Radio hiatus

Because of renovation work at the University of Richmond’s North Court, home of WDCE-FM, the station will be off the air from July 5 to 15.

Letter V Classical Radio returns on July 21.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Studio guests in the second hour: Cellist and University of Richmond President Ronald A. Crutcher and UR faculty pianist Joanne Kong, previewing their recitals on July 6 and 7 launching “Rachmaninoff and the Russians,” the Richmond Symphony Summer Series
of six early evening chamber concerts, on Thursdays through Aug. 11 at Dominion Arts Center.

We’ll sample some of the music featured on their program, and hear Crutcher playing a solo work written for him by the American composer Alvin Singleton.

June 30
3-5 p.m. EDT
1900-2100 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

J.S. Bach: Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Janos Starker, cello
(RCA Victor)

Past Masters:
Brahms: Sonata in E minor, Op. 38
Emanuel Feuermann, cello
Theo van der Pas, piano
(Magic Masters)
(recorded 1934)

Alvin Singleton: “Argoru II”
Ronald Crutcher, cello
(Albany)

Glazunov: Elegie, Op. 17
Yuli Turovsky, cello
Peter Pettinger, piano
(Chandos)

Scriabin: Etude in C sharp minor, Op. 42, No. 5
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
(Bridge)

Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata
in G minor – IV: Allegro mosso
Truls Mørk, cello
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
(Virgin Classics)

Neglected Americana at Aspen

As Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival stages a summer season of neglected modern Americana – symphonic works by Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, William Schuman, George Antheil, Peter Mennin, Roy Harris and others – the festival’s CEO, Alan Fletcher, writing for The Guardian, examines the divide between the American composers, such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein, whose theatrical or narrative music has secured a place in the repertory, and those whose more abstract works have not:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jun/28/american-composers-neglected-aspen-music-festival-classical

O . . . No!

Penguins in Antarctica flee in alarm as man sings
“O Solo Mio.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxwQJ9yt5ao

(The New York Times’ Gail Collins linked to this in a column about the impact of cruise ships on nature and the environment.)

Ralph Stanley (1927-2016)

Ralph Stanley, the Southwest Virginia singer and banjoist, one of the last surviving first-generation figures who transformed Appalachian balladry and string-band music into the bluegrass style, has died at 89.

The Stanley Brothers, Ralph and Carter, led one of the most successful bluegrass bands in the 1940s and ’50s. After Carter Stanley’s death in 1966, Ralph Stanley took over as a leader of the band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, in time becoming a mentor to a new generation of bluegrass and “neo-traditional” country musicians.

Late in life, Ralph Stanley achieved mass popularity through performances in the soundtrack of the film
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000), and was recognized as an icon of American folk music.

Among the honors he received were a National Medal of Arts, a Living Legend Award from the Library of Congress, and the Traditional American Music Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

An obituary by Terence McArdle for The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/ralph-stanley-bluegrass-master-dies-at-89/2016/06/23/bd087884-39a8-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

June 23
3-5 p.m. EDT
1900-2100 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Holst: “St. Paul’s Suite”
Camerata Wales/
Owain Arwel Hughes
(BIS)

Janáček: “In the Mists”
Piotr Anderszewski, piano (Virgin Classics)

J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite
No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
Ernst-Burghard Hilse, flute
Akademie für alte Musik Berlin
(Harmonia Mundi)

Beethoven: Quartet
in C sharp minor, Op. 131
Cypress String Quartet
(Avie)

Stravinsky:
“Symphony of Psalms”
Collegium Vocale Gent
Royal Flemish Philharmonic/
Philippe Herreweghe
(Pentatone)

Letter V Classical Radio this week

June 16
3-5 p.m. EDT
1900-2100 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Glinka: “Ruslan and Lyudmila” Overture
London Symphony
Orchestra/
Georg Solti
(Decca)

Past Masters:
Mozart: Quartet
in B flat major,
K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Quartetto Italiano (Philips)
(recorded 1966)

Saint-Saëns:
Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor
Stephen Hough, piano
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/
Sakari Oramo
(Hyperion)

Jennifer Higdon:
“String Poetic”
Jennifer Koh, violin
Reiko Uchida, piano (Çedille)

Schubert: Symphony No. 5 in B flat major
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble/
Marc Minkowski (Naïve)

George Butterworth:
“On Banks
of Green Willow”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Grant Llewellyn (Argo)