Tra-la! It’s May! The lusty month of May!
Join me this afternoon for a dance around the maypole. We’ll have a selection of madrigals, music inspired by birds and flowers, some morris dances, and musical evocations of Robin Hood, a figure traditionally associated with May Day festivities. Along the way, we’ll mark the birthdays, I hope, of Hugo Alfven, Jon Leifs, Leo Sowerby, and Walter Susskind.
We’ll spring into May, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.
Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, but we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.
We’ll hear the “Pastoral Suite,” by Gunnar de Frumerie, and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: first, one of the books from his collection “Flowers of Frösö;” then the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.” Appropriate music, then, for Walpurgis Night.
The long winter dissolves in the lengthening days of “The Virgin Spring,” this Sunday night at 10 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
This afternoon, it’s our last chance for April in Paris. Join me today on The Classical Network for an international salute to the City of Lights.
It’s also the birthday of John Jacob Niles, so get ready for some settings of Appalachian mountain songs. It will be a refreshing mix of foreign and domestic from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT.
Then stay tuned for “Picture Perfect,” beginning at 6, for music from movies inspired by comic adventurers – that is, heroes from the funny pages. I’ll be elaborating on that in just a bit.
For now, enjoy the weather and enjoy the music. It’s baguettes and banjos all around on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
We’ll have some French sports and divertissements this afternoon on The Classical Network, including “Rugby” by Arthur Honegger (Swiss-born, I know), “Jeux” by Claude Debussy, and “Bugler’s Dream,” the iconic Olympic fanfare by Leo Arnaud, whose birthday it is today.
Later on, we’ll take a side trip to Scandinavia to observe the birthday of Swedish composer Erland von Koch. Then we’ll head back home, for recordings of American music with the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra conducted by Howard Hanson, including “Adventures in the Perambulator” by John Alden Carpenter, on the anniversary of his birth.
As always, we’ll be serving up great music for your afternoon commute, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
There will be no Noontime Concert today. Instead, our featured highlights will include music by Frank Bridge, Robert Fuchs, John Knowles Paine, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and Leo Weiner, all composers better known as teachers. I hope you’ll join me. Classes will be held from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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