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October 2004

Boston-New York “Showdown”

Friday, October 29, 2004

To much anticipation, conductor James Levine made his debut as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra this week, and in doing so, he’s set himself up for a classic New York-Boston rivalry. He is already credited with transforming the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from a glorified pit band to one of the country's top orchestras, and now, comparisons with the BSO are beginning. Today on Soundcheck, we get perspectives from two sides of the equation: Musical America editor Sedgwick Clark weighs in from New York, while Boston Globe classical music critic Richard Dyer gives the Beantown perspective.


Classical Revival

Thursday, October 28, 2004

There’s nothing like a Greek tragedy to make sense (and drama) of society’s foibles. After two decades of performances worldwide, the Lee Breuer-Bob Telson adaptation of the Oedipus tragedy, “The Gospel at Colonus” begins its two-week revival at the Apollo Theater this week. This award-winning Broadway hit sets the story of blind King Oedipus in the context of the Pentecostal gospel service, and stars the Bind Boys of Alabama along with several New York gospel choirs. We’re joined today by playwright and director Breuer and composer Telson.


Kerry or Bush: Who’s Better for the Arts?

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Where do Kerry and Bush stand on issues concerning the arts? Where have been hot-button cultural issues like NEA funding and censorship on this year’s election agenda? Is one political party better for the arts than the other? For some answers to these questions, we’re joined by John Sparks, who worked on the front lines of the 1990s Culture Wars as a Washington, DC-based lobbyist for orchestras. Today he’s an arts consultant and recently wrote an article for NewMusicBox.org about the arts under different administrations in recent history. Also on the show is Pamela Z., a master of integrating technology and composition. The composer and performer joins us to discuss her new album A Delay Is Better, and her evening-length multimedia performance at The Kitchen.


The Musical Steroid?

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

The arguments against performance enhancing drugs in athletics are pretty clear-cut: they’re illegal, unsafe and unethical. But how about classical music? As it happens, the use of an anxiety-reducing drug called Inderal is helping an increasing number of musicians endure stressful auditions and solo performances. The drug is legal, non-habit-forming, and has no serious side effects, and yet, many musicians argue that using it amounts to cheating. We examine the issue today with musician, arts consultant and blogger Drew McManus, and we also take your calls. Also joining us is composer and music critic Danny Felsenfeld, who reviews new recordings of two pieces written on the grandest of scales, by Leonard Bernstein and William Bolcom.


Shrink Rap

Monday, October 25, 2004

As the life of composer and conductor Gustav Mahler sank into difficulty and despair, he wrote some of his greatest symphonies and song cycles. Stuart Feder, psychoanalyst, professor, and author of Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis, joins us to share his analysis of what allowed Mahler, in his toughest times—the death of his parents and of his daughter, harrowing medical difficulties, and a rough divorce—to create his most innovative work. This begs the broader question: exactly how does mental health and emotional stability affect creative work and expression? We also take listener phone calls on the topic as we’re joined by the producers of “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.” That documentary film went behind the scenes, into the therapy sessions of the most commercially successful heavy metal band of all time.


Do Politics Belong in Music?

Friday, October 22, 2004

Record producer Danny Goldberg never shies away from a political battle. He helped wage against Tipper Gore over rock lyrics in the 1980s and more recently, his own record label, Artemis, has sparked controversy by releasing both the Steve Earle song "John Walker's Blues,” and Cornel West's rap album, which Harvard president (and former Clinton treasury secretary) Larry Summers said "embarrassed" the university. His book Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit is a critique of the Democratic Party's failure to stay in touch with pop culture as a way of reaching its base. He joins us today along with New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, who has written extensively about protest music of late.


Fiddler on the Make

Thursday, October 21, 2004

During his successful career, Gil Shaham has won over audiences with his likable stage presence and his versatility in standard repertory—concertos by Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, etc. But he’s hardly immune to the challenges facing the classical music industry, and when his contract with a major record company fizzled, he set out to create his own label. So far two discs have resulted, including a new recording of Prokofiev works, with his sister, pianist Orli Shaham. Also: Botox is in the headlines these days for its use as a wrinkle remover. But it is also helping a child prodigy who lost the ability to use his talent when he was just 35 years old play again. More from pianist Leon Fleischer, and his remarkable comeback album, Two Hands.


Backstage Tell-All

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Luciano Pavarotti's former manager, Herbert Breslin, and New York Times classical music critic Anne Midgette have written The King and I: The Unsensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti’s Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend, and Sometime Adversary, an a biography of the legendary tenor. As the title suggests, it’s a juicy read as related by a tough and streetwise manager. Today Breslin and Midgette join host John Schaefer to dish about just what was going on behind the scenes as Pavarotti was rising to fame and remaking the landscape of the opera business. And for something completely different, Will Ackerman, guitarist and father of the New Age movement, joins us to discuss his new album, Returning. He also looks back on a career that included founding Windham Hill Records.


A Report from the House of Swing

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Last night’s opening of the Frederick P. Rose Jazz Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center received no shortage of advanced media coverage, but the question remains: how does it sound? Today, Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis joins us with his thoughts on the hall’s opening night and what the future holds in store. Also: Profiling great artists teaches us about greatness, and Leonard Bernstein is no exception. WNYC recently began broadcasting Leonard Bernstein: An American Life, an 11-part radio documentary, hosted by Susan Sarandon, about Bernstein’s iconic life and career. Today, daughter Jamie Bernstein Thomas joins us to give us an even deeper look into the life of her father, who seems to be more popular than ever these days.


Hot Hot Hot

Monday, October 18, 2004

Almost a decade ago, Latin jazz pianist Arturo O’Farrill collaborated with trumpeter and bandleader Wynton Marsalis for a concert at Lincoln Center. The seeds were planted for a long lasting musical relationship between O’Farrill and Marsalis that culminated in the formation of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center. O’Farrill and Marsalis both recognized that Latin Jazz was not just a subset of jazz; it was more of a sibling, a complementary partner. Today, Arturo O’Farrill joins us to discuss what Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new Frederick P. Rose Jazz Hall means to the Jazz community, what he has in store this coming year for the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and why he likens his life to living in an I Love Lucy sitcom.


No Love Lost

Friday, October 15, 2004

Schubert’s epic song cycle “Winterreise” is a tale of romance gone wrong, of a jilted lover's tormented wanderings through the snowy night. Who better to bring this saga to life than an Englishman (tenor Ian Bostridge) and a Norwegian (pianist Leif Ove Andsnes)? Two of today’s most eloquent young classical musicians, they join us today to share the results of their team work. Also: Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder and artistic director of the a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock and a history professor at American University, tells us about her score and libretto for “The Temptation of St. Anthony.” The work, by stage director Robert Wilson, is an adaptation of Flaubert's 1874 novel about a man's struggle for piety.


The Jazz Pantheon?

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker are just a few of the jazz greats that have been inducted into the new Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, located at the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center at Columbus Circle. There are fourteen inductees in all, as determined by a 72-person international voting panel, which includes musicians, scholars and educators from 17 countries. Today we take listener calls and ask who’s missing from the list? And are we entering a new era of approachability for jazz – an art form that has occasionally been criticized for being too self-indulgent and insidery?

» View pictures of Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame


Musical Explorers

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Equal parts punk rocker and classical composer, John Cale has enjoyed a diverse career that began as a member of the Velvet Underground and continued through collaborations with experimental musicians like Brian Eno and LaMonte Young to punk icons like Patti Smith and Iggy Pop. He joins us on the heels of his new recording, Hobo Sapiens. As we’ll hear, Cale has softened his edge since the 1970s—when he sometimes wore a hockey mask onstage and played before teeming mosh pits—but his music is every bit as lively. Also: composers are often commissioned to write new pieces for concert halls or orchestras, but in the case of composer Janet Albright, the bequest came from a town. Well, two towns actually. She joins us to discuss her ongoing project, to formulate a piece that captures the essence of the neighboring towns of Maplewood and South Orange, New Jersey.


Reasons to Smile

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

The Beach Boys album Smile has become rock music's Holy Grail—fans and critics knew it was out there, but aside from a few bootleg versions and snippets, nobody knew where it was or what it was like. Written and recorded in 1967, the album was abandoned after the band’s front-man Brian Wilson experienced severe self-doubt about its commercial prospects and ultimately suffered a mental breakdown. Now that it has been released, the jury’s in and many say the wait has been worth it. Wilson joins us today to talk about its release. We’re then joined by Benjamin Bagby, co-founder and guiding spirit of the early-music ensemble Sequentia who talks about reinterpreting the saucy secular songs of the 11th century. Rounding out the show, we get a primer on some really old music courtesy of the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble. Their latest CD takes on the ancient music of the Holy Land, including original prayers of Jesus and the Essene chant from the Dead Sea Scrolls.


Jazz Finds a New Home

Monday, October 11, 2004

Jazz lovers take note! Today, host John Schaefer offers a sneak preview of the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. We get a behind-the-scenes tour of the sleek new $128 million Fredrick P. Rose concert hall, located in the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle with the center’s president and CEO Walter Thinnes. We also hear from Wynton Marsalis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and trumpeter, and artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, which he co-founded in 1987. Always an outspoken figure in the jazz world, Marsalis discusses the development of the new hall, his programming vision for the center, and his upcoming performance with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

» View pictures of Soundcheck's walk-through of J@LC's New Home


Remakes and Rocket Scientists

Friday, October 08, 2004

The Neville Brothers have released their first album in five years, “Walkin' in the Shadow of Life” which includes a remake of The Temptations song "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)." The group has updated lyrics of the 1970 original to reflect modern concerns—including changing references from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. They drop by with a preview. Also: It has been said that we are little more than our cumulative experiences. This is particularly true for Jean-Michel Pilc, a satellite engineer turned jazz pianist. Pilc graduated from France's leading telecommunications research university in the early 80s and worked as a scientist with the French space agency. But launching satellites couldn't match his musical passions, which have been called “unpredictably exploratory.” He joins us with a live performance.


Homage a go-go

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Playful yet academic—in a non-stiff way—is how you might characterize the music of Don Byron. Today, the Bronx-based clarinetist and provocateur gives us a taste of his new CD, which is a recreation of a 1946 recording by the great saxophonist Lester Young. Recorded with pianist Jason Moran and drummer Jack DeJohnette, the disc shows the potential of interpreting and putting a modern signature on a classic live recording.


Ready for Seconds

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Leon Fleischer is music’s comeback kid of 2004. In the mid 1960's, the celebrated American pianist injured his right hand and was forced to switch gears to conducting and teaching as well as performing the left-hand piano repertory. Now after years of rehabilitation, he has returned to playing with both hands, and today, he talks with host John Schaefer about his new recording, titled "Two Hands." Also: What is the next chapter in the historical progression of musical ideas? Is it still possible for a “Big Idea” to energize a critical mass of composers and performers? It sounds like a mouthful, but these questions were recently the basis of a multi-person blog on Artsjournal.com. Today we’re joined by Justin Davidson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic of Newsday, who participated and has some reactions.


Rossinian Romps and Tokyo Jazz

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

As the opera world prepares for Luciano Pavarotti's retirement, fans are searching for the next legendary tenor. To some, anointed heir has been found: Juan Diego Florez. The 31-year-old Peruvian joins guest host Anthony DeCurtis to talk about what it’s like to be the new kid on the proverbial opera block, and about the parallels between Donizetti and soccer. We’re also joined by WNYC cultural producer Alicia Zuckerman, who recently spoke with stage director, Julie Taymor, who is perhaps best known for directing Broadway’s The Lion King. Her latest venture takes her down a different road, as the brains behind the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Rounding out the show, we visit with Grammy-nominated jazz piano phenom Brad Mehldau, whose latest album breaks down the walls separating Gershwin, Nick Drake, and Radiohead.


Strumming Their Way into Town

Monday, October 04, 2004

Now a successful singer-songwriter, Amy Correia first realized her talents as an artist while sidelined from a back injury that left her time to explore the guitar she had recently bought. She has come a long way and now composes music for the guitar, mandolin, and baritone ukulele and is poised to release “Lakeville,” the follow-up to her first disc, “Carnival Love.” She joins guest host Anthony DeCurtis today to discuss her personal (and musical) journey which took her from New York to Los Angeles – and back to New York again. Also in the studio today is author and Grammy-winning singer Rosanne Cash who will be talking to us about her performance series, Acoustic Cash, at the new Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.


The Final Frontier

Friday, October 01, 2004

One of the founding fathers of Minimalism, Terry Riley joins host John Schaefer today in advance of the New York premiere this weekend of “Sun Rings,” an evening-long work inspired by sounds discovered in deep space, and featuring 40-foot projections of NASA photographs of deep-space imagery. Along with an ambitious visual component, performers will include the Kronos Quartet and the 70-voice Dessoff Choirs. Also opening this weekend is the Rubin Museum of Art, which will display art from the Himalayas and surrounding regions. Located steps away from the bustling Chelsea art district in the space that once housed Barneys, the museum will feature five floors of galleries, a library and an auditorium for live performances. We get a preview today from museum curator Tim McHenry.