With today’s technology, KWAX isn’t just for Oregon listeners anymore. I myself live on the East Coast, but I know a surprising number of people in my area, and through social media, who have turned to this station. We’ve been enjoying it through our internet radios and at kwax.com.
And why? Because KWAX offers things that aren’t so common in classical radio anymore. For one, KWAX broadcasts major works complete, the way a composer intended. I can’t emphasize how important that is to me, to not have a symphony or a concerto hacked off after a single movement, as has become the norm, sadly, on so many other stations.
Furthermore, the announcers – who are actually in-house and not pumped in from a satellite service somewhere – select ALL the recordings they broadcast themselves, making for an unpredictable and stimulating blend of familiar and unusual repertoire. Sometimes you don’t know how much you need Bohuslav Martinů or Gerald Finzi until they make an unexpected appearance.
This is no small thing. The abuse of satellite networks has changed the face of classical radio – eliminating local jobs, destroying the unique character of stations across the country, and dumbing down programming with slice-and-dice playlists. You get none of that with KWAX. It might not be your local station, but it definitely has local character. You will feel like you are a part of Eugene, Oregon.
Add to these qualities, the variety of content – the concert broadcasts, artist interviews, Saturday operas, and syndicated shows – and you have a classical music resource that is very precious indeed.
KWAX respects not only the music, but also its listeners. And it is worthy of listener support.
70 percent of the KWAX budget comes from people just like you, who understand their invaluable role in sustaining the high standards and quality programming, offered by knowledgeable folks, who palpably enjoy what they’re doing, without filling the airwaves with inane, extraneous chatter.
KWAX makes life more pleasant by sharing beautiful music every day.
If the station enhances the quality of your world, bringing you moments of solace, excitement, intelligence, and elevation, please consider making a donation – wherever you are, in whatever amount – by contributing online at kwax.com, or calling 541-345-9451, during regular business hours.
And if you’ve never tuned in, give it a shot! Obviously, today and tomorrow will be fundraising days, so perhaps they won’t be quite so characteristic. But I guarantee you will not be disappointed with what you hear on a regular basis. This is classical music radio the way it should be, presented commercial-free, without a set playlist, and offered with real integrity.
As host of “Picture Perfect,” “The Lost Chord,” and “Sweetness and Light,” I thank you – from behind the microphone AND as a fellow listener.
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Tag: KWAX
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A Second Helping of Vaughan Williams on Sunday Rebroadcast of “Sweetness and Light”
You’ve got a second chance to catch my Vaughan Williams celebration, on this, the eve of his birthday anniversary. It includes some rarely-heard piano music, an orchestral potpourri of themes from his opera “The Poisoned Kiss,” and a hilarious performance of “The Wasps Overture” with the composer himself conducting. Enjoy another helping of cake and ice cream on “Sweetness and Light,” this Sunday evening at 9:00 EDT/6:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX Classic Oregon. Stream it, wherever you are, at kwax.com!
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Vaughan Williams Birthday Salute on KWAX
I’ve just tied the bow on another lovingly-wrapped gift for one of my favorite composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams was born on October 12, 1872. I hope you’ll join me for my annual salute, on “Sweetness and Light.”
This year, I’ll be featuring one of his rarely-heard piano works, the Suite in G major, which he later arranged for strings as the “Charterhouse Suite,” some recordings issued on Albion Records – the record label of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society – including an extensive orchestral rhapsody on tunes from the opera “The Poisoned Kiss,” and a delightful acoustical document of the composer himself conducting his overture to “The Wasps.”
I’ll provide the cake, but Vaughan Williams will provide the candles, on “Sweetness and Light.” Remember, the program is now repeated. So you’ll have two chances to enjoy it – this Saturday morning, at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, and Sunday evening, at 9:00 EDT/6:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon.
Stream it, wherever you are, at kwax.com! -
Eight-Legged Approval for Mahler 8th
I was listening to a recording of Jascha Horenstein conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 on Henry Fogel’s “Collectors’ Corner” last night on KWAX. Frequently identified as the “Symphony of a Thousand,” this is Mahler’s grandest statement, as if he took the choral finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, dialed it up to 11, and stretched it more or less to 90 minutes. It is hair-raisingly thrilling.
“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound,” Mahler wrote, in his characteristically overheated way. “There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.”
All the same, a man needs his sleep, and 11:00 (EDT) is already past my bedtime, especially if I want to do some reading. So I rose from my chair to turn out the lights and shut off my internet radio, when what did I notice on one of the speakers, but a spider with its legs splayed, unmistakably riding the grandiose waves of the music.
I couldn’t take that away from him. So I went back and sat down until the end of the first movement (about 25 minutes in duration).
I was reminded of Helen Keller, deaf and blind since she was a toddler, who experienced the thrill of Beethoven’s 9th purely through the vibrations of her radio speaker.
I waited until the end of the first movement to turn off the radio. I figured I’d allow the little guy his moment of ecstasy.
I’m not sure what I believe, exactly, but if I’m ever reincarnated, I hope someone will do as much for me.
Here’s a post I wrote about Keller in 2020.
https://rossamico.com/2020/12/31/beethovens-ninth-joy-freedom-2020/
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Feline Affection and Frivolity on “Sweetness and Light”
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” the cat’s out of the bag. It’s an hour of felicitous feline music!
On the 150th anniversary of the birth of American composer John Alden Carpenter, we’ll hear the ballet “Krazy Kat,” inspired by George Herriman’s cult comic strip. Carpenter characterized it as a “jazz pantomime”, but if there’s any jazz in it, it’s “white man” jazz of the 1920s (i.e. less jazz than “Rhapsody in Blue”). Believe it or not, I’ve actually seen this performed – twice! If memory serves, Sergei Prokofiev, in the U.S. for the debut of his opera “The Love for Three Oranges” and to perform his Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was present at the work’s premiere. I can’t find anything on the internet to back it up right now, so it looks like I’ll be sleuthing around my library.
Carpenter’s music will headline a meow mix of melodies by Leroy Anderson, Ernst von Dohnányi, Richard Rodney Bennett, Gioachino Rossini, Nino Rota, Samuel Barber, and Zez Confrey.
It will be programming you can sink your claws into, on “Sweetness and Light.” The music, like your host, will be the cat’s pajamas, 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/
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