Medusa. Penelope. The Sirens. The Fates. Pandora.
Female characters from the classical myths provide the inspiration for Stacy Garrop’s “Mythology Symphony.” The movements of Garrop’s symphony – really more of a collection of symphonic poems – were composed between 2007 and 2013, on separate commissions from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (“Becoming Medusa”), the Albany Symphony Orchestra (“The Lovely Sirens” and “The Fates of Man”), and the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, Roosevelt University (“Penelope Waits” and “Pandora Undone”), where Garrop was associate professor of composition from 2000 to 2016.
Likewise, archetypes from Homer inform Princeton composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s post-genre song cycle “Penelope.” Inspired by “The Odyssey,” Snider’s work originated as a music-theater monodrama, composed in 2007-08, on texts by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. A woman’s husband, a veteran of an unnamed war, returns home after 20 years. He suffers from brain damage and memory loss. The woman reads to him from Homer’s epic as together they journey through the healing process.
The cycle explores the subjects of memory, identity, and what it means to come home, alongside the terrors and traumas of war. Musically, “Penelope” straddles the worlds of chamber music and indie rock, with any demarcations between the two skillfully blurred and blended. We’ll hear selections from Snider’s song cycle to round out the hour.
Enduring myths of the ancient world are viewed from fresh perspectives this week, on “Myth Conceptions,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EASTERN)
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EASTERN)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EASTERN)
Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!
