Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man!
This week on “The Lost Chord,” with Hallowe’en lurking like a mad clown astride a vampiric spider around a Caligari corner, we’ll seek our thrills in the comparative safety of three American experiments in controlled terror.
Wander the creepy cornfields of the overactive imagination with music by George Crumb (“A Haunted Landscape”), Morton Gould (“Jekyll and Hyde Variations”), and Dominick Argento (“Le Tombeau d’Edgar Poe”).
All three composers have fairly local connections. Crumb, born in Charleston, West Virginia, on October 24, 1929, made his home outside Philadelphia for some 57 years. He died in Media, PA, in 2022. Argento, born in York, PA, on October 27, 1927, died in Minneapolis in 2019. Gould, born in Queens on December 10, 1913, died in Orlando in 1996.
These tricksters were treated to the Pulitzer Prize for Music – Crumb in 1968, Argento in 1975, and Gould in 1995.
Walk softly around three spine-tingling exercises in American Gothic. Join me, if you dare, for “Grave Endeavors,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
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 – ALL NEW! – 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
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
