{"id":754,"date":"2017-07-03T16:26:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T20:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=754"},"modified":"2017-07-03T16:26:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T20:26:39","slug":"rethinking-classical-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2017\/07\/rethinking-classical-radio.html","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking “Classical Radio”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When commercial radio was new, the airwaves were saturated with classical music \u2013 not just recordings and live concerts, but highly produced pedagogical programs. You could tune into Abram Chasins for tips on playing Chopin\u2019s E-flat major Nocturne.<\/p>\n

What today passes for classical music radio is a different species of broadcasting. You can spend an afternoon listening to the 50 greatest hits (scientifically culled) in their latest, most generic studio incarnations. Older recordings are shunned. Talking is avoided as a plague upon the listener.<\/p>\n

A fellow named David Osenberg has courageously crafted an alternative template. It\u2019s called WWFM Classical Radio and anyone can tune in anytime because it\u2019s streamed internationally. At Dave\u2019s invitation, PostClassical Ensemble<\/a> now has its own \u201cPostClassical\u201d series<\/a> on WWFM. These two-hour shows are nationally unique. They\u2019re thematic. They\u2019re crammed with commentary \u2013 not just knowledge and opinion, but learned debate. The three participants \u2013 myself, PCE Music Director Angel Gil-Ordondez, and host Bill McGlaughlin \u2013 are frequently flying in different directions. And Bill \u2013 who comes to radio as a conductor and musical advocate of long experience \u2013 is additionally prone to personal anecdotes and historical digressions that temper my obsessive harangues.<\/p>\n

We began with a show<\/a> challenging Ricardo Muti\u2019s assertion that orchestras are better than ever, sampling amazing recordings from the thirties and forties, when orchestras were better than now.<\/p>\n

Then came our Lou Harrison Centenary tribute.<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest installment, just up, is \u201cDvorak and Hiawatha.\u201d <\/a>Like the Harrison show, it features PCE recordings for Naxos \u2013 which, like WWFM, enthusiastically supports our attempts to do everything differently.<\/p>\n

I believe \u201cDvorak and Hiawatha\u201d has to be one of the most provocative treatments of American music ever aired on American radio. My premise \u2013 which Angel supports and Bill resists \u2013 is that Dvorak became an \u201cAmerican composer.\u201d Is the New World<\/em> Symphony directly inspired by Longfellow\u2019s The Song of Hiawatha<\/em>? Does it end with a dirge signifying Hiawatha\u2019s departure into \u201cthe purple mists of evening\u201d? Angel and I think so. Bill isn\u2019t so sure. He sees Aaron Copland as an heir to Dvorak. Not I; Copland balked at using the \u201cNegro melodies\u201d Dvorak adored. A truer heir, to my way of thinking, was George Gershwin. Or the American Bartok: Arthur Farwell.<\/p>\n

Our shows spill beyond the allotted two hours. But Dave posts everything. Here\u2019s a Listening Guide for \u201cDvorak and Hiawatha\u201d:<\/p>\n

Part I: THE HIAWATHA MELODRAMA<\/p>\n

7:00 \u2013 How the Dance of Pau-Puk Keewis inspired the Scherzo from Dvorak\u2019s New World<\/em> Symphony<\/p>\n

12:30 \u2013 Why does Dvorak\u2019s symphony end with a dirge? Hiawatha\u2019s Departure<\/p>\n

17:50 \u2013 The Larghetto from Dvorak\u2019s Violin Sonatina as a picture of Minnehaha and Minnehaha Falls<\/p>\n

26:10 \u2013 Dvorak\u2019s American<\/em> Suite and his Indianist mode<\/p>\n

33:00 \u2013 The complete Hiawatha Melodrama, with Kevin Deas and PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez, on PCE\u2019s Naxos \u201cDvorak and America\u201d CD<\/p>\n

Part II: DVORAK\u2019S AMERICAN<\/em> SUITE<\/p>\n

4:25 \u2013 Does the opening evoke Jerome Kern?<\/p>\n

5:40 \u2013 The second movement\u2019s \u201cplantation song\u201d<\/p>\n

8:20 \u2013 The third movement\u2019s minstrel dance, plantation song, and Indian elegy<\/p>\n

12:20 \u2013 What defines Dvorak\u2019s Indianist trope?<\/p>\n

13:13 \u2013 How an Indian dance becomes a minstrel song in the finale<\/p>\n

15:35 \u2013 Why this is not \u201cprogram music\u201d<\/p>\n

17:35 \u2013 The complete American<\/em> Suite, performed by pianist Benjamin Pasternack on PCE\u2019s Naxos \u201cDvorak and America\u201d CD<\/p>\n

39:00 \u2013 Why is Dvorak\u2019s \u201cAmerican style\u201d more than an \u201cAmerican accent\u201d?<\/p>\n

40:02 \u2013 The Dvorak Humoresques in G-flat and F major (sounds like Gershwin), with pianist Benjamin Pasternack<\/p>\n

53:00 \u2013 Dvorak vs Aaron Copland \u2013 why Gershwin is the real heir to Dvorak<\/p>\n

Part III: THE AMERICAN BARTOK: ARTHUR FARWELL<\/p>\n

00:50 \u2013 Farwell\u2019s Indian War Dance No. 2, performed by Benjamin Pasternack<\/p>\n

6:06 \u2013 Farwell\u2019s \u201cPawnee Horses,\u201d in versions for piano (Benjamin Pasternack) and 16-part a cappella chorus (The University of Texas Chamber Singers conducted by James Morrow)<\/p>\n

17:00 \u2013 Dvorak\/Fisher: \u201cGoin\u2019 Home,\u201d sung by Kevin Deas with PCE conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez<\/p>\n

TO PURCHASE PCE\u2019S \u201cDVORAK AND AMERICA\u201d ON NAXOS: click here<\/a><\/p>\n

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DVORAK AND AMERICA: click here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When commercial radio was new, the airwaves were saturated with classical music \u2013 not just recordings and live concerts, but highly produced pedagogical programs. You could tune into Abram Chasins for tips on playing Chopin\u2019s E-flat major Nocturne. What today passes for classical music radio is a different species of broadcasting. You can spend an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-ca","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}