Positively Puzzled

Recently something has changed and the data for our playlists is not being updated to appear in Google Search. I noticed this because it's handy for me to check to see whether or not Meera or me have played a piece recently.  I don't know what has changed.  The link to our playlist has been kind of buried several levels downs in the (fairly) new KUSP blog pages as part of the web presence remodel.  Maybe if I put the link here, the search crawler won't miss it, so here is the main playlist page for Musica della sera: Voila!  This year's playlists for Musica della sera Thursday evening classical radio show on KUSP Radio : http://www.kusp.org/playlists/mds/index.html Come and get it, web crawler!  We're here, we're here! The Musica della sera blog page is here: http://blogs.kusp.org/musicadellasera/

Announcement to Musica Della Sera listeners! Meera Collier-Mitchell and I host Musica della sera, a classical music radio show heard Thursday nights 7-9:30 Pacific on KUSP , Santa Cruz.  I'm pleased to announce that the show now has a regular blog presence on the KUSP Blog Page . Please bookmark the link to the new location: Musica della sera Music Blog .  You'll find a link there to our playlists, as well as posts with information about the music we play, and also music video clips related to the programs. See you there! ─Nicholas Mitchell Nota Bene Comments, requests, suggestions, and feedback are encouraged and appreciated, especially during this launch period.  You can comment on individual blog posts, or tweet me at @puxxled or Meera at @MeeraHyphenated , or "friend" us on Facebook at Nicholas Mitchell and Meera Collier-Mitchell . (With the advent of the Musica della sera blog on KUSP , I will no longer post program notes for ...

My friend and colleague Gypsy Flores asked me to fill in for her on Saturday to do her world music radio show Musical Migrations , KUSP FM, Santa Cruz. Gypsy is leaving the area, and we wish her well. She and her great show will be greatly missed. The playlist for Saturday's show is here , and can currently be heard on demand via The KUSP Music Show Player in the Global category. It will only be available till next Saturday (June 13, 2009). I started with a duet between Ry Cooder, playing bottleneck guitar, and V.M. Bhatt on vina, a plucked string instrument of India, from an album called A Meeting by the River . This led me to mine KUSP's dusty LP archives in search of my old classical Indian favorites from when I hosted the world music shows, Ringing True and Sound in Time in the early 80s. Hariprasad Chaurasia, classical bamboo flute master In fact, Hariprasad Chaurasia's performance of "Raga Madhuvanti" was something of an epiphany for me. It was pla...

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 23, 2009 This show features Gregorian chant sung by the Monks of Solesmes. They wrote the book on Gregorian Chant, literally! The Liber Usualis , a compendium of standard Gregorian Chant was prepared at the Abbey of St. Peter, Solesmes . The chant set concludes with the ringing of the Angelus bell, and the chirping of the monastery birds. On the show, a favorite old LP of the music of Dufay performed by the Early Music Consort, conducted by the late David Munrow (He sadly died much too young.) Various settings, including a full mass, based on the lovely tune "Se la Pale Face" (If my face is pale, the cause is love.) Listen for a shout-out to my friend Randy who was listening to the show live from his digs in Oregon. There's also a Gregorian tie-in with a virtuoso 20th Century French horn piece by Eugen...

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, February 26, 2009 Devoted to the music of George Frideric Händel (1685-1759), it includes violin sonatas, a harpsichord suite, concerti grossi, an organ concerto, and the Dixit Dominus (1707), a youthful choral work that shows off Handel's dazzling genius and mastery of musical forms. You can see exactly what was played and who performed it by referring to the playlist (originally broadcast 2/19/2009). George Frideric Handel, by Mercier, ca. 1720 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 Nicholas hosted. KUSP Radio is now offering On Demand downloads of its music programs. Peruse the calendar listing, with audio links, of The Shows Available . Click the one for Musica della sera Thursday night ...

unawares selfie , originally uploaded by I, Puzzled . The guy who rarely writes substantive things in his own blog. Register this: he's a hell of a lot less full of dread since Obama took office.

Musica della sera for January 22, 2009 The latest show is now up on the Internet to listen to on demand; see below for locating the link. The main work on the program is Kurt Rodarmer's guitar transcription and performance of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. His approach to the work is remarkable and interesting, which he describes extensively in the liner notes . A few highlights: Glenn Gould's second and last release of the Goldberg Variations on piano was for me a landmark event. He attempted to connect each of the variations on the basis of rhythmic relationships rather than considering each as simply a variation upon the theme. The work is based upon the opening Aria, which originally appeared in the Klavierbüchen of Anna Magdalena Bach from 1725 as a Sarabande... The thirty variations which follow are based loosely upon the bass or harmonic progression rather than on any melodic theme. When I first evaluated the possibility of transcribing the work, it became clear ...

Puzzled, El Greco , originally uploaded by I, Puzzled . Created using St. Andrews Face Transformer . Based on this portrait: -- from I, Puzzled .