Positively Puzzled

The latest Musica della sera show is now up on the Internet to enjoy on demand; see below for locating the link. This program will be available until Thursday, June 4, 2009 (Get it while it lasts!) Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) The program focused on the music of Johann Pachelbel, beginning with a delicate clavichord performance by E. Power Biggs of the chorale partita: “Werde Munter, Mein Gemüte” (00:00 on the KUSP Music Player counter). Next, a vibrant recording of J.S. Bach's first orchestral suite, arranged for four guitars and performed by Quarteto Brasileiro de Violões (09:00), a name I did not try to pronounce on the air, going instead with Brazilian Guitar Quartet, as it was billed on the CD. I'll feature the other three suites on future shows. Quarteto Brasileiro de Violões (Brazilian Guitar Quartet) Their arrangement of Bach's Orchestral Suites is fantastic. Find it on Delos. I returned to Pachelbel with several organ compositions (32:55), played on various or...

The latest Musica della sera show is now up on the Internet to enjoy on demand; see below for locating the link. This program will be available until Thursday, May 21, 2009 (Get it while it lasts!) In my mother's day they called the kind of music I play on the show "funeral music". Well, in this case, it's literally true. A good chunk of the program was devoted to, quoting the liner notes: The complete music for Queen Mary's funeral, newly assembled and edited, and performed in Westminster Abbey by the Abbey Choir for the first time since 1695. Comprised of compositions by Henry Purcell, Thomas Tollet, John Paisible, Thomas Morley, Purcell's contribution is best known; his funeral march provided the theme, in a synthesized treatment by Wendy Carlos, for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange . I'm also very fond of the trumpet canzona he wrote for the occasion. Alas, Purcell himself was to die the year following the queen's funeral. Though h...

Darjeeling Limited (2007) The Front (1976) Sleeper (1973) Bananas (1971) Casino Royale (2006) The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) Nausicaa (1984) The Divorcee (1930) One Night with the King (2006) Kilomètre zéro (2005) Also, a rare event, I finished reading two whole books... The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism , Ron Suskind Moab is My Washpot: An Autobiography , Stephen Fry Both books I highly recommend for entirely different reasons. Ron Suskind, by describing the lives of various people, offers a positive approach to solving the world's most daunting and difficult problems associated with the so-called "War on Terror", and basically, his conclusion, with guarded optimism, comes down to humanity and understanding. Stephen Fry writes with candor and wit about his early life and education, when he grappled with sexuality, infatuation, and obsession, and fell into misadventures of petty theft that led to felonious credi...

The latest Musica della sera show is now up on the Internet to enjoy on demand; see below for locating the link. This program will be available until Thursday, May 7, 2009 (Get it while it lasts!) After creating a baroque diversion with two keyboard works by Bach (played on 20th Century pianos), the show took a distinctly modern turn, beginning with the tuneful Starry Night for flute, harp, and xylophone, by Alan Hovhaness. Next, a performance by Tashi and friends of Toru Takemitsu's Water-Ways, a captivating atonal combination of timbral textures scored for clarinet, two harps, piano, violin and two vibraphones. Next, the Sibelius String Quartet in D Minor, Op.56, completed in 1909 and subtitled by him "Voces Intimae", a wonderful new discovery for me...my thought was, hey, why didn't anyone tell me Sibelius wrote a wonderful string quartet? He wrote much chamber music in youth, but most of it was never published. This is the only string quartet he deemed worthy...

Celebrating Pete Seeger on Democracy Now! Amy Goodman devoted today's show (May 4, 2009) to Pete Seeger and the 90th birthday tribute at Madison Square Gardens yesterday. Bruce Springsteen's opening comments were eloquent and moving. This is the transcript, but you can watch the video by clicking the link above. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: As Pete and I traveled to Washington for President Obama’s inaugural celebration, he told me the—he told me the entire story of “We Shall Overcome,” how it moved from a labor movement song and, with Pete’s inspiration, had been adopted by the civil rights movement. And that day, as we sang “This Land Is Your Land,” I looked at Pete. The first black president of the United States was seated to his right. And I thought of—I thought of the incredible journey that Pete had taken. You know, my own growing up in the ’60s, a town scarred by race rioting, made that moment nearly unbelievable. And Pete had thirty extra years of struggle and real act...