I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but the madness is already underway here. If you celebrate Christmas, it’s likely your adrenaline is already up, as we prepare for a last-minute dash to the stores, a little surreptitious gift-wrapping, some early baking, or perhaps already receiving family.
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll stick to the basics, with an hour of music inspired by familiar Christmas carols and traditional Christmas songs.
In the former category, we’ll hear works by Philip Lane, Benjamin Britten, and Rick Sowash (his “Variations on The Boar’s Head Carol”). Then we’ll enjoy selections from a favorite Christmas album of mine, “Old Christmas Return’d,” from 1992, featuring early music performances by the York Waits. Some of these Christmas melodies have been around for an awfully long time!
In between, we’ll hear an original carol by John Rutter – now SIR John Rutter, who turned 80 in September – unbelievably, composed all the way back in 1972. I remember when it was a fairly new piece!
None of us are getting any younger. Recollect the holidays of your misspent youth with an hour of traditional carols for Christmas, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Tag: Rick Sowash
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Carols Are Served on “Sweetness and Light”
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July 4th Weekend Seaside Serenity on KWAX
It’s the Fourth of July weekend, and the beaches are open!
I hope you’ll join me this morning on “Sweetness and Light” for some serene inspirations evocative of surf and sand.
For the locals (I am, after all, based in Princeton), I’ll have two works that are Jersey shore specific, including the “Cape May Suite” by Rick Sowash (who lives in Cincinnati; so there!) and “The Atlantic City Pageant” by John Philip Sousa – named for the famous beauty pageant and given its first performance on Atlantic City’s Steel Pier.
We’ll also hear from Virgil Thomson, Émile Waldteufel, Ronald Binge, Clive Richardson, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Morton Gould.
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot John Williams, who wryly puts “Tourists on the Menu” in a promenade from the proto-summer blockbuster “Jaws.”
No teeth in any of the music, however, on “Sweetness and Light.” Meet me at the seaside 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:
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Sweetness Light Musical Consolation on KWAX
Who knew it would turn out to be such a stressful season for so many? To be honest, no matter how things played out, I guess we all knew. We’ll try to dial it down a bit this week on “Sweetness and Light,” and clear our heads for an hour of musical consolations.
No, really. Franz Liszt’s “Consolations” will be among our featured works. So will Scott Joplin’s “Solace.” Composer Rick Sowash reached out to me in the spring to bring to my attention the fact that he had written a piece called “Sweetness and Light.” I thought it would be a good time to include that, too. We’ll find further affirmation in nature, friendship, and a good walk.
At our peaceful core is “Sweetness and Light.” Regain your footing and find your center. It’s a celebration of fragile beauty in a turbulent world, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station on the University of Oregon.
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
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