Brrr
Chicago is unspeakably cold right now. My 25-minute walk to work this morning was torture. It's so bad outside that this good liberal heart has taken in a few vagrants.
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Radio DePaul after Dark
A young woman called into the show last night. She was on the verge of tears because she was really missing her boyfriend. She identified herself as Delilah and her boyfriend was now serving overseas. Admittedly her faith had been tested but she still prayed for her boyfriend everynight. We then both prayed for the President, whom we both acknowledged as a man of faith and honor. I then told her a few uplifting stories about my kids. She requested a tune by Vanessa Williams, but gave her a dark baroque work by Kraus instead.
Cyber Classical Show #40 Schubert: Sym # 2/Von Karajan, Berlin PO(EMI) Rachmaninov: Piano sonata #2/Alexei Sultanov (Teldec) Adagio from Bach: Concerto for Keyboard in d Goran Ivanovic & fareed haque: Macedonian Blues (3 Cuts) (Proteus) Franz Schmidt: Piano Quintet / Vienna Phil. Quintet (Decca) Joseph Martin Kraus: E Min/ Swedish Ch. Orch, Sundkvist Paganini: 3 Caprices (Violin & piano arr by Schumann) David Garrett, Bruno Canino (DG) Chopin: Variations on Mozart Op 2/ Arrau, Eliahu Inbal London Phi. (DG) |
Show #39
Gerry spinned some forgotten 45s for those studious DePaul kids while I was away yesterday. I've provided his playlist. And congrats to DePaul University for making a rare positive headline in academia.
"Nights Black Bird"
Fretwork
Dowland: Pavan from "Lachrimae Antiquae"
Byrd: Fantasia in 6 Parts
Dowland: Pavan from "Lachrimae Antiquae"(Virgin Classics)
J. F. Rebel
"Le Tombeau de M. de Lully"
Marc Minkowski/ Les Musiciens du Louvre (Erato)
Antonio Vivaldi
Sinfonia in B minor "Al Santo Sepolcro"
Concerto for Cello RV 424
Concerto for Oboe RV 461
Concerto Amsterdam/Jaap Schroder (Teldec)
J. Delphin Alard (arr. Tarrega/Lendle)
"Estudio brilliante"
Wolfgang Lendle, guitar (Teldec)
Johannes Brahms
String Quartet #1
Borodin Quartet (Teldec)
Camille Saint-Saens
Piano Conceryo #4 op 44
Francois-Rene Duchable/Alain Lombard, Strasbourg Phil. (Erato)
Richard Stauss
Die Frau Ohne Schatten
First act (1-7)
Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Hanna Schwarz
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Staatskapelle Dresden (Teldec)
Johannes Brahms
Four Piano Pieces op119
Richard Goode, piano (Nonesuch)
Dmitry Kabalevsky
Piano Concerto #4, "Prague"
Yuri Popov, piano/Moscow Phil.,Kabalevsky
Tin Hat
John DeCicco of Rykodisc has brought to my attention a record that conflates jazz, classical, folk, and other genres that I'm not sure I can identify. While I'm not inclined to seek out works of these mixtures, Tin Hat's Sad Machinery of Spring is really quite a beautiful and strange album. If you loved the wistfully strummed soundtrack to David Lynch's "A Straight Story,"then you'll find a lot of satisfaction in the record's opener "Old World." Most of the album stays true to its title, and their take on "Daisy Bell" (the bicycle-built-for-two song) sound both mildly wicked and innocent; I still don't know which. But the album isn't all lachrymose and serious; "Blind Paper Dragon" playfully shows off the group's rhythmic and technical gifts. This was a choice soundtrack to have on during my recent drive home amidst a late-night snowstorm when I was somewhere between Kalamazoo and Lansing. Thanks, John.
The European standby
Tonight I caught on public-access TV an urban hip-hop show called "Real Flava," which features local Chicago talent (channel 25 for you Chicagoans.) The segment included an interview with rapper 'The Legendary Traxter' and friends. Here's a taste of the small clip I saw, and recreated with a couple exaggerations:
Voluptious interviewer: Aight, I'm a get up close and personal with my mans. So what else you listen to? Your influences?
Traxter: Well, I try and open my mind up to everything, you know I'm sayin? I like to take it all in, and that's why my music is so original. I listen to classical....(pause)....I'm listnin to rock. That's not to say I'm a driving 'round rockin Led Zeppelin or sumthin. But yeah, I open up my mind to it all...like classical.
Friend: Yeah, cuz when I came over today you had some strange joints playin'--like some church organs and pipes and shit.
Classical music's missing aesthetic
"I understand you're hard up for a friend, But goddamn, there's such a thing as invitations, And that's just for your information. You're alone and I wish I was." --"I was," The Crucifucks
...moving on, Cyber Classical turns one-year old this week. Great things in this world tend to have staying power, and our show is no exception. We're gonna come at you hard and vicious this time around, and we're gonna make you not feel so ashamed to listen to internet radio on your computer speakers. According to my Irish studies professor, James Murphy, "cyber classical is a place you won't hear Brahms' Academic Festival Overture." We're back on the air this Sunday, and now in full view from the bird's eye. I'd like to give a shout out to Gerry for enrolling part-time at DePaul to continue the show after I graduate at the end of March. It takes some kinda nerve get back into the classroom after 40 years.
