Yesterday was so busy, I didn’t get around to submitting my annual “March Madness” show until this morning. The program includes 12 marches by nine composers. (And yes, John Williams is one of them.) Enjoy it on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon. Stream it wherever you are at the link.
Tag: KWAX
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Boulez Centenary on The Lost Chord Radio Show
Just finished recording this week’s edition of “The Lost Chord.” To mark the centenary of the birth of Pierre Boulez on March 26, the program juxtaposes two Boulez-conducted song cycles: Boulez’s own “Le Marteau sans maître” (“The Hammer without a Master”) and Ravel’s “Chansons madécasses“ (“Madagascan Songs”). Hear it on KWAX, this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EDT/4:00 p.m. PDT. Stream it wherever you are at https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
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Irish Coffee & Celtic Music for St Patricks Day
This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” I’ll be hoisting an Irish coffee for St. Patrick’s Day.
Join me for a stirabout of Celtic-inflected works by Henry Cowell, Ina Boyle, Ludwig van Beethoven, Peter Hope, Ignaz Moscheles, A.J. Potter, and Romeo Cascarino. I know, not all of these composers are Irish, but isn’t everyone Irish on St. Patrick’s Day?
Philadelphia composer Romeo Cascarino will be represented by a luscious arrangement of “Danny Boy,” recently released as a digital download, alongside his transporting song cycle “Pathways of Love.”
Your pot of gold is but a click away, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link.
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Early Music Month Renaissance Inspiration KWAX
Yea, we change the clocks tonight, so we lose an hour’s sleep. But odd’s bodkins, man! It’s never too late to be Early!
This week on “The Lost Chord,” for Early Music Month, we hearken to works by 20th and 21st century composers who found inspiration in music of the Renaissance.
William Kraft (1923-2022), long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, wrote “Vintage Renaissance” on a commission from the Boston Pops. The work incorporates two 15th century melodies: “Danza,” by Francesco de la Torre, and an anonymous “bransle.”
George Frederick McKay (1899-1970), the so-called “Dean of Northwest Composers,” founded the composition department at the University of Washington, where he taught for over 40 years. His “Suite on Sixteenth Century Hymn Tunes” is based on works by Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510-1559), compiler of Calvinist hymn tunes and composer of the Protestant doxology known as the “Old 100th.”
Lukas Foss (1922-2009), the German-born musical prodigy who settled in the United States in 1937, composed his “Renaissance Concerto” in 1986. The work, for flute and orchestra, falls into four movements: “Intrada;” “Baroque Interlude” (on a theme of Rameau); “Recitative” (after Monteverdi); and “Jouissance” (after a 1612 madrigal by a composer of the name David Melville).
I hope you’ll join me as American composers cast an affectionate look back. “It’s Never Too Late to Be Early,” 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 EST/5:00 PM PST
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
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Women Composers on Sweetness and Light Radio
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” for International Women’s Day, we’ll have lighter works by six female composers: (pictured, clockwise from upper left) Peggy Stuart Coolidge, Elisabeth Lutyens, Teresa Carreño, Cécile Chaminade, Katherine Gladney Wells, and Doreen Carwithen – though not necessarily in that order. One was a crotchety avant-gardist who kept food on the table by writing music for sci-fi/horror films. One played for Abraham Lincoln at the White House. One was an heiress of the Seven-Up fortune. I’ll fill you in, as concisely as possible, on “Sweetness and Light.” Cherchez les femmes, 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:
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