Charting a new course away from the charts

There's a big controversy brewing in the UK. BBC Radio 3, which is their classical music channel, will start a weekly Top 20 countdown of the country's top-selling classical releases. The charts will be compiled using both CD sales and downloads, so it will accurately reflect buying trends, but that's not the controversy. The larger question is simply whether or not there's any point to having classical music ape the trappings of popular music in order to attract listeners.

As Rupert Christiansen wrote in his Telegraph article, Radio 3's Classical Top 20 will be very dull indeed,

Why must classical music jump up and down and pretend to be what it isn’t?

What depresses me is the way that classical music is constantly chasing after techniques of the pop sector, and ending up, like a paunchy middle-aged man squeezing himself into a pair of tight blue jeans, looking a bit silly and terminally uncool. The interesting kids I know today with open musical minds aren’t the slightest bit interested in the charts: they have the confidence to listen to what they like and explore without reference to such crude and naff indicators as “the Top 20.”

Why can’t [classical music] stand aside from hype and ephemera and the silly business of judging success by numbers, and instead focus on its deepest strength - feeding a deep and serious appetite for art in which quality isn’t judged by its place in a weekly sales list?

 Well, we agree. And that's why WTJU plays the kind of classical music it does. Granted, for some people it can be tough listening. We don't program our classical music to be an upscale substitute for Muzak -- lots of lush, orchestral music with a smattering of pleasing piano renderings for your background listening pleasure..

I doubt most of what we air would show up on a Top 20 chart, but that's OK. Safe to say all of our announcers have "a deep and serious appetite for art" and program their shows accordingly. Do you have the confidence to listen to what you like and explore outside the tried-and-true? (although we do play a fair amount of that as well)

Well then. Turn your radio dial to 91.1fm, or connect to our Internet feed and let's go!

Organ Concert Old Cabell Hall Thursday 29 April 2010

Have you ever heard the pipe organ in Old Cabell Hall on the grounds of the University?

Are you one of the many fans of organ music who can’t get enough of Widor’s famous Toccata?

Here’s your chance to accomplish both feats in one sitting.

On Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 8pm, the McIntire Department of Music will present organist alumna Ginny Chilton and soprano faculty member Lily Hsieh in a program of music from late 19th- and early 20th-century France.

The featured organ work will be Charles Marie Widor’s Symphony No. 5, concluding with its famous Toccata. Vocal works to be accompanied by Ms. Chilton at the organ will include the “Pie Jesu” from the Fauré Requiem, a little-known Ave Maria by Widor himself, Gounod’s Ave Maria based on Bach’s C-major Prelude, Franck’s La Processione, and other pieces.


ABOUT THE ORGAN

Old Cabell Hall on the Central Grounds of the University Virginia boasts one of the earliest organs by famed American builder E. M. Skinner, and one of the few of his organs that survive in original condition and in its original site. The three keyboard (or manuals) instrument was installed in 1906, less than a decade after the construction of Cabell Hall, and was given a thorough renovation by the Thompson-Allen firm of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1983.

Watch this blog for more information about the organ and the man whose name is attached to the McIntire Department of Music, Paul Goodloe McIntire; 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The complete program of the upcoming recital is:

MUSIC FROM LATE-ROMANTIC FRANCE

Featuring the  E.M. SKINNER ORGAN (1906)

Thursday, 29 April 2010

8:00 p.m.

Old Cabell Hall Auditorium


Pastorale 1868
  César Franck (1822-1890)

Ave Maria
  J. S. Bach/Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Ave Maria, Op. 24
  Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Alleluia (Exultate, jubilate)
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Agnus Dei
  Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Pie Jesu (Requiem, 1877)
  Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

En prière 1890
  Gabriel Fauré

La procession 1888
  César Franck

Villanelle
  Eva dell’Aqua (1856-1930)

Symphonie No. 5 in F Minor 1887
Charles-Marie Widor

Back to Bach Cantatas

Now that the spring rock and folk marathon has concluded, I'll be back this Sunday, 25 April, at 6 am on Classical Sunrise to bring you two Bach sacred cantatas. We'll be hearing cantatas for the Third Sunday after Easter (Jubilate)(25 April) and for the Fourth Sunday after Easter (Cantate)(2 May).
I've chosen BWV 103 for the Third Sunday, Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (You shall weep and lament . . . but the world shall rejoice), and BWV 108 for the Fourth Sunday, Es ist euch gut, das ich hingehe (It is good for you that I go away). Bach composed BWV 103 for Sunday 22 April 1725; BWV 108 was first performed the following Sunday of that same year. Both cantatas are based on text by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler.
The opening chorus in BWV 103 starts out in a sorrowful mood, lamenting the death of Jesus, but then becomes joyful with the promise of salvation. In a similar vein, BWV 108 opens with Jesus Christ explaining why he is leaving but with the promise to send the Holy Spirit.

This community recently had the good fortune to hear Bach's B minor Mass performed. When I asked a friend whether she had attended the performance, she said no, that she did not like "religious" music. I was somewhat taken aback: Bach certainly composed his sacred works for "the glory of God," but in my view the universality and great glory of Bach's music transcends any religion. What do you think?