October 15 – beware the Ides of October!
With Hallowe’en fast descending on raven wings, what better time to don your black frock coat and brood over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore? I’ll conclude my shift early this evening on The Classical Network (the 6:00 hour) with music inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.
For the birthday of Arcady Dubensky (1890-1966), we’ll hear “The Raven,” a “melo-declamation” for narrator and orchestra. The work was given its premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski at the Academy of Music in 1932. The performance was preserved on an experimental recording made by RCA Victor, on 35mm optical film, and issued as a special 78 rpm 2-record set. Included was the original poem, and monochrome engravings of Stokowski and Poe were etched into the shellac. The speaker will be Benjamin de Loache.
The fact that I will be in an hour earlier than usual enhances the atmosphere of eerie premonition. It should give us plenty of time also to observe the birthdays of composers Dag Wiren and Jaan Rääts, clarinetist and composer Bernhard Crusell, philosopher and composer Friedrich Nietzsche, and conductor Karl Richter.
Again, the Poe-inflected works will be heard in the final hour. Nothing assuages guilt and madness like laudanum and Edgar Allan Poe music. Join me one hour earlier today, from 3 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.