out the appreciation by Kile Smith at the first link below. For all I’ve written here, I couldn’t do it as well as Kile. My post is largely informational, as I wanted to talk about his connection to Romeo. Kile does a great job getting at the man with a lot fewer brush strokes and remembering him in human terms.
When I listen to Roger Sherman’s “The Organ Loft” tonight, it seems I will touch her soft lips and part for the last time. “Touch her soft lips and part” from William Walton’s film score for “Henry V” serves as the closing theme for Sherman’s program, which he has produced for Seattle’s KING-FM since 1993. It has become part of my Sunday evening routine since my own shows have been picked up by KWAX Classical Oregon (which airs the “The Organ Loft” in syndication).
Alas, as Schiller tells us, even beauty must die. Today will mark the final broadcast of “The Organ Loft,” always an enjoyable balance of organ and choral music. Sherman, Associate Organist Emeritus at Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral and Artistic Director Emeritus of Orcas Choral Society, is also CEO of Loft Recordings. Loft manages The Gothic Catalog and Clarion Records, among others. Unsurprisingly, many recordings on those labels have been presented on the program.
Gothic has left a big footprint in Princeton, NJ (where I live and work), through its recordings of Princeton University Chapel’s Aeolian-Skinner/Mander organ, organist Joan Lippincott at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Westminster Choir College alumni, such as organist Peter Richard Conte.
Sherman has further distinguished himself as executive producer of well over 100 choral and organ recordings and has engineered, edited, and mastered dozens of recordings for the Loft, Clarion, Gothic, and reZound labels.
Yet again, I thank my lucky stars for my internet radio, which brings so much beauty into my living room and into my life from around the country and around the world. Sherman’s show has been a warm and welcome visitor on Sunday evenings.
Walton’s wistful music is often the last thing I hear on Sundays before heading off to bed. For those 90 seconds, I stop whatever I’m doing and make sure that I am wholly present. Whenever I listen to this arrangement for cornet and organ (at the link), I will think of Roger Sherman.
“The Organ Loft” airs on KWAX Classical Oregon at 6:00 p.m. PDT, but when I stream it here on the East Coast it’s 9 PM.
I know from experience that a lot of love and a lot of sweat goes into producing a satisfying and polished radio program every week. Thank you, sir, for all your hard work and for sharing your knowledge and life’s passion with thousands of listeners you will never meet.
Why, it’s Gershwin’s birthday, by George! We’ll have two chances to celebrate today, on both my Saturday radio shows.
George Gershwin, of course, was one of our most versatile composers. He occupied a unique place in American music, rising from Tin Pan Alley scrapper to Broadway royalty. From there, he conquered the concert hall and even the opera house, with his blend of popular song, jazz, blues, spirituals, and European classical forms.
Like Franz Schubert a hundred years before, Gershwin managed to churn out an astonishing amount of music over a comparatively brief span. His songs, in particular, have been of enduring interest. His gift of lyricism and invention defied early critics as he bestrode the worlds of popular and classical music like an American colossus.
Sadly, at the peak of his success, he died of a brain tumor at the age of 38. But 89 years later, George, we’re still crazy for you.
This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” Gershwin will be one of four composers whose music we’ll enjoy in a salute to classic American musical theater. We’ll hear selections from Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle’s “Shuffle Along” (the 1921 all-Black musical that spawned the breakout hit “I’m Just Wild about Harry”), Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town” (the ballet music, before it was distilled into the familiar “Three Dance Episodes,” with a 24-year-old Bernstein conducting), Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” (conceived by the composer as an opera, but produced on Broadway several times over the decades before finally being elevated to the pantheon), and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart’s “On Your Toes” (the climactic “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” sequence).
It’s guaranteed to get your toes tapping, for the most part, but I’ll also include a grand piano fantasy on themes from “Porgy” by Earl Wild. It’s showtime, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT!
Then later on today, on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll sample Gershwin’s artistry in recordings of his era, including several songs performed by Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, and Ella Logan. (So many excellent ones to choose from!)
We’ll also hear the world premiere recording of “An American in Paris” – performed by the Victor Symphony Orchestra (really members of the Philadelphia Orchestra), with the composer himself on the celesta – and the Concerto in F, performed as part of a Gershwin memorial concert at the Hollywood Bowl, with the composer’s friend, Oscar Levant, as soloist.
Three of these recordings date from 1937, the year of the composer’s death. All are from his era. I hope you’ll join me for “Vintage Gershwin,” this Saturday at 7:00 EDT/4:00 PDT.
It’s nice work if you can get it. Not that you need someone to watch over you, George. Our love is here to stay.
Strike up the band and let ‘em eat cake! Of thee I sing, on “Sweetness and Light” AND “The Lost Chord,” on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Dmitri Shostakovich is justifiably celebrated for his monumental symphonies and probing string quartets. This week on “Picture Perfect,” however, for the composer’s birthday, we’ll enjoy two examples of his cartoon music.
While still in his teens, Shostakovich helped support his family as a pianist in movie houses, enlivening silent images with his mercurial improvisations. This was great practice for his later collaborations with a number of notable Soviet filmmakers.
Shostakovich was about 27 years-old in 1933, when he was hired by experimental animator Mikhail Tsekhanovsky to supply the manic underscore for “The Priest and His Hired Worker Balda.” Visionary though he was, Tsekhanovsky probably didn’t count on just how manic Shostakovich could be. The composer’s inspiration flowed like water down the Neva, and Tsekhanovsky struggled to keep up, all the while pushing himself to create images worthy of his collaborator.
Then, in 1936, following the debut of the opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” Shostakovich was condemned by the Soviet authorities in an infamous “Muddle Instead of Music” denunciation in Pravda, and the composer decided he had better cool his jets. The potentially inflammatory Symphony No. 4 went into a drawer, and he halted work on the film, which he had already been involved with, on and off, for nearly three years. When the denunciation came, he was in the process of wholly reorchestrating the existing music, at the studio’s request, for smaller forces.
While the feature would remain unfinished, Tsekhanovsky compiled what he had – some 40 minutes in all – and the work was put into storage at the Lenfilm archives. Unfortunately, nearly all of it would be destroyed by fire during the Nazi siege of Leningrad in 1941.
Only the bizarre bazaar scene survives. I’m willing to bet this clip will haunt the rest of your day.
We’ll hear selections from Shostakovich’s score, shorn of the nightmare carnival imagery. We’ll also hear music he composed for the 1940 short “The Tale of the Silly Little Mouse.”
The program will also include examples of the artistry of American cartoon luminaries Carl Stalling (Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, Silly Symphonies) and Scott Bradley (Tom and Jerry, Droopy Dog, Barney Bear) and conclude with excerpts from Disney’s groundbreaking “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” featuring songs by Frank Churchill & Larry Morley and underscore by Paul J. Smith and Leigh Harline.
Aaa-OOOGAH!! It’s an hour of music from the golden age of animation with Dmitri Shostakovich and friends, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
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