If Lewis Carroll and Gustav Mahler had a love child, this would be it.
David Del Tredici’s “In Memory of a Summer Day,” part one of his massive “Child Alice,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1980. The work was inspired by two prefatory poems from Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” It was performed for the first time in its completed form – including part two (an additional 73 minutes of music) – at Carnegie Hall in 1986.
“Child Alice” was revived only last year by soprano Courtenay Budd and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), conducted by Gil Rose. A recorded performance was issued last month, with the same forces, on the BMOP Sound label. It is one of several stimulating releases from BMOP to arrive in my mailbox over the past 12 months.
We will sample from “Child Alice,” among our featured recordings, this Thursday morning on WPRB, as I remove the shrink wrap from a number of CDs I have been unable to work into my usual thematic format. Curiously, I’ll also be including a selection from one of several releases of chamber music by a distant cousin of Carroll, Stephen Dodgson – composer.
In addition, there will be a corker of a new release in the form of world premiere recordings of music composed for a trio of Greek plays by Ralph Vaughan Williams, issued on Albion Records, the official label of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.
With the holidays fast approaching, you might be looking for some interesting stocking stuffers. Join me this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. It will beat the hell out of batteries and new razors, on Classic Ross Amico.
