With rain in the forecast, it promises to be a soggy afternoon, perhaps redolent of a day in the British Isles. Anglophile that I am, I’ll be reaching for the low-hanging fruit, on The Classical Network, and present an afternoon of English music.
We’ll hear Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 8, with its quirky instrumentation, the ballet “Pineapple Poll,” after melodies of Sir Arthur Sullivan, and the oratorio “Nebuchadnezzar” by Sir George Dyson. There will also be a piano concerto by Malcolm Williamson, a perpetual outsider, born in Australia, who became Master of the Queen’s Music.
First, on today’s Noontime Concert, it’s another program featuring musicians from Network for New Music . Presented under the unifying theme of “Masters of Minimalism,” we’ll hear Gerald Levinson’s “Bronze Music,” John Adams’ “Road Movies,” Hannah Lash’s “C,” and Evan Ziporyn’s “Air = Water.”
NNM’s mission is to perform new musical works of the highest quality by a diverse array of established and emerging composers; to strengthen the new music community in the Philadelphia region; and to build support for new music by engaging in artistic and institutional collaborations and educational activities.
Founded in 1984, Network for New Music has presented more than 650 works by living composers (of which over 150 they have commissioned) and recorded four CDs for the Albany and Innova labels. The ensemble has held an ongoing residency at Haverford College since 2007.
This Sunday at 3 p.m., NNM will present a special program, “The Poet’s Mind,” at Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street. Guest artists, soprano Ah Young Hong and mezzo-soprano Maren Montalbano, will join NNM musicians to perform György Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments,” the world premiere of Philip Maneval’s “The Poet’s Songbook,” a new work by June Violet Aino, also inspired by Kafka, and music by Florence Price. For more information and a complete schedule, look online at networkfornewmusic.org.
I’m not sure, exactly, that air = water, but there will be plenty of water on the air waves, with Network for New Music and music from the British Isles, this afternoon from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
