Darkness into Light

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 teams up with the Chilingirian Quartet in the 2003 album Darkness into Light, which intersperses medieval hymns with the music of Sir John Tavener. We hear Tavener's extended musical take on the Christ-as-Bridegroom theme, in "The Bridegroom." Also, music by Vernon Duke, including his piano concerto and vocal offerings from Judy Collins and Dawn Upshaw.

Browse John Tavener CDs at Amazon.com

Marcel Khalifé

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Named an UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2005, Lebanese composer, singer and oud player Marcel Khalifé has dedicated much of his music making to the promotion of international causes. We hear his free-form work inspired by the words of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, "Taqasim" (Improvisations).

Browse Marcel Khalifé CDs at Amazon.com
Download at I-Tunes
Visit Marcel Khalifé's website

Les Arts Florissants

Friday, March 28, 2008

The France-based Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants performs music by Charpentier next week at Zankel Hall; David Garland offers a preview in the 8PM hour. Leading up to that, we hear music from an interesting assemblage of musicians, including the Tin Hat Trio, Astor Piazzola (and friends), plus the Penguin Cafe Quartet.

Visit the new Evening Music blog

Pattern Transformation

Thursday, March 27, 2008

We dig deep into the artistry of Hungarian-born composer/percussionist Lukas Ligeti, with selections including "Pattern Transformation" and the West African-inspired "Adjame 220." Also, the New York-based composer speaks for himself, in the latest of our New Americans portraits.

Browse Lukas Ligeti CDs at Amazon.com
Download at I-Tunes

Browse the new Evening Music Blog

A Pie in the Face

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Terrance offers up contrasting works featuring flutist James Galway, including Henry Mancini's raucous "Pie in the Face Polka." Then, cellist Misha Maisky takes over with three melodies from Maurice Ravel. The latter hour gives way to the titanic Beethoven, in a stout but lean recording from the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra of the "Eroica" Symphony.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Meetings Along the Edge

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

It was 1965, while earning pocket money writing music notation in Paris, that a young Philip Glass met Indian Sitar master Ravi Shankar for the first time. Some 25 years later, they collaborated on a recording together called Passages — thus bringing their meeting full circle. We hear an excerpt from the work, entitled "Meetings Along the Edge."

The Artful Rocker

Monday, March 24, 2008

Terrance McKnight brings us selections from New York's only festival of contemporary solo piano music, Keys to the Future. Also, John Rockwell looks into the rise of young, popular composers such as Nico Muhly who are bridging the cultural generation gap between classical and rock.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Requiem for Fossil Fuels

Sunday, March 23, 2008

In the final installment of Sacred Sundays with David Garland, Bruce Odland of O+A, the collaborative duo of composer / sound sculptors which also includes Sam Auinger, will join David in the studio to introduce their “Requiem for Fossil Fuels” and to explore the rich mix of sacred music, politics and unusual, beautiful sounds that comprise the piece.

"Requiem for Fossil Fuels" combines four singers performing an original setting of the traditional Latin Requiem Mass with an orchestra of recorded urban sounds: revving engines, truck horns, subways, passing airplanes, the tonal drone of traffic recorded through long tubes, and other artifacts of our gas-fueled lives. The effect is both beautiful and urgent, allowing us, in the composers' words, to "listen to who we are and what we have become."

Join host David Garland each Sunday at 8pm, now until Easter Sunday, for WNYC’s exclusive series, Sacred Sundays, featuring sacred music from around the world. From Iceland to Turkey to the United States, hear music which challenges any assumptions about how spirituality can be defined within cultures both familiar and foreign.

Put Up Your Dukes!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The “Duke” meets the “bad boy of music” tonight, as David Garland explores two composers, Duke Ellington and George Antheil, whose works strove to defy categorization and embrace a complex, evolving American sound.

Spring à la David Garland

Friday, March 21, 2008

Now it’s time for David to answer the call of spring, as he marshals the forces of Charlie Chaplin, Claude Debussy, Felix Mendelssohn and others to usher in the warmer temperatures and sunnier days.

Spring à la Terrance McKnight

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Springtime beckons and Terrance curates an evening of shifting seasonal colors, from the spring of Roy Harris’s Kentucky, to the New Year celebrations of Persia, and back to the Appalachia of Aaron Copland. We’ll also hear the music and stories of Simon Shaheen, as part of WNYC’s ongoing series, The New American Portraits.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Bunches of Bunch

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Join Terrance as he takes us on a magical, musical mystery tour through American composers who’ve worked next to the limelight, such as Torrie Zito, and those hoping to emerge into it, such as the young composer Kenji Bunch. Along the way, he’ll visit the “Spirit of the Trees” of Alan Hovhaness and dance with the chairmen of John Adams.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

A Tour of Collaborations and Meditations

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Terrance takes us on a tour of pieces stretching from David Bowie collaborating with Pat Metheny, to Aaron Jay Kernis meditating on John Lennon’s memory to the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s trumpet playing son, and that’s just in the first hour! We’ll also hear from the young Mexican conducting sensation, Alondra de la Parra as part of WNYC’s exclusive series, The New Americans.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

A Sound Above Genre

Monday, March 17, 2008

Such is the goal of composer, clarinetist and saxophonist Don Byron whose collaborations stretch from the Bang on a Can All-stars, to Medeski, Martin and Wood to the author Paul Auster. Featured on tonight’s program is his serene tribute to the roller-coaster life of that artist whose life burned too bright and too quickly, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Also, culture critic John Rockwell considers how pop culture is shaping our political future.

Talk to Host Terrance McKnight at his Evening Music blog

Sacred Sundays: The Separation

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Composer Bobby Previte joins David Garland in the studio to introduce his epic multimedia piece "The Separation," and describes how and why he combined the sound of a medieval choral mass by composer Guillaume Dufay, and an organ masterwork by 20th Century visionary Olivier Messiaen, with his own electric rock band.

More about "The Separation"
David Garland talks about Sacred Sundays on WNYC
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Et Tu, Weill?

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Julius Caesar has long been a favorite subject of composers like Kurt Weill (although his musical riff on the death of Caesar was actually aimed at Hitler). We mark the infamous Ides of March with Caesarean tributes from the aforementioned Weill, Arvo Pärt, Handel, Schumann, and P.D.Q. Bach's alter-ego, Peter Schickele.

Romancing the Tone

Friday, March 14, 2008

In musical terms, the "romance" has been around for centuries. It's also one of the most loosely defined — not to mention personal — forms a composer can give to a piece. We hear some cross-century examples of the romance, written for everything from piano to strings, voice, and winds.

The Mozart Sessions

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Terrance spins Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington, and Chopin — and samples an improvised track from Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin's album, The Mozart Sessions. Also, a profile of Alondra de la Parra, the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Sketches of Miles

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

In the 1960 album "Sketches of Spain," Miles Davis played classical and folk tunes arranged especially for him. Some 30 years later, composer Byron Olsen turned the tables with "Sketches of Miles" — which features Davis tunes re-imagined for chamber ensemble. We feature a top Davis hit, "All Blues," as represented by the group Music Amici.

Talk to Host Terrance McKnight at his Evening Music blog.

City Scape

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Terrance spins "City Scape," Jennifer Higdon's three-panel portrait of his most recent home base (before joining WNYC), Atlanta. Also, music for guitar duo by Leo Brouwer and Antonio Carlos Jobim — plus a portrait of New Americans composer William Chapman Nyaho.

Talk to Terrance McKnight at his Evening Music blog

Water Dances

Monday, March 10, 2008

David Garland sits in tonight, while Terrance McKnight is on assignment with composers William Bolcom and John Musto (we'll hear more about that in a future episode). Featured on tonight's program is Water Dances, Michael Nyman's soundtrack to an early Peter Greenaway film built around water imagery, as choreographed to Nyman's mesmerizing music. Also, culture critic John Rockwell ponders the value of musical superstars.

Browse Michael Nyman CDs at Amazon.com
Download at I-Tunes

Sacred Sundays: Passia

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Commissioned to celebrate a millennium of Christianity in Iceland, Haflidi Hallgrimsson's Passia intertwines ancient and contemporary visions of religion into a haunting and cinematic work which explores the transformative value of suffering and loneliness. Written for choir, soloist, full orchestra and two organs, Passia was premiered on February 18th, 2001.

Join host David Garland each Sunday at 8pm (through Easter Sunday) for WNYC's exclusive series Sacred Sundays, featuring sacred music from around the world that challenges assumptions about how spirituality can be defined within cultures both familiar and foreign.

A British Evening

Saturday, March 08, 2008

We take a trip across the pond as David Garland spins music by venerable British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and his good friend George Butterworth. Also, we hear selections by British-born songwriter and actor Noel Coward, including his "London Morning" ballet.

Ravelapalooza

Friday, March 07, 2008

It's all things Maurice Ravel tonight, as David Garland marks the 113rd anniversary of the French composer's birth. Selections include favorites such as the "Pavane for a Dead Princess," "Bolero," and the "Mother Goose Suite." Also, music by another birthday celebrant, Henry Purcell, who was born on this date just shy of 350 years ago.

Browse Maurice Ravel CDs at Amazon.com
Download at I-Tunes

Silk Road Mix

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Terrance McKnight mixes it up with the Silk Road Ensemble and composer Kayhan Kalhor. Also, a portrait of West African-born composer William Chapman Nyaho, one of WNYC's New Americans.

Browse Silk Road Ensemble CDs at Amazon.com
Download at I-Tunes

Solitude

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Terrance McKnight samples Robinella and the CC String Band's version of a Duke Ellington tune, "Solitude." Also, Caleb Burhans offers "a moment for Nick Drake," and we hear some lovely melodies from soprano Kathleen Battle with pianist Margo Garrett.

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Flying Fingers

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Tonight Terrance McKnight compares and contrasts flying guitar fingers from the New York music scene and old school Argentina, followed by more fingerwork from two of the Marsalis brothers. Also, Bela Bartok's eerie "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta," which crops up every now and then in horror films (think "The Shining").

Talk to Terrance at his Evening Music blog

Welcome Terrance McKnight

Monday, March 03, 2008

New weekday Evening Music host Terrance McKnight debuts tonight with a preview of what's to come, and asks you to talk back to him. Also, culture critic John Rockwell enters the battle of the ballerinas, as he examines the differences between the camps of traditional ballet and modern dance.

WNYC Radio Names Terrance McKnight Host of Evening Music

Sacred Sundays: the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey

Sunday, March 02, 2008

With the right hand pointing to the sky to receive divine mercy and the left hand pointing to the Earth to disperse the blessing, the dance of the Whirling Dervishes has a rich history tracing back to the 13th century and the great Sufi mystic Jallaleddin Rumi. It is rumored that Rumi began turning on his own in an ecstatic dance upon hearing the ringing sounds of a goldsmith at work in a Turkish market, and ever since this sacred dance has symbolized the progression to divine love and the path of the planets turning around the sun. Tonight in our second episode of Sacred Sundays, we hear the Whirling Dervishes of Konya, Turkey: a 26-member ensemble of musicians, singers and dancers.

Join host David Garland each Sunday at 8pm (through Easter Sunday) for WNYC's exclusive series Sacred Sundays, featuring sacred music from around the world that challenges assumptions about how spirituality can be defined within cultures both familiar and foreign.