I just finished producing “Sweetness and Light,” which will air, as usual, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST on KWAX. Taking a cue from the show’s signature tune, “Puppets on Parade” by Rudolf Friml, I figured I’d go full-on puppet/marionette this week. I turned up plenty of material in my own music collection, of course, but in bouncing around the internet for ideas, I stumbled across this marionette performance of Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” that employs the famous incidental music by Edvard Grieg. It’s not on my show, but if you’re of a certain age, perhaps it still haunts your memories of elementary school music class. Watch through your fingers, if you dare; then join me for “Puppet Masters” on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning on KWAX!
Tag: KWAX
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Regal Radio Verdi Delibes & More on KWAX
I don’t know what got into me. I knew it was Presidents Day weekend, and still somehow I went with the autocrats. Must have been a Freudian slip. Whatever the motivation, this week on “Sweetness and Light,” we don’t need ermine or orbs and sceptres to vicariously live like kings.
Not when we can enjoy regal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Léo Delibes, Sir Arthur Bliss, Percy Grainger, Emmanuel Chabrier, Adolphe Adam, and Henry VIII.
This country may have been founded on principles that rejected such things, but heavy is the head that bears the burden of coming up with a good theme.
I spare you the royal pain! Absolute power delights absolutely on “Sweetness and Light,” 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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John Williams Birthday Radio Tribute
In common with just about everyone of a certain age, I fell in love with John Williams’ transporting, often inspirational music through repeated listenings to the soundtracks for a string of blockbusters he scored, primarily from the late ‘70s, through the early ‘80s – “Star Wars,” “Superman,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.,” and so forth.
This week, on “Sweetness and Light,” to mark Williams’ 93rd birthday (he was born on February 8, 1932), we’ll hark back to some of these, but we’ll also hear a surprising number of “B-sides,” as they were once called. You know, like on a classic 45-RPM, with the hit tune on side A, and a lesser-known number on the flip-side. Yes, I’m dating myself, but if you’re old enough to have seen those movies in the theater, you know just what I’m talking about.
One of the things I absolutely love about Williams’ music is that, even in his most intense scores, he’s always able to find moments of light, warmth, and humanity. When you listen to John Williams, you remember how wonderful it is to be alive, in a world of limitless possibility. Moreover, he’s introduced countless people (I among them) to the delights of the symphony orchestra.
At the peak of his influence – a period of decades – he basically defined the sound of the movies. Sadly, Hollywood has given it all up to save a few pennies in settling for a computer-manipulated shorthand of ominous drones and heart-pounding but anonymous chase rhythms.
I hope you’ll join me in saluting the Last of the Movie Music Lions. It’s a John Williams’ miscellany – 15 selections in all, ranging from the 1960s to the 2000s – as we wish the composer a very happy birthday, on “Sweetness and Light,” 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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John Williams Birthday Salute on Sweetness and Light
I just finished producing a salute to John Williams, to be broadcast on the occasion of his 93rd birthday on “Sweetness and Light.” It turned out to be quite the miscellany – 15 selections – and I assure you, they’re not all the usual suspects, as you will divine from the CD on the top of the pile!
If you’re a Williams fan – and who isn’t it? – I hope you’ll join me this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST. I’ll be lighting an awful lot of candles on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
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Black Composers Series Rediscovered on the Radio
For as long as it took Sony to reissue Columbia Records’ Black Composers Series on CD (40 years!), it was still ahead of the curve when it came to celebrating music by composers of color. Since the seismic social and political shift precipitated by the death of George Floyd, you can’t get through a week without new recordings and live performance of music by Black composers. But back in the day, these records were like Holy Grails, and as a collector, my heart would skip a beat if I ever came across one of the original albums on vinyl. I thought I would pass out when I discovered the CD reissues on the shelves of Princeton Record Exchange, since the box had basically been dumped on the market with no advertising.
Some of the composers have since found a toehold on the fringes of the concert repertoire – William Grant Still, George Walker, and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges are being heard with much more frequency – but there are many other fascinating discoveries to be savored.
I was so juiced at obtaining the entire series on CD that I promptly devoted four weeks of shows to the box set on “The Lost Chord” in 2019. Now, for the first time, the programs will be repeated, to coincide with Black History Month, over four Saturdays in February. Part One will feature selections by Saint-Georges, Olly Wilson, and Fela Sowande.
This is not a political statement, but rather a cultural and artistic one. Whatever it is that got us past this particular tipping point, I am grateful for it.
I hope you’ll join me for “Black to the Future” – selections from Columbia Records’ landmark Black Composers Series of the 1970s – 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 – ALL NEW! – 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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