wwuh
wwuh logo 2

Broadcasting as a Community Service  

91 .3FM
 


new UH logo  
  
WWUH 91.3 FM
Program Guide
March/April, 2017
In This Issue
Program Idea?
WWUH and the 1st Gulf War
Public Affairs on WWUH
Classical Music on WWUH
Composer Birthdays
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera
WWUH Archive Now Online
How To Listen
Join Our List
 
Got An Idea for a Radio Program?
 

 We might have some late night (midnight and 3am) shows opening up this fall. If you have a unique idea for a radio program and/or have an interest in possibly filling in on 91.3 as a late night volunteer email us with a description of the type of show you propose and a playlist of the type of music you might play. Send it to WWUH

 
If we like your show idea and something opens up we'll let you know. We can provide on-air training so even if you've never done radio before if you are interested/available for some late night volunteer work and have a neat show idea feel free to email us.

 

C
Flashback - 1991

WWUH 
and the 1st Gulf War
 
The 1991 war in the Gulf resulted in a frenzy of pro-American programming on just about every broadcast outlet in the country.  It seemed that the electronic media was blind to some of the serious questions that were being asked in the alternative print media and on overseas broadcast outlets such as the BBC. Questions about such things as the amount of civilian casualties (termed "collateral damage" by the Pentagon), about the wisdom and environmental impact of bombing operating nuclear power plants, about the cost-effectiveness of using a 3 million dollar cruise missile to destroy a enemy jeep and about possible biological or chemical hazards released onto the battlefield when allied troops deliberately blew up captured storage sites known to contain these kinds of weapons.
Even before the war began, while the US was recruiting other countries for a coalition, many WWUH public affairs producers started  exploring the issues surrounding Iraq on the air and a new program, "Cease Fire News," made its appearance on WWUH for the first time.

Cease Fire News, produced by Dorian Minor, delved into many controversial subjects during the war and the show continued for several years after the war exploring such subjects of the harm the International sanctions were doing to the Iraqi public, the lies told by the US Administration that helped the public support the war and the horror of Gulf War Illness.


Public Affairs on WWUH
Real Alternative News
 
For close to 50 years WWUH has aired a variety of community affairs programs.

Here is our current schedule:
Monday: Noon - 1pm  Alternative Radio
8:00 - 9:00 pm  Radio Ecoshock
Tuesday:  Noon - 12:30 pm  New World Notes
   12:30 -  1:00 pm  Counterspin
    8:00 - 9:00 pm  Black Agenda Report
Wednesday:  Noon - 12:30 pm  911 Wake Up Call
                 12:30 - 1:00 pm   Building Bridges
           8:00 - 8:30 pm  911 Wake Up Call
           8:30 - 9:00 pm  New World Notes
Thursday:   Noon - 1:00 pm  Project Censored
                  7:30 - 8:00 pm  Making Contact
                  8:00 - 8:30 pm  This Way Out
                  8:30 - 9:00 pm Gay Spirit
Friday:        12:00 - 12:30 pm  New Focus
                  12:30 - 1:00 pm  TUC Radio
Sunday:      4:30 - 5:00 pm  Explorations
 
WWUH Classical Programming  
March/April, 2017
  
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera... Sundays 1:00 - 4:30 pm
Evening Classics... Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 8:00 pm
Drake's Village Brass Band... Mondays 7:00-8:00 pm

March
Wed
1
Host's Choice
Thu
2
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Thunder & Lightning Polka; MacFarren: Concertstuck in e; Briccialdi: Carnival of Venice Op. 77; Smetana: Piano Trio in g Op. 15, Czech Dances-Book 2 #1-2, From Bohemia's Meadows and Forests; Weill: Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra Op. 12; C. Romero: Suite Andaluza; Gardner: Tomorrow shall be my dancing day Op. 75 #2; Rands: Fanfare; Welcher: Arietta; Mozart's Contemporaries: Symphonies from Abel to Zimmermann Zimmermann: Sinfonia in C; Pepusch: Concerto grosso for trumpet in D.
Fri
3
In the Reeds - woodwinds have a blast
Sun
5
R. Nathaniel Dett: The Ordering of Moses; Primosch: Sacred Songs
Mon
6
Dupre: Three Preludes and Fugues; Messiaen: Le Banquet Celeste; Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2; Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane Suite #2; The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake, Part 2
Drake's Village Brass Band ... U.S. Marine Band - Picture Studies Part 1
Tue
7
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite for Flute Pastourelle, Strings and B.c. in E-flat major, TWV 55:Es 2;
Hindemith: Octet; D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; J.S. Bach: (Wedding) Cantata BWV 195 'Dem Gerechten muss das Licht immer wieder aufgehen' (1741?); Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 (1785); Bartok: String Quartet No. 2
Wed
8
Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements; Busnois: Missa O Crux Lignum; Hotteterre: Flute Music; Chadwick: Trois Morceaux Lyriques; Kirchner: Romanze
Thu
9
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina - Act 1 Prelude "Dawn on the Moscow River", Pictures at an Exhibition; Mysliveček: Cello Concerto in C, Symphony #3 in F, Wind Quintet #3 in E Flat; Kastner: Sextuor; Luigini: Ballet Egyptien Op. 12 - Suite; J. R. Ohlsson: Berceuse; Barber: Adagio for Strings, Symphony #1; Schilling: Canzona on "Christ ist Erstanden"; Rosetti: Horn Concerto in g.
Fri
10
There's a party in the basement
Sun
12
Handel/Mendelssohn: Israel in Agypten; Fasch: Passio Jesu Christi
Mon
13
Respighi: Fountains of Rome, Belkis, Queen of Sheba; Nielsen: Helios Overture, Symphony #4 "The Inextinguishable"; Raskowski: Stolen Moments for Piano and Orchestra; Stucky: Concerto for Orchestra
Drake's Village Brass Band ... U. S. Marine Band - Picture Studies Part 2
Tue
14
Bliss: String Quartet #2; Creston: Symphony #2, Op. 35; Donizetti: String Quartet #11 in C
Wed
15
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11; Johan Hartman: Symphony No. 2; Webern: Leider; Bartok: Violin Sonata No. 1; Kabalevsky: Piano Sonata No. 2
Thu
16
Host's Choice
Fri
17
Music of the Emerald Isle
Sun
19
Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary
Mon
20
Glass: Solo Piano; Casadesus: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra #2; Ravel:  La Valse, Bolero;
Copland: Appalachian Spring (original version), Nonet for Strings
Drake's Village Brass Band ... U. S. Continental Army Band - To A New Dawn
Tue
21
Pleyel: String Quartet in E , Op. 2, #4; Gyrowetz: Symphony in D, Op. 12, #1; Ries: Sonata in F for Piano & Horn, Op. 34; Bach, J. S.: Magnificat in D, BWV 243
Wed
22
Vanhal: Symphony in G; Sullivan: Selections from Iolanthe; Svendsen: Symphony No. 1; Weiss: Sonata No. 25; Volkmann: String Quartet No. 2
Thu
23
Selle: Joseph Was Da?; Sperger: Symphony #34 in D; Taubert: Piano Concerto #1; Minkus: Don Quixote - Act 3; Reubke: Scherzo in d; Joseph Wieniawski: Piano Concerto in g Op. 20; Gigout: Scherzo in E; Schreker: Festwalzer und Walzerintermezzo; Vecsey: Valse Triste; Geoffrey Bush: Consort Music; Arutiunian: Trumpet Concerto; Tishchenko: Cello Concerto #1; Nyman: The Piano - The Heart Asks Pleasure First/The Promise.
Fri
24
Spring has sprung . . .
Sun
26
Handel: Theodora
Mon
27
Marathon Fund Raiser
Tue
28
A variety of shorter selections to accompany WWUH Spring Marathon
Wed
29
Host's Choice
Thu
30
Music for Marathon
Fri
31
It's Marathon Week - call in your requests with your pledges
April
Sun
2
Marathon Fund Raising programming
Mon
3
Gottshalk: Piano Music; Joplin: Treemonisha
Drake's Village Brass Band ... North Texas Wind Symphony - Escapades
Tue
4
Telemann: Concert en Ouverture in A major for Violin, Strings, and B.c. TWV 55:A7; Hindemith: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, a Requiem for Those We Loved; D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas;
J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 29: 'Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir' (1731); W. A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482 (1785); Bartok: String Quartet No. 3
Wed
5
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 3; Schubert: Lieder; Bruch: Scottish Fantasy; von Gemmingen: Violin Concerto No. 3; Thomson: Concerto for Flute
Thu
6
Francis Brown: New York Light Guards Quickstep; Sammartini: Concerto for 2 violins, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets in E Flat; Kuhnau: Fresh Keyboard Fruits - Sonata #6; Destouches: Les Elemens; Volkmann: Cello Concerto in a Op. 33; Danks: Silver Threads Among the Gold; Salzedo: Scintillation Op. 31; Tate: London Fields - Suite; Previn: Little Serenade (Noah); Cartellieri: Symphony No. 3 in C; Schickhardt: Flute Concerto in g; Mozart: String Quintet #5 in D K. 593.
Fri
7
Let's bet on "Lucky Number 7"
Sun
9
Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Mon
10
Horowitz Plays Prokofiev, Barber and Kabalesky; Blackwood: Symphony #1; Haiff: Symphony #2
Drake's Village Brass Band ...Joseph Eger Horn - Beethoven: Sonata for Horn and Piano; Brahms: Trio for Horn and Piano
Tue
11
Stamitz: Orchestra Quartet in F, Op. 14, #4; Bortnyansky: Sacred Concerto #10; Arnold: English Dances, Set 2, Op. 33; Haydn: Die Sieben Letzten Worte unseres Erlosers am Kreuze, Op. 51
Wed
12
Suk: Symphony in E Minor; Senfl: Missa Paschalis; Herold: Piano Concerto No. 2; Jadin: Sonatas; Bazzini: Two Grand Etudes 
Thu
13
Forster: Oboe Concerto in c; David:  String Quartet #4 in e, La Nuit; W. S. Bennett: Caprice in e Op. 22, Piano Sonata #2 in A flat Op. 46 "The Maid of Orleans"; McEwen: Scottish Rhapsody "Prince Charlie"; Alexandrov: Hymn of the Russian Federation; Jensen: Passacaglia; Rzewski: 4 North American Ballads - Dreadful Memories; Spohr: Clarinet Concerto # 1 in c Op. 26; Mozart: Serenade in B Flat K. 361 "Gran Partita".
Fri
14
Host's Choice
Sun
16
Vaughn Williams: The Pilgrim's Progress (incidental music for the radio play); Rachmaninoff: Vespers
Mon
17
Fenton: The Blue Planet; Rene Fleming: Distant Light; Willian Albright - Sweet Sixteenths: A Ragtime Concert
Drake's Village Brass Band ...  Black Dyke Band -  Parker: Ground Force
Tue
18
Guilmant: Symphony #2 for Organ & Orchestra, Op. 91; Dvořák: Miniatures for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 75a; Gade: Symphony #2 in E, Op. 10; Beethoven: String Quartet in A, Op. 18, #5
Wed
19
Wilms: Symphony No. 1; Tallis: Missa Salve Intemerata; von Winter: Sinfonia "Schweriner"; Subissati: Violin Sonatas; Ysaye: Violin Sonata No. 1; Walther: Organ Music
Thu
20
New Releases. A Sampling of New Acquisitions from the WWUH Library.
Fri
21
Music of the Ballet
Sun
23
Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
Mon
24
Monday Night at the Movies -  Hermann: North by Northwest; Copland: The Red Pony, The Heiress
Drake's Village Brass Band ... J. D. Shaw Horn - Tales of Imagination
Tue
25
Special program with guest, Alan Lurie, who will present and discuss recordings make by his father, the reknowned clarinetist, Mitchell Lurie.
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115; Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581; Brahms: Sonata in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1; Muczynski: Time Pieces
Schumann: Romances
Wed
26
Karl Hartman: Symphony No. 3; Bayer: The Fairy Doll; Schenk: Sonatas; Turina: Piano Concerto in F; Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2
Thu
27
Andreas Romberg: String Quartet Op.1 #3; Jadin: Piano Sonata in B-Flat Op. 4 #1; Flotow: Martha Overture, Ach so Fromm, The Last Rose of Summer; Catoire: Elegy for Violin and Piano Op. 26; Slonimsky: Suite for Cello and Piano; Parry: An English Suite; Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito K. 621 - Arranged for Wind Ensemble; Boccherini: Piano Quintet in e Op. 57 #3 G. 415; Mendelssohn: Concerto in E for 2 Pianos & Orchestra.
Fri
28
Wendy Carlos: Beauty in the Beast
Sun
30
Shakespeare: As You Like It
 
 


  

  
Thursday Evening Classics
 
 
 
  Library
 
Thursday Evening Classics 
Composer Birthdays 
for March/April, 2017

Mar 2
1813 George Alexander MacFarren
1818 Giulio Briccialdi
1824 Bedrich Smetana
1900 Kurt Weill
1905 Marc Blitzstein
1913 Celedonio Romero
1916 Bernard Stevens
1917 John Gardner
1921 Robert Simpson
1934 Bernard Rands
1943 Stephen Dickman
1948 Dan Welcher
 
Mar 9
1737 Josef Mysliveček
1810 Jean-Georges Kastner
1839 Modest Mussorgsky
1850 Alexandre Luigini
1874 Johann Richard Ohlsson
1910 Samuel Barber
1926 Celso Garrido Lecca
1927 Hans Ludwig Schilling
1933 William Francis McBeth
1980 Anna Clyne
 
Mar 16
1823 William Henry Monk
1885 Giacomo Benvenuti
1918 Howard Boatwright
1929 Edwin London
1937 David Del Tredici
1959 Sebastian Currier
 
Mar 23
1599 Thomas Selle
1750 Johann Matthias Sperger
1811 Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert
1826 Aloysius Ludwig Minkus
1834 Julius Reubke
1837 Joseph Wieniawski
1844 Eugene Gigout
1878 Franz Schreker
1893 Franz von Vecsey
1920 Geoffrey Bush
1920 Alexander Grigori Arutiunian
1939 Boris Tishchenko
1944 Michael Nyman
 
Mar 30
1510 Antonio de Cabezon
1750 (bapt) John Stafford Smith
1772 (bapt) Johann Wilms
1804 Salomon Sulzer
1932 Luigi Zaninelli
1935 Gordon Mumma
 
Apr 6
1660 Johann Kuhnau
1672 (bapt) Andre-Cardinal Destouches
1815 Friedrich Robert Volkmann
1818 Francis H. Brown
1884 Hart Pease Danks
1885 Carlos Salzedo
1911 Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate
1921 Andrew Imbrie
1929 Edison Denisov
1929 Andre Previn
 
Apr 13
1810 Félicien David
1816 Sir William Sterndale Bennett
1868 John Blackwood McEwen
1883 Alexander Alexandrov
1894 Ludvig Irgens Jensen
1932 Karl Kroeger
1938 Frederic Rzewski
 
Apr 20
1881 Nikolay Miaskovsky
 
Apr 27
1767 Andreas Jacob Romberg
1776 Hyacinthe Jadin
1812 Friedrich von Flotow
1861 Georgy Catoire
1894 Nicolas Slonimsky
  

 
 
  

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
your "lyric theater" program
with Keith Brown
programming selections for the months of March/April, 2017
 

 
SUNDAY MARCH 5th - Dett
The Ordering of Moses, Primosch, Sacred Songs Ash Wednesday was this past March 1st, so this is the first Sunday in Lent, that forty-day penitential period in the Christian calendar leading up to Easter. In old Catholic Europe (and in Protestant European countries,too) the opera houses closed for the duration. Opera was replaced with performance of sacred oratorio. I commence my Lenten programming with an oratorio that would have been perfectly appropriate for broadcast in February in observance of Black History Month. The Ordering of Moses (1937) is the work of R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), who seems to have made history as being the first African American composer to have such a major work broadcast in its world premiere performance nationwide through the NBC radio network.

 That broadcast on May 7,1937 was preserved for posterity as recorded on acetate discs. You will hear it today as it was recorded live in performance at Carnegie Hall, New York City, May 9, 2014, and broadcast over WQXR, New York's classical station. Dett wrote his oratorio for Cincinnati's longstanding classical music May Festival. James Conlan directs the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with four vocal soloists. The Bridge record label issued The Ordering of Moses in 2016 on a single compact disc. Dett styled his work a "Biblical Folk Scene." It sets forth passages from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, to which Dett added some African American folkloric elements. He made use of the traditional spiritual "Go Down, Moses," with its ringing cry, "Let my people go!"  

    Also released through the Bridge label in 2014 are the Sacred Songs of James Primosch (b. 1956), American composer with a mystical bent. First a student, then  a colleague of composers George Crumb and John Harbison, Primosch is known for his economy of style, with a subtle, articulate quality of vocal writing that is perfect for the musical setting of religious texts. In fact, he's a church musician engaged by Emmanuel Church of Boston to compose motets. His Sacred Songs were all composed between 1989 and 2008. These songs are mostly in English, but also in the German or Latin language. The settings of the poems of Rainer Maria Rilke are particularly fine. The Sacred Songs are actually song cycles or  cantatas for solo voice and varying small instrumental groups. The solo voices are those of soprano Susan Narucki and baritone William Sharp, accompanied by the 21st Century Consort under the direction of Christopher Kendall.
 
SUNDAY MARCH 12th
Handel/Mendelssohn, Israel in Aegypten, Fasch, Passio Jesu Christi  It's well known that Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy gave a big boost to public interest in Bach's music when in 1829 he conducted a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin. Much less known is Mendelssohn's deep interest in Handel. Mendelssohn gave a performance of Handel's oratorio Solomon in Cologne in 1835. He made updated arrangements of the scores of many of the oratorios of the baroque master, orchestrating them according to nineteenth century standards. Mendelssohn in particular liked Israel in Egypt. He conducted several performances of it in its entirety or in selected segments in the 1830's and 1840's, in Berlin, Leipzig and Dusseldorf. The performance materials associated with the 1833 production of the oratorio at the Lower Rhine Festival at Dusseldorf have been preserved. English conductor Robert King has attempted to recreate that festival production. King has reconstructed a score drawing upon all of Mendelssohn's alterations to Handel's original music. (Mendelssohn wrote his own overture in Romantic style.) The work was sung in German language translation and was titled Israel in Aegypten. The period instrumemt ensemble Robert King founded, the King's Consort, is associated with historically informed interpretations of eighteenth century music like the oratorios of Handel. For their 2015 recording of Israel in Aegypten the Consort recreated the sound of an early nineteenth century orchestra. They are joined by the Choir of the King's Consort. Five vocal soloists also participate. The recording was released on two compact discs under the auspices of the Vivat Music Foundation.   

     Johann Sebastian Bach is known to have composed two Passion oratorios only. Bach never set to music the libretto of Brockes Passion, published in 1712, the way so many of his colleagues did all across Lutheran Northern Germany. These included fellow musicmasters Handel and Telemann. Bach's colleague, the musicmaster in the town of Zerbst, Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) contributed to the big batch of Brockes Passion compositions. The text Fasch worked from is a much shortened version of Barthold Heinrich Brockes' published verse. What Fasch titled his Passio Jesu Christi may have been composed in 1723, but possibly earlier, perhaps 1717-19. Two manuscript copies of the Fasch Passio have survived. The Leipzig manuscript is largely followed in the performing edition of the work employed in what has got to be its world premiere recording for the Naxos record label. The Hungarian period i9nstrument ensemble, the Capella Savaria Baroque Orchestra, is heard under the direction of Mary Terey-Smith. Joining the orchestra are the choral voices of the Scola Cantorum Budapestiensis. There are three solo singing roles: the Evangelist, Jesus and the Daughter of Zion. A 2008 Naxos release on a single silver disc.      
 
SUNDAY MARCH 19th
 The Gospel According to the Other Mary  This Sunday's audio presentation looks forward to Palm Sunday and Easter. You could describe John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary as a twenty first century take on the Passion oratorio of centuries past. The "Other Mary" in question is Mary Magdalen, who with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus were friends and followers of Jesus. For the modern American musicmaster of minimalism Peter Sellars crafted a libretto combining Old and New Testament sources with the poetry of writers as divergent as the twentieth century Catholic activist Dorothy Day and the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen. Three solo singers portray an alternative Holy Family of two sisters and brother. Jesus' miracles, his suffering, crucifixion and resurrection are witnessed from their perspective. There is no solo voice of Jesus. Instead, a trio of countertenors delivers some of His words and provide the commentary of the Evangelist. 

The strident minimalist style is much toned down in the more recent compositions of John Adams (b. 1947). The world premiere recording of what might alternatively be called Adams' "Passion of Mary Magdalen" was issued through Deutsche Grammophon in 2014 on two compact discs. The premiere took place in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Gustavo Dudamel directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic and LA Master Chorale. Reviewer Ronald E. Grames praised the recording in the pages of Fanfare magazine (July/August 2014 issue). 'Without a doubt," he wrote, "The Gospel According to the Other Mary is controversial in concept. It could not be otherwise with Peter Sellars at the helm. 

But it is also powerful theater, given extraordinary depth by music of remarkable authority, variety and nuance." I had originally intended this oratorio for broadcast on Sunday, March 8, 2015, and the announcement for it ran in the WWUH Program Guide for that date, but it was suddenly preempted by broadcast of a UHA women's basketball game. I partially made up for the preemption by airing the "Passover Sequence" of the recording as an audio add-on to the regularly scheduled broadcast of the following Sunday, March 15th. Only this Sunday do you get to hear The Gospel According to the Other Mary in its entirety. 
 
SUNDAY MARCH 26th - Handel,
Theodora 
This is certainly the least known of George Frideric Handel's English language oratorios. It was Handel's personal favorite among his many masterpieces in that genre. The composer himself declared the final chorus of Act Two," He saw the lovely youth...," to be the very finest he ever wrote, ranking it above the famous "Halleluyah Chorus" in his Messiah. Theodora was a failure in its initial production. The oratorio was given only three performances in 1750 and was revived only once in Handel's lifetime. After his death it was completely forgotten. 

In this work Handel's musical inspirations and his powers of dramatic characterization were reaching  their peak. Handel responded with passion to the story of the predicament of Theodora, an early Christian virgin and martyr. After I first broadcast Theodora on Sunday, January 23,1994 I did not think I would ever run across another recording of something so obscure as this particular opus.Nicolas McGegan had conducted a wonderful recording of it for Harmonia Mundi USA. Then German conductor Peter Neumann matched McGegan in the interpretation he recorded for Dabringhaus und Grimm. Neumann directed the Cologne Chamber Choir and the period instrument ensemble Collegium Cartusianum. The D & G recording went over the air on Sunday, February 10, 2002. This Sunday we return to McGegan, who lead the American period instrumental group he founded, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the UCal Berkeley Chamber Chorus. 
 
SUNDAY APRIL 2nd MARATHON Now comes the moment in the yearlong go-round of my Sunday broadcasts when you opera lovers get to show your appreciation for lyric theater programming with your dollars, as "Sunday Afternoon at the Opera" participates in Marathon 2017, this station's annual week of intensive on-air fundraising. I will be going on mic to urge you listeners to phone the Marathon hotline number and pledge your financial support. Going on mike with me this year will be Rob Meehan, former classics deejay here at WWUH from way back in the 1970's. Over three decades and more of my broadcasting Rob has continued to loan to me so many opera recordings drawn from his own extensive collection. Rob is a collector specializing in the "alternative" musical styles of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Lenten programming will be suspended this Sunday, while Rob and I will be sampling various opera recordings in our Marathon fundraising pitch in the hope that these selections will inspire you to phone the pledge hotline 860-768-4008 locally or toll-free outside the Greater Hartford direct dialing area 1-800-444-9984. You faithful listeners have never failed to help us meet or even exceed our fundraising goals in times past, so I thank you in advance for your generosity.
 
SUNDAY APRIL 9th Bach, St. Matthew Passion In writing his notes for the Bridge release of the Sacred Songs of James Primosch, composer John Harbison surveys the history of sacred music. Harbison observes, "Bach was one of the last composers to write sacred music with confidence that it represented majority opinion. The Matthew Passion breathes that confidence, in and out. But while Bach was still alive, a secular culture was rendering his aesthetic obsolete." Even now in the twenty first century, whether they are traditional Christian believers or not, people throughout the world continue to venerate this monument of sacred music. Again and again at Eastertide I have broadcast historically informed recordings of J. S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The latest one will be the 2013 Harmonia Mundi release with baroque specialist Rene Jacobs directing the period instrument players of the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor of Radio Berlin. Jacobs has a reputation for making eighteenth century music sound refreshingly new. His recordings of the Mozart operas for Harmonia Mundi have won praise for what they reveal in Mozart's original scores. Equally revelatory is his take on Bach's masterwork. It was intended for the specific performance circumstances at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on Palm Sunday of 1736. What Bach's original scoring of the Matthew Passion calls for are two organs (in separate locations opposite each other inside the church), also two orchestras, two choirs and a divided cast of vocal soloists, all these performersgrouped separately so as to create dramatic antiphonal effects. Rene Jacobs gives us the authentic antiphonal treatment of Bach's music. Thank God for stereophonic sound, which reveals for listeners today what that Palm Sunday performance in 1736 must actually have been like.
    
SUNDAY APRIL 16TH Vaughan Williams, The Pilgrim's Progress, incidental music for the radio play, Rachmaninoff, Vespers. The Pilgrim's Progress (1951) was VW's last operatic essay. He had always wanted to write an opera based on John Bunyan's Christian allegory. Three times before I have presented the opera in its 1971 world premiere recording for EMI, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting and starring baritone John Noble as the Pilgrim.

 On all three past occasions I linked broadcast on a Sunday in late November to the American Thanksgiving holiday, with reference, of course, to thePilgrims of the old Plymouth Colony. Bunyan's book was intended to guide believers in leading the Christian life by following Christ's example, so the allegory certainly lends itself to the most important holiday in the Christian calendar. Sections of the score of the opera were written separately over a span of decades. And before Pilgrim's Progress the opera, there was VW's incidental music for Pilgrim's Progress the radio play, as broadcast by BBC on September 5, 1943. Boult led the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Chorus. 

Actor John Gielgud's voice was employed in the central role of Christian. The complete radio play and its music, as recorded live in radio transmission, was issued in 2015 in digitally reprocessed monaural sound on two compact discs. The British Albion record label has made this audio document available to the public through the good graces of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. No one has ever set the words of the English Bible to music so well as Vaughan Williams. Incorporated into the incidental music is a quotation from the Fantasia on A Theme by Thomas Tallis  of 1910, as well as hymn tunes VW arranged for the English Hymnal of 1907.
     

It doesn't always happen this way, but Orthodox Easter and the Western Christian Easter fall on the same Sunday this year. Eastern Orthodoxy adheres to an antiquated calendar that most often is out of sync with the rest of Christendom. In celebration of Russian Easter I present the greatest piece of Russian Orthodox choral music ever written: Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers, Op. 37 for the all-night Easter Vigil. The arch-conservative Russian Orthodox clergy decried this work as modernistic sacrilege when it premiered in 1915. Yet Rachmaninoff was simply applying his own highly effective harmonizations to the ancient monodic Znamenni, Kiev and Greek Orthodox chant. Hear the Vespers this Easter Sunday as sung in true Russian choral style by the Academy of Choral Art, Moscow, directed by Victor Popov. Their recorded Vespers reached the West in 2007, as released stateside through the Delos label on a single compact disc.
 
SUNDAY APRIL 23rd Verdi, Giovanna d'Arco Giuseppe Verdi was upset about the lukewarm reception the Milanese accorded to Giovanna d'Arco ("Joan of Arc"), the opera he wrote for the mid-winter carnival season at La Scala, 1844-45. Thereafter he refused to have anything to do with Italy's preeminent opera house, and stuck to his decision for forty two years. He relented and allowed his next-to-last opera, Otello, to be premiered in Milan only when he was sure of a smashing success. 

There are several early Verdi operas that have never been admitted into the international standard repertoire. Perhaps Giovanna d'Arco has remained outside the Verdi canon because as a stage piece it has so little in common with the historical figure of Joan of Arc. The librettist Temistocle Solera invented an improbable romance between Joan and king Charles of France. Furthermore, Joan does not die a heretic's death at the stake. As I've said so many times before about lyric theater works heard on this program, the staging doesn't make much difference. You can't "see" it on radio. It's the sheer musicality of Verdi's score that counts, and this score is vintage Verdi through and through. Theesteemed diva soprano Monserrat Caballe sings as Joan (or Giovanna). Her father Giacomo is baritone Sherill Milnes, with superstar tenor Placido Domingo as Charles VII of France. James Levine leads the London Symphony Orchestra and Ambrosian Opera Chorus in this 1973 recorded performance for EMI for its first-ever release on vinyl disc. This recording was issued in the USA under the Angel label. I last broadcast it way back on Sunday, May 17, 1987.
 
SUNDAY APRIL 30th Shakespeare, As You Like It 
Spoken word presentations have always been part of my broad spectrum concept of lyric theater programming. I have broadcast recordings of many of the plays of William Shakespeare. Often these were early stereo Decca/Argo LP's. These studio recordings, made between 1957 and 1964, were part of Decca's series of the complete recorded works of the Bard, issued in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of his birth. It was an audio project of historic significance equal to Decca's first-ever complete studio recording series of Wagner's Ring cycle of operas made during the same period, with Georg Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and a singing cast of some of the greatest operatic voices of the mid twentieth century. Decca's Shakespeare project engaged renowned director George Rylands and the Marlowe Dramatic Society of Cambridge University, plus other "professional players" who were the best Shakespearean actors and actresses that Britain had to offer. Many of them remain famous names even now in the twenty first century. In 2016 the entire Decca Shakespeare series- all thirty seven plays, the sonnets and narrative poems- was reissued on compact disc to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the playwright's death. I have acquired the 100 CD boxed set and I draw upon its discs again this Sunday as I did in November, 2016 with Hamlet and in February of this year with Measure for Measure. Poets have always loved the Springtime of the year. It's the season of love and merriment, when Youth reigns supreme. 

It's the season for romantic comedy, perhaps the greatest example of which is As You Like It (1599). The only character in the play who is out of step with the comedy is the cynic Jaques, who delivers the "Seven Ages of Man" speech. I invite you to come away to the Forest of Arden, where you will meet the charming boy/girl Rosalind and join the feast with the Duke and his huntsman under the greenwood tree. I broadcast As You Like It way back on Sunday, July 30, 1989, making use of the original Argo LP release.  
      
Over this two-month period of programming Rob Meehan has loaned to me only one recording for broadcast: John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary. From my own CD collection I have contributed the Fasch Passio  and Mendelssohn's revision of Handel's Israel in Egypt, as well as VW's The Pilgrim's Progress in its radio play version and Shakespeare's  As You Like It. All the rest of the featured recordings for March/April are drawn from our station's ever-growing library of classical music on disc. My thanks as always must go to WWUH's operations director Kevin O'Toole for mentoring me in the preparation of these notes for cyber-publication.
Never Miss Your Favorite WWUH Programs Again!
WWUH Round Logo Introducing... the WWUH Archive!

We are very excited to announce
that all WWUH programs are now available on-demand 
using 
the "Program Archive" link 
on our home page,   
 
  This means that if you missed one of your favorite shows, or if you want to listen to parts of it again, you can do so easily using the Archive link.  Programs are available for listening for 
two weeks after their air date.
  
 
Enjoy the music, even when you can't listen "live"!
West Hartford Symphony Orchestra
 
In Collaboration with the WWUH Classical Programming we are pleased to partner with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra to present their announcements and schedule to enhance our commitment to being part of the Greater Hartford Community
 
West Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Richard Chiarappa, Music Director

2017 Season Schedule
Spring Classical Concert, Sunday, 4/9, 3pm, Roberts Theater (Kingswood Oxford School)
Pops Concert, Saturday, 5/20, 8pm, W. Hartford Town Hall

For tickets and information, 860-521-4362 or http://whso.org/.

 
 The Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra
The Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit Community Orchestra. They present four concerts each season in the Greater Hartford area, performing works from all periods in a wide range of musical styles. The members of Hartford's only community orchestra are serious amateurs who come from a broad spectrum of occupations.
 
2016-2017 Concert Season
 
All concerts are at 3:00 PM at Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Sigourney Street, Hartford
 
April 9, 2017:  Spring
Strauss:  Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter
Delius:  On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Rimsky-Korsakov:  Russian Easter Overture
Respighi:  Spring
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Virginia Allen, violin)
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
 
June 11, 2017:  Grass Roots: Folk-inspired classical music
Vaughan Williams: English Folk Song Suite
Copland: Rodeo
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Dvorak: Cello Concerto (Aron Zelkowicz, cello)
   
For further information: 


The Musical Club of Hartford
 
  
The Musical Club of Hartford, Inc., which celebrated its 125 year history in 2015-16, is an organization whose primary goal is to nurture the Musical Arts and promote excellence in music, both among seasoned music lovers as well as the younger generations. The Musical Club makes music more readily available to people of all ages and social backgrounds in our community.


 The Hartford Chorale
  
 
The Hartford Chorale is a volunteer-based, not-for-profit organization, and serves as the primary symphonic chorus for the greater Hartford community. The Chorale provides experienced, talented singers with the opportunity to study and perform at a professional level of musicianship. Through its concerts and collaborations with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and other organizations, the Chorale seeks to reach and inspire the widest possible audience with exceptional performances of a broad range of choral literature, including renowned choral masterpieces.
 
In March, we present Verdi's Requiem with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, at Woolsey Hall in New Haven on March 2, 2017.
 
On May 4, we collaborate with the Greater Middletown Chorale and the Hartford Symphony to present Sarah Meneely-Kyder's Letter from Italy, 1944 - at The Bushnell's Mortensen Hall.
 
In June, we join the Hartford Symphony for a Masterworks concert featuring three contrasting and compelling choral/orchestral works: Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Haydn's Te Deum No. 2 in C Major, and Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs. Concerts are June 9, 10, and 11 at the Belding Theater at The Bushnell.
 
For further information: Hartford Chorale 860-547-1982 or www.hartfordchorale.org .

Manchester Symphony Orchestra

Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale
Bringing Music to our Community for 57 Years!

The Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale is a nonprofit volunteer organization that brings quality orchestral and choral music to the community, provides performance opportunities for its members, and provides education and performance opportunities for young musicians in partnership with Manchester schools and other Connecticut schools and colleges.

http://www.msoc.org

Concert 4 - Chorale/Orchestra
"Forest Tales"
Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Manchester High School
Mahler Das Klagende Lied (mvts 2&3)
Elgar From the Bavarian Highlands

Concert 5 - Chorale/Orchestra
"Pops" "And All That Jazz"
Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Manchester High School

Beth El Temple in West Hartford


 
Music at Beth El Temple in West Hartford is under the aegis of The Beth El Music & Arts Committee (BEMA). With the leadership of Cantor Joseph Ness, it educates and entertains the community through music.
 
BETH EL TEMPLE (BEMA) 2015-1016 Season
with Cantor Joseph Ness, conductor
 
Musical Services with Cantor Jackie Mendelson   
FREE and open to the public 
Friday, March 10, 2017    Services 
 
Giacomo Gates Jazz Cabaret   
Sunday, April 2, 2017    7pm
 
What's the Score Symphony Concert   
Sunday, June 11, 2017    7pm
 
Open to the Public. Plenty of FREE Parking.
Beth El Temple
2626 Albany Ave, West Hartford, CT 06117
Phone: (860) 233-9696
http://betheltemplemusic.com/
E-mail: bema@betheltemplemusic.com
:14.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black;  
For further information: http://ctvalleysymphonyorch.com/

 
Open to the Public. Plenty of FREE Parking.
Beth El Temple
2626 Albany Ave, West Hartford, CT 06117
Phone: (860) 233-9696



How To Listen To WWUH
Come as You Are... Tune in However Works Best for You
  
In Central CT and Western MA, WWUH can be heard at 91.3 on the FM dial.  Our programs are also carried at various times through out the day on these stations:
WAPJ, 89.9 & 105.1, Torrington, CT
WDJW, 89.7, Somers, CT
WWEB, 89.9, Wallingford, CT 
You can also listen on line using your PC, tablet or smart device.  Our MP3 stream is  here.

We also recommend that you download the free app "tunein" 
here to your mobile device.   


  
Hi tech or low tech, near or far, we've got you covered!