April 17 is one of those dates when just about everyone happened to be born. One can only speculate that July must be a particularly vigorous month!
Join me this afternoon as we celebrate the birthdays of Cecil Burleigh, Adolphus Hailstork, Johann David Heinichen, Gregor Piatigorsky, Harald Saeverud, Artur Schnabel, and Václav Tomášek.
That’s an awful lot of cakes to balance. Witness the inevitable pratfall, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”
So said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On this, the anniversary of King’s birth, we’ll turn our attention to American composer of African descent Adolphus Hailstork. Hailstork, a late pupil of Nadia Boulanger, is currently professor of music and composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University at Norfolk, Virginia.
We’ll present an hour of his music tonight on “The Lost Chord,” including his oratorio, “Done Made My Vow.” The work, for speaker, vocal soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra, was composed in 1985, inspired in part by King’s speeches.
I’ve been an admirer of Hailstork’s music since the 1980s – I very much enjoy his Symphony No. 1, composed in 1988, with its gorgeous slow movement – but he has been a force in American music since at least the 1970s.
His overture “Celebration” was included in Columbia Records’ landmark “Black Composers Series.” The conductor of that performance, Paul Freeman, would later champion Hailstork’s music in recordings on the Albany label.
Tune in tonight to also enjoy his “Variations for Trumpet” with Rodney Mack.
I hope you’ll join me for “All Hail Hailstork,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
The recording of “Done Made My Vow” is available only through the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gift shop, at http://www.bsomusic.org/online-store/bso-recordings/adolphus-hailstork-i-will-lift-up-mine-eyes.aspx
Happy Easter, everyone! I’ve been all tied up with Easter activities for most of the day, so I’m only just getting around to extending the invitation for you to cap off your Sunday by joining me on “The Lost Chord” for an hour of pieces inspired or influenced by cathedrals.
We’ll hear Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral” (all lower-case), from 1999, commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music in honor of its 75th anniversary. The work is dedicated to the memory of Higdon’s younger brother, Andrew Blue. In the writing of the piece, she imagined a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky, with transparent walls and crystal pillars, through which clouds and endless expanses of blue would be visible.
Guitarist-composer Agustin Barrios wrote “La Catedral” (“The Cathedral”) in 1921, after having heard music of Johann Sebastian Bach performed on the organ of the cathedral of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones in his native Paraguay.
Englishman Joby Talbot composed “Path of Miracles” in 2005. The work – dedicated to the memory of his father, Vincent – was written on a commission from the vocal chamber group Tenebrae. Its four movements reflect stops along the medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago. The third of these, an evocation of León Cathedral, is imagined as a kind of “Lux Aeterna,” the interior of the space bathed in light.
Finally, American composer Adolphus Hailstork recollected his experiences as a child chorister at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, New York, when he came to write his “Sonata da Chiesa” (“Church Sonata”) in 1992. Hailstork, composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, conceived the work’s seven vibrant sections – “Exaltation,” “O Great Mystery,” “Adoration,” “Jubilation,” “O Lamb of God,” “Grant Us Thy Peace,” and “Exaltation” – for string orchestra, providing a joyous conclusion to the hour.
I hope you’ll join me for “Master Builders: Architects of Cathedrals in Sound,” tonight at 10 EDT, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
PHOTO: The vaulted ceiling of León Cathedral
Coming up in the 9:00 hour, we’ll hear Adolphus Hailstork’s cantata, “Done Made My Vow,” on texts steeped in African American history and the writings and speeches of figures such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Then at 10:00, Clipper Erickson, piano of Westminster Conservatory of Music will drop by to talk a bit about R. Nathaniel Dett, the grandson of fugitive slaves, who went on to become an important voice in American music. We’ll sample from Erickson’s album of Dett’s complete piano works, “My Cup Runneth Over,” recently issued on the Navona Records label.
On the eve of MLK’s birthday, it’s all music by composers of African descent until 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
PHOTOS: All hail Hailstork (left), with a debt to Dett
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