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Tag: The Classical Network

Stravinsky’s Money Music WWFM Birthday

No applause, please! Just throw money.

There’s plenty to cheer about on the birthday of Igor Stravinsky, even if the composer could be a mite transparent in his focus on the bottom line. In a practice that would later become commonplace in rap, Stravinsky adopted a dollar sign for use in his monogram.

Join me today on The Classical Network, as we celebrate one of the greatest composers of the past century. He was certainly one of the best-marketed.

You can bet your bottom dollar on $travinsky, among our featured composers, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 17, 2019
Ballets Russes Treasures on The Classical Network

Serge Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes, commissioned some of the most enduring ballet scores of the 20th century, from such composers as Claude Debussy (“Jeux”), Maurice Ravel (“Daphnis and Chloe”), Manuel de Falla (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), and especially Igor Stravinsky (“The Firebird,” “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring”).

This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll have a chance to enjoy some of the lesser-known fruits of this partnership, including “Narcisse et Echo” by Nikolai Tcherepnin – written one year before “Daphnis,” though with some striking similarities – and the complete ballet “The Triumph of Neptune” – one of only two works composed for the company by an English composer, in this case Lord Berners. The suite, not exactly overplayed, was a great favorite of Sir Thomas Beecham (he recorded it several times), but the complete ballet is never done. We’ll also hear Richard Strauss’ music for the bombastic biblical spectacle “Josephslegende” (“The Legend of Joseph”) in its entirety.

First, on today’s Noontime Concert, it’s music for voice and viol, courtesy of Gotham Early Music Scene, or GEMS. Mezzo-soprano Ashley Mulcahy and viola da gambist James Perretta of the duo Lyracle will present works for this distinctive combination from the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

These performances were captured at GEMS’ Midtown Concerts series, held at the chapel of St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, in New York City. Free concerts take place at St. Bart’s on Thursdays at 1:15 p.m. For more information, visit GEMS’ website, gemsny.org, and click on the events calendar.

Join me for a mix of GEMS and flawed diamonds from the Ballets Russes, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGE: Potiphar’s wife got it goin’ on!

June 4, 2019
NBCO on The Classical Network Today

Tune in today for our Noontime Concert on The Classical Network to get a hit of Hyczko.

Mark Hyczko, artistic director of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, will be my co-host for a program titled “Take Flight,” with works by Christopher Cerrone, Howard Hanson, Mason Bates, Shruthi Rajasekar, and Béla Bartók.

Highlights will include Princeton graduate Shruthi Rajasekar’s “Son of Pandu” and Béla Bartók’s energetic, masterful “Divertimento for String Orchestra.”

The NBCO’s next concert, “Fragments,” will take place this Sunday at 5 p.m., and will feature music by Elena Kats-Chernin, Thea Musgrave, Benjamin Britten, and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. The program will be presented at Christ Church, located at 5 Paterson Street, in New Brunswick.

The NBCO prides itself in presenting “music that matters.” I hope you’ll join Mark and me for a stimulating early afternoon of engaging music.

Then, après moi le déluge! With severe weather in the Trenton-Princeton forecast, catch the wave, as we’ll immerse ourselves in music related to excessive precipitation, swelling floodwaters, and uplifting rainbows.

We’ll hear Hector Berlioz’s “Royal Hunt and Storm,” selections from Jean Sibelius’ incidental music for “The Tempest,” Rued Langgaard’s Symphony No. 10 “Yon Dwelling of Thunder,” Christopher Theofanidis’ “Rainbow Body,” and more.

Prepare to be taken by storm. We’ll toss you a lifesaver, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 28, 2019
Memorial Day Remembrance on The Classical Network

It’s Memorial Day. I know we love our burgers and our quoits and our three legged-races and our gumboot tosses and all that, but do remember to take a moment to reflect on how lucky we all are, and those who laid down their lives in the belief that they were doing something for the greater good.

This afternoon on The Classical Network, we honor the fallen, even as we pray for peace, with a program of elegies and war-time symphonies. Enjoy the vitality, freedom, and limitless possibility of a gorgeous spring afternoon, experience the elation of hard-won victory, and look to the future in tranquility, with a heart full of generosity and optimism.

The world may seem as if it is teetering on the brink of chaos, and it may feel like a perpetual struggle to hold slippery leadership accountable. But have courage. Be inspired by the valor and sacrifice of those who have gone before, and who have given it their all, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 27, 2019
Earth Day Garbage Concerto on The Classical Network

This afternoon on The Classical Network, I’ll be playing a lot of garbage. No, really. One of my featured works will be the “Garbage Concerto,” by Canadian composer Jan Järvlepp. The piece incorporates percussion instruments fashioned out of recyclable material. I thought it only appropriate, since today is Earth Day.

I hope you’ll join me, as I enter nature’s realm with Antonin Dvořák. Take a walk in the woods with Robert Schumann and Mikalojus Čiurlionis. View the earth from the International Space Station with a cello concerto by Osvaldo Golijov.

We’ll hear a wistful piano work that grew out of a review written in protest of uranium mining, of all things, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and a symphony commissioned in part by a wildlife conservancy, from Alan Hovhaness.

It’s in my nature to share great music. Celebrate Earth Day, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 22, 2019

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