Are you a fan of “The Avengers?” No, not Iron Man, Captain America, and Hulk, but Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg.
If so, perhaps you’d be interested to join me this afternoon on The Classical Network to hear a symphony by the series’ composer, Laurie Johnson. His “Symphony (Synthesis)” achieves what few works of the so-called Third Stream ever do: successfully unite elements of jazz with classical symphonic form. And yes, as an encore, we’ll enjoy Johnson’s snazzy “Avengers” theme.
We’ll also celebrate the birthdays today of composer Riccardo Zandonai, clarinetist Benny Goodman, harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt, and pianist Zoltan Kocsis. Since Glenn Smith will be hosting today’s concert broadcast at 4 p.m. EDT – an organ recital from last year’s The Princeton Festival with Kristiaan Seynhave, which will air in place of our usual Noontime Concert – we’ll have a clean slate from noon to 4.
Jolly good, then. Grab your umbrella and bowler, and join me on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.