I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but the madness is already underway here. If you celebrate Christmas, it’s likely your adrenaline is already up, as we prepare for a last-minute dash to the stores, a little surreptitious gift-wrapping, some early baking, or perhaps already receiving family.
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll stick to the basics, with an hour of music inspired by familiar Christmas carols and traditional Christmas songs.
In the former category, we’ll hear works by Philip Lane, Benjamin Britten, and Rick Sowash (his “Variations on The Boar’s Head Carol”). Then we’ll enjoy selections from a favorite Christmas album of mine, “Old Christmas Return’d,” from 1992, featuring early music performances by the York Waits. Some of these Christmas melodies have been around for an awfully long time!
In between, we’ll hear an original carol by John Rutter – now SIR John Rutter, who turned 80 in September – unbelievably, composed all the way back in 1972. I remember when it was a fairly new piece!
None of us are getting any younger. Recollect the holidays of your misspent youth with an hour of traditional carols for Christmas, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Category: Sweetness and Light
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Carols Are Served on “Sweetness and Light”
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Jingle All the Way on “Sweetness and Light”
Yes, I know the winter solstice isn’t until next Sunday. But from where I’m typing, here on the East Coast, we’re expecting snow! Perhaps you’ve already had your share where you are. That’s the wonder of worldwide streaming. You could be sipping piña coladas south of the Equator, for all I know. But here, I’m busy designing an all-weather food-station for my backyard wildlife.
Be that as it may, since by next Saturday I’ll already be going full-bore ho-ho-ho, now’s the time to get a jump on Old Man Winter on “Sweetness and Light.” I’ll do my unlevel best to conjure some seasonal atmosphere, in providing a pleasant backdrop for compiling your holiday checklist and perhaps even filling out a few Christmas cards over a cup of tea. It will be all music evocative of wintry scenes and activities.
We’ll hear works by Philip Lane, Frederick Delius, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Leopold Mozart; also the original version of “Jingle Bells,” published in 1857 by James Pierpont as “The One-Horse Open Sleigh,” in a hilarious performance by the Robert DeCormier Singers. Be forewarned: sleighs will be “upsot!”
Put on the kettle and link arms with Classic Ross Amico. We’ll be walking in a winter wonderland on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
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Taking Our Tea Sweet and Light
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” I invite you to a holiday tea party. That’s right, the music will all in some way be related to tea.
We’ll get the kettle roiling with Dmitri Shostakovich’s charming arrangement of “Tea for Two,” recollect the elegant Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel in days of yore with Samuel Barber’s “Souvenirs,” and experience sugar-induced hallucinations of dancing tea leaves in Richard Strauss’ high-calorie ballet “Schlagobers,” or “Whipped Cream.”
Lewis Carroll’s Hatter may have been mad, but even he would think twice before imperiling an “unbirthday” with a fidgety monkey. The maddening patter of the 1953 novelty song “The Little Red Monkey” relates a simmering simian’s reactions to violin, euphonium, and tea.
Your eyes will be pinwheeling and your brain will be humming from an overindulgence of caffeine and cake when you join me for “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/ -
On “Sweetness and Light”: The Thanks That Keeps on Giving
Okay, we survived Thanksgiving. Although, of course, in the 21st century, the celebration has been compounded in a way that would have horrified any 17th century Pilgrim. With the neologistic appendices of Fakesgiving and Friendsgiving, will the “giving” never end?
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” the bounty endures. I’ll be piling the turkey sandwiches high with cranberry sauce for breakfast, as we savor musical delights reflective of the long, long Thanksgiving weekend.
Some of the works will be evocative of what’s in the ‘fridge. All will be American in origin. Some will be specifically connected to New England.
The playlist, etched in mashed potatoes, will include music by John Williams, Edward MacDowell, Craig Russell, Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, and pianist/rodeo champion David Guion.
I’ll be wringing out the last of the cornucopia with an hour of Thanksgiving leftovers, on “Sweetness and Light.” Join me in shoveling in the pumpkin pie and whipped cream, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/ -
Classical Cornucopia for Thanksgiving on “Sweetness and Light”
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” I’ll do my level best to fill our heads with visions of pumpkin pie and cranberry bread and, yes, even Thanksgiving turkey.
We’ll hear works by Rick Sowash, Thomas Canning, Edvard Grieg, Howard Hanson, and Aaron Copland, and a concerto by Antonio Vivaldi that bears the nickname “The Turkey” – not because it’s a dud, mind you, but rather because of the cascading broken third passages in the solo lines of the work’s third movement, which apparently reminded someone of the ungainly bird. Gobble gobble!
Join me for an hour of hymn tunes and harvest dances and most of all music of gratitude. It’s a program of hope and thanksgiving. We’ll be reaching deep into the cornucopia on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it where you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
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