Positively Puzzled

Last night Meera, the boys, and I had the pleasure of hearing a glass armonica concert titled "Endangered Crystal" featuring William Zeitler , kicking off the 2011 season of The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival , Endangered Musics. Ethereal and enchanting. Previously I had only ever seen and heard glass armonica in the form of wine glasses filled with water. I'd seen photos of Ben Franklin's design , glass bowls lined up concentrically on a rotating cylinder, and was inclined to think perhaps it wasn't practical as far as resonance and amplitude. This concert demonstrated that to be a false assumption. Now I suspect wine glasses are just easier to acquire. The advantage of the Franklin design is that once the glass bells are made, no further tuning is required. Wine glasses with water must be kept in tune by keeping the water levels just so. Water is required to invoke the tone, and Mr. Zeitler claims that Arrowhead bottled water for some reason produces the bes...

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, April 9, 2009 I can't remember the last time this happened, but I managed to do a whole show without going baroque. And yet, Bach figures into it anyhow. Listen to find out how. Liszt, Chopin, Dvorak figure prominently. (Ask me about the terrible pun I decided not to make at this time.) I was delighted to find, hidden on the shelves of the radio station's music library, a CD of Liszt's music for violin and piano; it had only been played once before, years ago. A beautiful performance by violinist Rachel Barton. Also featured, a brief horn recital, John Cerminaro playing works of Franz Strauss (Richard's dad!), Beethoven, and Fauré. You can see exactly what was played and who performed it by referring to the playlist (originally broadcast 4/2/2009). My wife, Meera Collier-Mitchell , and I take turns hostin...

The latest Musica della sera show is now up on the Internet to listen to on demand; see below for locating the link. This program will be available on demand until Thursday, March 26, 2009 First of all, we at KUSP want to thank the many who pledged during the program. It was a remarkably robust show of support for Musica della sera, KUSP, and community radio. Frankly, with the economic situation what it is, we weren't expecting a big response, so it was very heartening. Thank you. Along with the snappy husband-and-wife banter and rousing encouragement of supporting community radio, there was some pretty enjoyable music. I lugged in my massive 80-disc Glenn Gould Columbia collection, a request last week by Patrick, our affable phone answerer. Drawing from 3 centuries of keyboard repertoire, I played selected Two- and Three-part inventions by Bach, a relatively brisk performance of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and Hindemith's 2nd piano sonata. And yes, the recordings...

The latest Musica della sera show is now up on the Internet to listen to on demand; see below for locating the link. This show was dedicated to the solo piano works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. Artwork by Paul Brent And what is piano music without pianists? You'll hear Glenn Gould, John O'Conor, Alfred Brendel, Albert Ferber, Andras Schiff, Evgeny Kissin, and even scratchy recordings of Sergei Rachmaninoff himself, and his famous HOUS! (Hands of Unusual Size). You can see exactly what was played and who performed it by referring to the playlist (originally broadcast 2/5/2009). Hands of Russian Piano Virtuoso Sergei Rachmaninoff, with Wedding Ring on Right Hand My wife, Meera Collier-Mitchell , and I take turns hosting the classical radio program Musica della sera on Thursday evenings, 7-9:30 (PT). This week I hosted. KUSP Radio is now offering On Demand downloads of its music programs. Peruse the calendar listing, with audio link...