NOTE: This page is no longer being updated, but is available for reference purposes. To see the new Radio 2 blog program highlights, visit the Radio 2 home page.
Of course that was a year ago, so The Really Terrible Orchestra may have improved since then. Katherine Duncan may have some views on that when she profiles them today on In Tune (Saturday 5:00 p.m., 5:30 NT).
I first came across the Edinburgh based RTO a couple years ago producing for a CBC arts show. I was trying to book their bassoonist for an interview, but "his people" told me he was just too busy.
I would have thought "c'mon, he's a bassoonist with something called The Really Terrible Orchestra and he's too busy for an interview?" except the bassoonist in the RTO is Alexander McCall Smith, the guy who wrote those very charming #1 Ladies Detective Agency books. I think he was on a book tour in Australia or something at the time, so it was a pretty good excuse.
Many of us play or sing in really terrible (or at least not great) orchestras or choirs or bands, and get a great deal of pleasure out of doing so. But most of us don't travel overseas to make our New York debut at the Town Hall, as RTO is on April 1. They attribute this in part to specific encouragement from no less than President Barack Obama:
The great tenor Enrico Caruso once said that all one needs for a first-rate performance of Il Trovatore are the four greatest singers in the world. A mere bagatelle.
Well this week on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera's (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) broadcast of Verdi's opera, at the very least it's a quartet of all-star singers, including Sondra Radvanovsky (Leonora), Dolora Zajick (Azucena), Marcelo Alvarez (Manrico) and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count Di Luna).
The story takes place in 15th-century Spain, which is probably not much like Spain of today except for wine and tapas...and passion. No shortage in Il Trovatore -- here's the precis of the story: "Count di Luna loves Leonora, a lady-in-waiting to the queen. Leonora, however, only has eyes for Manrico, a troubadour in disguise. And Azucena, the old gypsy woman who has raised Manrico, harbours a secret - one that may reunite the Count with his long lost brother. Who will gain Leonora's hand and at what cost?"
For the complete plot synopsis please continue reading. And note that after the opera, Bill Richards will be heard in conversation with the mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli, who has been performing in Canada of late.
Dylan fans take note -- today you can hear part 2 of the documentary series about Bob Dylan hosted by Patti Smith on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT). Like A Rolling Stone explores Dylan's "electric years" and beyond, from 1965-1974. Interviews include: George Wein, Roger McGuinn, Anthony DeCurtis, Greil Marcus, John Hiatt, Josh Ritter and Garth Hudson.
And opera fans -- today's broadcast from the Met is Verdi's ever-popular Il Trovatore. (Fans of both -- you're in luck!) More about the opera coming up on The Radio 2 Blog; please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Tom Power of Deep Roots (and Newfoundland) reports live from the East Coast Music Awards this afternoon on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.), and today's Radio 2 Video Festival is therefore in honour of some of the nominated artists Tom will be talking about.
Live dispatches from the east today on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) East as in East Coast Music Awards, that is. Deep Roots host Tom Power calls into the show from Corner Brook Newfoundland, home to this 21st edition of the ECMAs.
He'll give Drive host Rich Terfry the bird's eye view about the buzz bands, the best bars, the best parties...and you can hear the part about the buzz bands on air, too. You know what they say: "Go wild, Corner Brook '09!" (At least, that's what say that at this year's ECMA's!)
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
A CD Cover meme has been making the rounds, and the results range from hilarious to ho hum to weirdly provocative. The uncanny thing about it is how frequently the randomly selected band name, album title, and image, come together as if by design. Have a look.
Here's how you can make your own.
1. Create a name for your band by clicking here. The randomly selected article title is the name of your band name, embrace it.
2. Your CD title comes from the last four words of the randomly selected quote that pops up last here.
3. You'll find your CD cover (licensed by Creative Commons) here. (Although many are using non-creative commons from flickr's Most Interesting photos page.)
4. Then you photoshop (or whatever programme you prefer) the results together and lo, band name, album title, art, without a single hair-tearing moment over whether it should be THE Beatles, or just Beatles.
My own CD is not posted here due to certain extremely annoying computer issues, but the randomly selected album title is a gem: Our Longing For Righteousness.
It's a double bill of powerhouse Canadian R&B tonight, with concerts from Jully Black and Divine Brown on Canada Live (8 p.m.).
Who is Jully Black? Some have said she's "vying for the title of Canada's Queen Latifah" (due to her multitalented ways -- she's a singer/songwriter and TV personality). But she says:
"I am a Girl, a Lady, a Woman, a Queen and everything I can dream. I’m still the little girl from Jane & Finch who dreamt the dream that I am currently living and was fortunate to have the right people to guide me along the way."
And also: "I am storyteller, a singer, a songwriter, an actor, a television personality, an ambassador, a philanthropist, an athlete, a dreamer and an equal."
That's an excerpt from a recent piece by Ms. Black called Who Is Jully Black -- and it's a candid first person account of her story to date.
It's been said that what you need most is a strong beginning and a strong ending. About most anything in life, but for sure music and other forms of performing arts. Funny how usually it's the beginnings that get the most attention though. But not today on Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) when it's the best symphonic endings that are the subject of the weekly Tempo Top Five.
Care to make any bets as to what will make the list -- the electrifying ending to Shostakovich's 5th? Mahler's 9th? And what makes a symphonic ending memorable anyway -- a sense of triumph? Catharsis? Loads of volume? Certainly all the above gets them out of their seats in the concert hall!
You can hear the the Tempo Top 5 symphonic endings over the lunch hour, and also in Tempo notes -- the Haydn Symphony "marathon" continues today with Symphony No. 11.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Radio 2's Resident Geek, a.k.a. Peter Cook, hits an audio nerve with today's Tech Q?. It's about the audio in your own music collection -- something many of us struggle with, from literal storage issues, to discrepancies of sound. I Feel Bad About My Stuff touched on the former issue recently, which tends to lead naturally into the latter. And Peter has some good advice about just that -- how to go digital, but with good sound:
These days many of us store our music collections on our computers. We "rip" the audio from our CDs using iTunes or Windows Media Player or some other piece of software. The advantages are obvious. We can easily sort and find any piece of music in our entire collection in seconds. We can transfer some or all of our music library to a portable device. We can make our own "Playlists". We can hit "Shuffle" mode and rediscover old favourites and delight in the wonderful juxtapositions which arise. We can put the library on a network and play our music back in any room in the house. And on and on.
I know a lot of people who, when iTunes came out, rushed around "digitizing" their entire CD collection as lossy MP3's. A few years later they had hooked up their computer storage to a better playback system and realized they were missing out on sound quality. They faced re-ripping their entire CD collection and rebuilding their lovingly crafted playlists and other metadata.
My advice when it comes to your music library is to just go "lossless". You can always step down in sound quality if you need, but you can never get back what you've thrown away. "Out of the box" all consumer software that I'm aware of uses "lossy" file compression to store the audio on your computer. In fact, most people assume that lossy formats (like MP3) are the only option they have. That's not true.
iTunes, Windows Media Player and most other software can be configured to store files with sound quality exactly equivalent to that of your CDs. Read on to find out how.
Thanks to Peter Cook for minding the blog while I was under the weather -- and if you missed his very nice Podcast Update post, have a look.
But this is not The Cook Files, as grateful as I am to Peter. No, it's The Cohen Files, a brief update on the man and his music in the news. As you may already know, CBC Radio 2 is the Canadian broadcast presenter of the Leonard Cohen World Tour 2009, which is quite an honour.
Cohen has spent the last 12 months touring the world, from Romania to Australia from London to Rome -- and is not ready to stop. Naturally, he takes Manhattan, as well as many other North American stops on this extension of the tour.
After his first American concert in more than 15 years he sat down with the New York Times (well, a reporter and a photographer, at any rate) and talked about how he -- a 74-year-old man who recently lived a secluded, monastic life -- is coping with life on the road:
John Mann is probably best known for fronting the popular Vancouver band, Spirit of the West. His energetic stage presence and distinctive voice have steadily gained him fans over the past 25 years.
Tonight's Canada Live (8-10 p.m.) begins with a solo John Mann concert from Richmond, BC. The songs are drawn from Mann's two solo records (December Looms and Acoustic Kitty) as well as favourites from his Spirit of the West catalogue. Mann guides us into quirky memories of adolescence (When I Played Around With Knives) and hilarious songs about life on the road (Red Deer).
The second Canada Live concert this evening features Jon & Roy . . . and a lot of their friends (The Haints, Current Swell, Laura Smith, members of Jets Overhead and Mother Mother).
Jon Middleton & Roy Vizer have a popular band in Victoria with a fresh take on folk music. Tune in for highlights from both sets from a packed Alix Goolden Hall in downtown Victoria.
You can listen again to all three concerts at Concerts on Demand: John Mann, Jon & Roy and Jon & Roy's Friends or just use those pages to find out more about the artists and the concerts.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights.
I just know all of you have subscribed to your favourite CBC Radio 2 podcast. That way you automatically get notifications of updates to our podcasts. But just in case you haven't looked in your copy of iTunes (or other favourite podcast catcher) lately, here's what you'll find in your feeds this week.
The good folks at Sunday Afternoon in Concert have reached episode six in their ten week series for CBC Radio 2's Next!. And this week the spotlight is on the Roddick String Quartet. You'll hear interviews with members of the young quartet and with their coach. You'll also hear performances of quartets by Mozart and Haydn.
On the Canada Live podcast this week it's east coast singer/songwriter Jenn Grant. Grant's songs are bright and dark pieces of cabaret pop. And Jenn herself is funny and strange and magnetic. This concert features Jenn in Studio H in Halifax for an intimate concert featuring some of the material from her second release Echoes.
Also on the Canada Live podcast is Owen Pallett. Owen is known to his fans as the singer, songwriter, violinist, pianist, bassist, harpsichordist, engineer and everything else that makes up the indie-rock one-man band Final Fantasy.
In his live performances, Pallett plays his violin into loop foot pedals - then he sings over the music. But this simple description doesn't do justice to the richly imaginative sounds he creates. A 28-year-old with a degree in classical composition from the University of Toronto, Pallett makes no secret of his commitment to reinvigorating pop. This show was recorded at the Regina Folk Festival last summer.
Oh, and if you haven't subscribed already you'll find all the information you need on the Radio 2 Podcasts page.
Howie Beck travelled to Paris seeking inspiration. He walked the streets by day and wrote by night.
Today is the day the beguiling Mr. Beck releases his fourth album, How To Fall Down In Public. And on this very special day you can hear an exclusive interview and session on Radio 2 Drive.
Here's a short clip from the interview.
Listen to the entire interview with Rich Terfry and an exclusive in-studio performance this afternoon on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.).
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights, including a Canada Live concert of Venetian and Neapolitan songs.
Normally by now you'd be reading a fresh post from Li at the R2 blog. But Li's on the DL today. (Is it too early for baseball metaphors? Knowing Li, my bet is she'd talk baseball pretty much any day of the year.)
So our boss wrote me to ask if I could post a quick explanation here. "Sure! No problem," I replied. And then, because my laptop had been acting strangely I thought I'd just restart it.
Hmmm. That's strange. It's not booting up. Guess I'll perform the usual incantations. This should just take a moment . . . .
A couple of hours later, still no joy. Looks like my day is going to consist of some heavy-duty computer maintenance. Yes, even self-appointed geeks have technical problems some days. At least it's just a machine. Li, I hope you bounce back quickly.
And, dear reader, here's hoping your Monday is going more smoothly!
In anticipation of CBC Radio 2's upcoming celebration of Leonard Cohen beginning March 8th, (including a contest to win a pair of tickets to a Cohen concert in NYC) tonight Canada Live (8 p.m.) broadcasts a tribute to Cohen.
Hosted by Vancouver singer Kate Hammett-Vaughan, the show features the following musicians: Canadians Karla Anderson, Peter Elkas, Serena Ryder, Ann Vriend, American singer/songwriter Darrell Scott, Roddy Hart from Scotland, and Australian band Monsieur Camembert.
In a related note, the Leonard Cohen Forum posts this piece from the Globe -- about Cohen's Edmonton connections.
P.S. If you're stuck at the first paragraph of this post frantically searching for a link to more info, hang tight -- details about the Cohen contest etc. coming March 2nd. So stay tuned to The Radio 2 Blog.
Possibly your pajamas, if you stay up to the end of the Oscars tonight. Because the Oscar awards happen after The Week In The (Music) Blogosphere appears, it's obviously impossible to look at the blogging about the musical aspects of the awards show.
But one prediction is that this year's performances will be an improvement on the typical year, where according to one writer "the musical numbers...often go down in infamy as the lowest of awards-show lows."
And then there's been the speculation about the possibility of M.I.A performing. If you watched the Grammys you'll know the very pregnant M.I.A. performed on her due date -- and shortly after gave birth. So at first I took the idea that she might now perform at the Oscars as a joke. However, according to this report from the BBC, it is so. (Or should I say, it is written.)
A. R. Rahman, composer of two Oscar nominated songs from Slumdog Millionare is quoted as saying "She wants to [perform at the Oscars.] In fact, she said she'll do it with a hologram." (I think he means "via a hologram," but shan't quibble.)
What we can look back on this week is the bloggin' about last Thursday's Brit Awards:
"The string quartet has occupied a strange place in the American musical landscape. While it was the medium of choice for the deepest and most profound thoughts of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Shostakovich, it has served more as a one-off venture for many American composers."
True, but the writer of the above, in reference to a recording of 20th century string quartet music, (see American String Quartets, Lost And Found) was only scratching the surface of the string quartet as put to singular or idiosyncratic use.
Jurgen Gothe plumbs the depths today on Farrago With Jurgen Gothe (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT), with a show he calls Oddball SQ.
What you'll hear is some rather odd string quartets, playing repertoire not usually associated with more traditionally-minded ensembles.That means the music of Metallica, Sting, David Foster, David Grisman and James Brown, among others.
But will Jurgen be playing string quartet music performed while airborne? I think not. So The Radio 2 Blog takes on that task, with this brief excerpt from Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet, in full flight:
If that has you curious about the genesis of this piece, the official Stockhausen website has extensive and fascinating detail.
Next! Canada's Music Future continues with its focus on some of the terrific up and coming talent across the country. First, on Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) the Roddick String Quartet.
This ensemble came together three years ago at McGill (the Quartet takes its name from the classical colonnaded gates at the entrance to the university, named for Sir Thomas Roddick). One critic has said they "combine the spark of youth with a singleness of purpose usually reserved to long time established ensembles." And in Roddick SQ news, they're an official selection of the 2009 London International String Quartet Competition.
Then on Canada Live (8 p.m.), hear new music from the (already) critically acclaimed singer songwriter Jenn Grant; music that's a little bit jazz, a little bit folk, a little bluesy from David Myles; the jazz-influenced songwriter Meaghan Smith, and one of the newest in the tradition of traditional east coast celtic singers, Shannon Quinn.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"Capacious, intimate and brimming with both whimsy and tension, Bell Orchestre is what classical music might sound like from some advanced alien civilization."
That's what Magnet Magazine says about Bell Orchestre, the band from Montreal who, to turn to an apt cliché, "defy categorization." Today on In Tune (Saturday 5:00 p.m., 5:30 NT) Katherine shares news about Bell Orchestre's upcoming collaboration with the Brooklyn Philharmonic (known for being adventurous). They've invited Bell Orchestre to perform in a concert "designed to show that all types of music, no matter what the genre, have an impact on the entire musical community."
In the concert Bell Orchestre will play music from their new CD, As Seen Through Windows, and there'll also be classical works including Shaker Loops by John Adams and Claire de Lune by Debussy. (Note that another Canadian string player, Owen Pallett, is booked to play with the Brooklyn Phil next weekend too.)
If you're not familiar with the band but you like music that defies etc., here are a few tips on the Bell Orchestre front:
Placido Domingo encores the role of his Met debut as Maurizio in the four-act opera Adriana Lecouvreur -- today from the Met on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) -- with a mere 41 years between the current and the original production. Adriana is performed by soprano Maria Guleghina, and mezzo soprano Olga Borodina is in the role of the scheming Princess.
If "Adriana Lecouvreur" is not ringing any bells you are probably not alone. The opera was written by Francesco Cilea in 1902, and as Anthony Tommasini says in a review of this production, "not many opera buffs would argue that [it's] a great work." But that doesn't mean some opera buffs don't want to hear it, or budding buffs too.
It's a fun premise (plot synopsis at the end of post) and as Tommasini says, it "deftly balanced elements of unabashed melodrama with touches of subtle humor...the music is modest and appealing, with a couple of 'gotcha' arias."
Possibly more important, he gives the singing in this production a very positive review. But you can hear for yourself today. Please continue reading for more details about the opera:
Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur is not exactly an operatic household word. Placido Domingo, on the other hand, is. He sings the role of Maurizio in the production which comes to you from the Met today on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT). He also sang the role of Maurizio in 1968 -- at the age of 27. And as we all know, he's still got the charm, the looks, and the great voice, 41 years later.
The story, which is loosely based on 18th century Comédie-Française actress Adrienne Lecouvreur, is about an artiste who falls for the wrong guy -- Maurizio, the handsome Duke of Saxony. Thing is, he's already snagged by the ruthless Princess de Bouillon. Love, confusion, jealousy and betrayal ensue.
More on the opera coming up on The Radio 2 Blog, for now, please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Recently in the Globe there was a pretty damning piece about Steve Martin's work of late in the movies: Where's The Steve Martin We Tell Our Kids About? So, maybe you won't tell them about his turn as Inspector Clouseau. Maybe you'll tell them about Steve Martin and the banjo.
This because Steve Martin has released his first non-comedic all-banjo recording, and it's one that Tom Power will feature on Deep Roots (Saturday 11:00 a.m., 12:00 AT, 12:30 NT) this weekend.
It's called The Crow: New Songs For the 5-String Banjo and what I've heard is good -- surprisingly good if you only think of Martin as a comedian. (If you know something about clawhammer banjo playing, chances are you won't be surprised at all.)
Here's some first hand proof as to his "serious" banjo cred: Martin with Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka, playing the title track from The Crow (also recorded by Tony Trischka).
Big excitement: Leonard Cohen is doing a major tour sponsored by CBC Radio 2 -- and starting March 9 for two weeks Radio 2 is also holding a contest to send two lucky people to hear Cohen at Radio City Music Hall in New York City!
Many details about all things Cohen to come -- and Radio 2 Blog readers will be kept well-apprised. For now though in anticipation of the contest the weekly Video Fest. turns itself over to some Cohen related footage: a cover by Johnny Cash, an interview clip with the man himself, and some archival duetting with Judy Collins:
Like A (Country) Bird On A Wire:
Chatting With The Former Governor General:
They First Sang It "In A Hotel Room In Newport":
Pretty, eh? And thankfully the giant flower in the background stayed put.
A quite delightful concert of calypso music is featured this evening on Canada Live (8 p.m.), "David Rudder's Calypso Journey." Toronto-based David Rudder has been proclaimed "a Trinidad national hero on the order of Marley in Jamaica, Fela in Nigeria and Springsteen in New Jersey." (By Rolling Stone no less.)
Rudder is joined by Trinidad's calypso legend Lord Superior, and Toronto's young calypsonian Drew Gonsalves. They perform music that spans 60 years of calypso, from the 40s through the golden age of calypso of the 50s and 60s, and right up to modern soca.
Having heard it I concur with other listeners that it's a great show. And here's a nice review of the concert from Live Music Report if you'd like a first hand account -- featuring some good photos too.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"I was mulling over a lot of things then, thinking about all my friends who all had way too much stuff...I was determined to dig my way out of my own problem with stuff."I Feel Bad About My Stuff
Do you suffer from too much stuff? And is a portion of that stuff too many CDs? Despite downloading, the too many CDs problem does not seem to go away for some of us. If you're a hoarder it may because you're thinking, 'who knows when I might suddenly be struck by the urge to hear that compilation of almost inaudible field recordings?' Or it might be due to lack of alternative ideas. And if you are determined not to Feel Bad About Your Stuff, some of these suggestions might be helpful:
Dylan fans mark your calendars -- this Saturday on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) you can hear Patti Smith hosting a four-part series about Bob Dylan. The series is called Bob Dylan, Blowin' in the Wind .
Smith presents four hours of music and conversation about Dylan, including interviews with friends, collaborators and journalists -- plus some rare clips from Dylan himself. In the first episode you'll hear about Dylan's early years, tracing his move to New York City in 1961 (within two years he was being lauded as the "voice of a generation").
Speaking of Dylan and Smith, you may want to watch this (shaky, hand-held but not bad sound) version of Dylan & Smith singing Dark Eyes, in 1995. Do their voices blend beautifully? Well no, but it still has its own kind of beauty.
It's carnival time! Well, maybe not where you live. (And certainly not where I live, sadly.) But it is on the radio, with a concert that heralds Rio's carnival, from a group called Forrotimo. They play Brazilian music, and share a passion for forró, a musical style from northeastern Brazil. Much of it is sweet dance music -- played on guitar, accordion, triangle and zabumba drum, plus vocals. As the translation to one of their songs goes:
"The musicians are here, the party is in full swing and the place is packed. The sun will soon be rising, and the lanterns will be put out. This type of "forró" outlasts the night..."
You can hear Forrotimo on Canada Live (8 p.m.), and a second Brazilian music concert as well, from Brazilian-born, Montreal based Bïa.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"Pushed to its hoarsest extreme, the instrument counters such grating sounds with absolutely delicate luminescence; a persistent march is contrasted with an insistent serenity."
It was recorded in concert in Montreal, and the piece is a threnody, a lament, written in response to the protracted civil war and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Intense stuff.
Haimovitz famously wields his cello in many and various scenarios, bars, pizza joints -- and draws from a broad repertoire. For example his last CD, Odd Couple, with pianist Geoffrey Burleson, is in large part a celebration Elliott Carter.
And then there's his four cello version of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir:
First, the big update. As some of you have already noted -- as of August the CBC Radio iPhone App can be used to listen to Radio 2 on the iPhone -- just go to itunes, or click here to launch. And if you like, join the discussion at Inside The CBC.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reading of old blog posts:
When is a phone not a phone? When it's a camera, you might be thinking. Or 'hmmm, when it's an MP3 player?" But these days there's another answer: When it's a radio. Here's Radio 2's Resident Geek, Peter Cook, to explain:
When Apple's iPhone launched in the US I thought it was a pretty cool device. But when I read about the second generation of the phone - the one with the 3G high-speed internet connection - I thought "that's a portable radio!"
Well, in theory it was. You still needed to have an application on the phone which could play the stream. When the iPhone launched in Canada way back in July 2008 the pickings were slim. Today there are several ways to listen to CBC Radio 2's online offerings on an iPhone. I'll just mention two applications in this post, both of them pointed out to us by Radio 2 listeners.
Why all this chatter about the iPhone? There are other phones out there and there will be more. Here's a pretty good indication of why it matters. The founder of Pandora (an online music service available in the US, not in Canada) recently commented "We’ve been on Sprint and AT&T for 50 different handsets for two years, and in two days we have more people on the iPhone than we had in two years on all the phones combined."
And in the past few weeks CBC's Audience Relations reports have an increasing number of queries and comments about the iPhone. Everything from "I want to listen to CBC Radio on my iPhone. How can I do it?" to "Did you know you can listen to CBC Radio on an iPhone? Here's how!"
Radio 2 has some fine guest hosts in studio this week -- all week on Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) you can hear the estimable Andrew Craig, who many know from other hosting gigs on the CBC, as well as from his work as a musician. And on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.), today Kelly Cutrara is in the host chair -- you may know her as a local music show host in both Toronto and Vancouver (and she's been on the Drive airwaves in the past as well).
Thursday and Friday Drive is guest hosted by Bob Mackowycz Jr., of Canadian rock radio lineage. Bob Jr. has made a name for himself in broadcasting too though, working with shows like Off the Record and The Hour, as well as co-hosting The Stroumbo Show on radio with Stroumbo, natch. (As in "oulopoulos.") So tune into hear some different takes on Tempo and Drive.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
That radio inspires art is nothing new -- think of the novels that have scenes in radio stations (Elizabeth Hay, anyone?) or songs referencing radio. But never before, to my knowledge, has CBC inspired an online play.
It's called The Magic Necklace, and it's by a playwright who goes simply by "Julia." You can see the opening illustration to the right. Apparently the music Julia heard playing on Radio 2 inspired some of her own creativity -- for a few more scenes you can go to her blog: Mrs. Twigg. (OK, so it's her Mom's blog. Julia is a novice playwright and does not yet maintain her own blog.)
And on the subject of radio-inspired art, perhaps slightly more evolved -- have a look at this radio art by designer Ewa Bochen.
Unless you have been living in a very remote place or under a self-imposed media ban you are likely aware of Twitter. In fact maybe you already tweet. On the other hand, maybe you want to find out why the hell you should.
One reason is because there is now a CBC Radio 2 Twitter feed. For those who already tweet, you know what to do. For those who aren't sure, here's the lowdown.
If you click on the last link you can join to receive updates, either via your phone or your computer (or both). So you'll get little news bulletins with updates on Radio 2 happenings, big or small, and links to other fun stuff.
But it isn't a one-way tweet (heh), you can also respond with reactions to what you've heard, suggestions, cool music links, whatever inspires you.
Who is going to hear Diana Krall in concert, via CBC Radio 2? All is revealed today when Tom Allen does a live draw from the eligible entries in the Diana Krall contest. The contest received over 10,000 emails!
The draw happens in the third hour of Radio 2 Morning (6 a.m.-10 a.m.), and as the third hour is underway in my time zone (and via the Listen Live streams) without further ado -- here is the lucky winner! GRAHAM J. WOLFF of Kitchener, Ontario. I believe he is currently the "unofficial winner," until contacted, vetted, handing over his passport, whatever the process is to legally tie up any loose ends, but no doubt that will happen in short order.
Thanks to everyone who entered, and to those who wrote with some funny, and some moving reasons as to why you want to hear Ms. Krall. You can read these comments right here.
One of my favourite comments came from "Jack E. Bearden, on the frozen shores of the Bay of Fundy," who said:
It hardly seems possible that a year has already gone by since great Canadian folk singer Willie P. Bennett passed away. Since that time there have been tributes paid in song, and one of those tributes, recorded at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, is broadcast tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.), featuring Jaxon Haldan, Chris Whitely, Russel De Carle, Don Zeuff and Pat Temple.
Willie P. was a masterful songwriter and inspirational musician who touched many lives. A number of musicians have written into Radio 2 to share their stories about Willie P. -- and I'd like to share two great stories now, from country bluesman Morgan Davis, and guitarist (with Corb Lund) Grant Siemens.
Please feel free to share your memories of Willie P as well. Meanwhile we'll start with a memory from Morgan Davis, about music, Willie P., an Austin Mini....and a canoe!:
Jenn Grant is on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) today.
That lovely song Dreamer, by the way, is from her previous recording, Orchestra For The Moon -- today she talks about the new recording, Echoes. In fact, here's a clip from her interview with Rich, re: why "Echoes."
You can hear the rest on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) this afternoon.
Happy Family Day for those who are celebrating (or sleeping in, whatever the case may be); happy Monday to the rest of us. Here is what the broadcast day has in store:
Jenn Grant is a singer songwriter that everyone from Globe And Mail to Exclaim magazine music critics seem to like, with good reason. A strong singer, an interesting lyricist, unusual arrangements, what's not to like? Today she's Rich's guest on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) performing tunes she played live in studio, and chatting with Rich about her new recording, Echoes.
Also note that a concert celebrating the music of the late Willie P. Bennett will be broadcast tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.). Stay tuned to The Radio 2 Blog for more about both later today.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
The Week In The (Music) Blogosphere turns to two recent losses -- the great Cuban bassist, Orlando 'Cachaito' Lopez, and the great jazz singer, Blossom Dearie.
The former you'll know as the Buena Vista Social Club bassist, although his career was much more than that. From playing bass in 1952 with the cabaret orchestra Bambú, to working with the popular Havana big band, "Riverside, to becoming bassist with the National Symphony to playing jazz -- he was a phenomenal musician.
A true story: A Basset Hound named "Arlo" used to "sing" along with Linda Rondstadt's version of Blue Bayou (only the chorus). It got so when he'd hear the scratchy bit on the song before (an old LP) he'd lumber over to the stereo to get ready to "sing" along.
I heard this story about the dear departed "Arlo" on Friday -- and it seems appropriate to start this post with it since today on Farrago (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT) Jurgen celebrates the dog (finally -- he did a cat show in October, for goodness sake), with a programme he's calling "Doggerel."
The connection between dogs and music is always making news of course, although not all dogs respond as did Arlo. "Mario," the Chihuahua who won Best-of-Breed at the recent Westminster dog show, remained silent during the broadcast of The Star Spangled Banner. But get this -- "he looked up at the flag during the entire song," his owner claims. "No other dog did that." (Don't believe me? Source.)
You may recall the spate of excitable speculation over the Obama family canine question. (Portuguese waterhound or a labradoodle?) This led to a stirring composition called "First Dog," with its deathless opening lines -- "Now I'm in the shelter, sleeping on cement. One day I'm gonna wake up in the house of the President." Again, in the c'est vrai department -- just continue reading for audio proof:
Next! Canada's Musical Future continues today on Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) and Canada Live (8 p.m.).
This morning, hear Canadian violinist Nikki Chooi. He's currently in his freshman year at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but studied in Canada with Bill van der Sloot at the Mount Royal Conservatory and Sydney Humphreys at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, among others. Today you can hear him in a house recital from Lion's Bay, B.C. and in performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Diana Krall fans take note -- today is the final day for you to enter the Diana Krall contest -- closing time for sending in your entry is 11 p.m. eastern tonight.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Even if you are the sort of cook whose idea of pasta sauce means opening a jar and pouring it into a saucepan, chances are you have music playing while waiting for it to warm up. For some reason cooking and music go together like, well, cooking and music.
And while many have suggested music to play while cooking (or eating), Classics Today takes a different approach. They suggest music first -- and then recipes that might accompany, and call the feature Classical Gourmet.
Hmmmm, Satie's Gymnopedies is playing and suddenly you're craving a perfectly smooth bowl of gelato so you grab the dairy products and and start concocting. Is this how it works? Not exactly. It's a little more conceptual than that. For instance, because much of Benjamin Britten's work is connected to the "sacrifice of innocence," you get Rejoice In The Lamb-Shanks Britten. (That's OK, you don't want to make gelato anyway, that's what Italian cafés are for.)
Today on In Tune (Saturday 5:00 p.m., 5:30 NT) Katherine will share more about this story in what she is calling the "Valentine's Day In Hard Times" edition of the show. But back to the lamb. Here's an excerpt of the work that gives the recipe its name, (a cantata for chorus, four soloists, and organ), performed by the Washington Collegium. Not sure if it will make you think "needs more rosemary" or not though.
Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin was inspired by the epic poem (a "novel in verse") by Alexander Pushkin. It's a story that's quite apt for today's Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) Valentine's Day broadcast.
Karita Mattila is Tatiana, "a country girl who enjoys the quiet joys of rustic life" and falls in love with a sophisticate, always a mistake. The sophisticate is Eugene Onegin, performed by Thomas Hampson, who fails to love her back, at least, in timely fashion.
The opera also famously features a duel -- Pushkin himself died in a duel with his wife's alleged lover. In some weird synchronicity, just came across recent reports (like this one) saying that scientists are trying verify if the blood stains on a sofa thought to be two centuries old come from Pushkin. (What will this change? Probably nothing, but it is interesting trivia for those with a passion for Pushkin.)
Please keep reading for more details about the opera.
He loves me not. Or no, wait, he loves me! Only problem is it took him years to figure it out. Such is the case for Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, heard today on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT), broadcast from The Met.
"Ms. Mattila sang her first Tatiana at the house and was a revelation. Onegin remains a good role for the veteran baritone Thomas Hampson, who subtly conveyed the hauteur of the entitled, clueless hero."
Stay tuned to The Radio 2 Blog for more on the opera later today, and please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
And like or loathe Valentine's Day, (though how can you not like those silly little candy hearts), love as impetus for art is endlessly fascinating. "V Day" provides an opportunity to explore that, something George Elliott Clarke does Saturday on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) with a special called The Soul Of Love.
The poet and playwright looks at love through music and poetry, and he'll share some of the poems and songs that have touched his own heart most deeply. Musically this means he'll take you from 15th century China to 1960’s Italian pop; from Bollywood hits to Billie Holiday.
I don't know if Mr. Clarke will include any of his own fine poetry, so I thought it appropriate to share a poem he wrote that's a celebratory and sensual look at love:
Tomorrow is V-Day, which means today is the last day for Tom and Rich to play your favourite Canadian love song. Amazing range of suggestions, from Lowest Of The Low's Subversives to Martha Wainwright's How Soon, Bruce Cockburn's All The Diamonds...and almost anything by Hawksley Workman.
But you still have a wee bit of time to lobby for the Canadian song that opens your heart...like a can of peaches.
And to hear them on Radio 2 Morning (6 a.m.-10 a.m.) and Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.). Tom and Rich have been reading the comments here on The Radio 2 Blog instead of the daily paper, so they won't miss a beat.
The Radio 2 Blog's last word on romantic Canadian love songs is one that has been mentioned several times: Meaghan Smith's I Know. Why? Because it's sweet as a perfectly ripe peach.
No Triskaidekaphobia to start the day, not when there are happier matters of luck and chance at hand. Radio 2-wise, that means the last few days to enter the Diana Krall contest -- which if you win means you and your favourite Plus One can wing your way to Vancouver for the final concert in Krall's Quiet Nights tour.
And if you are in a romantic Plus One frame of mind, don't forget today is the final day to suggest the Canadian love song that opens your heart. (But if you're getting grumpy about all the coupley stuff check out the comments at that link -- a considerable number of unrequited or otherwise not happy-couples love songs in there too!) And please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"Ian Tyson At 75", a special presentation tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.), features the "new voice," of Ian Tyson. Literally.
Ian Tyson badly damaged his voice some years ago, through trying to out-sing a bad PA system. And then he got a virus which further damaged it to the point he thought that was pretty much it -- he wouldn't record new songs again, not with that rasp.
But then his buddy Corb Lund convinced him he should -- and the result was Yellowhead To Yellowstone And Other Love Stories, and a renewed performing career. And now he sings in his "new voice," as you'll hear tonight. The broadcast features music from one of five sold out shows in January held at one venue, Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove Alberta, plus an interview with Tyson, and comments from other musicians and friends.
If you haven't heard him lately, by this point you're probably wondering what the heck he sounds like! Brian D. Johnson's description in MacLeans magazine is apt:
A very special concert tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.): "Ian Tyson At 75". It was recorded as part of Ian Tyson's bi-annual sold-out five night run at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove, Alberta, and features music from his last recording, Yellowhead To Yellowstone And Other Love Stories. Tonight's broadcast includes an interview with Tyson and comments from some of his peers, friends and fans.
More on Mr. Tyson later today on The Radio 2 Blog; for now just make a note in your calendars/hand-held devices. And please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Some of us have been busy mulling over Canadian love songs that open our hearts, and that link will take you to the conversation about that sweet subject. But Peter Cook, in today's Tech Q? column, turns his thoughts to what might seem the antithesis of love: statistics.
But these stats are not dry and dusty, no, they're actually quite revealing about something many of us are as addicted to as love itself -- using the internet. So here is Peter, to share the latest Internet Love:
"CBC has a research department and this year they have begun begun publishing 'mini reports'. The information is presented in an easily digestible and fun format and sent out to all employees via email. The goal is to keep everyone in the corporation abreast of what's happening in the world of radio listening, television viewing, internet use, etc. It's particularly important at a time like this - when the traditional broadcast environment is changing so dramatically and rapidly - that everyone in the corporation be kept up to date. The data is collected from a number of sources, including the CBC's own surveys.
The latest report was particularly interesting for me because the topic was Internet Usage Trends.
It will come as no surprise to anyone that internet usage is on the rise. 71% of Canadians use the Internet daily.
The number of Canadians with a high-speed Internet connection at home had already reached 69% by 2007. It's certainly higher by now. (I found a Stats Can report which puts that number at 88%. I wonder if the term "high-speed" was defined differently in the two studies.) Meanwhile the number of Canadians using dial-up connections had already dropped to 9% in 2007.
In case you missed the post late yesterday afternoon, here is your reminder that today the dub producer/performer who goes by Dubmatix is Rich's guest on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.).
It's a great sound, guaranteed to have you in a good mood for the rest of the day, and though rooted in tradition also totally fresh. Or as one write up put it: "Dubmatix, one man with a relentlessly inventive approach to reverb, rhythm, and reggae - the primary colors on any dub producers palette."
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
You may have romantic Canadian songs on your mind, (you know, the kind that open your heart like a can of peaches), and if you do, that link will take you there. But you should also know that tomorrow on Drive Rich's guest is Dubmatix. Quick Dubmatix FAQ:
Biggest influence: 70s and 80s reggae releases -- think King Tubby. (But updated.)
Recent Honour:Renegade Rocker, nominated for a Best Reggae Album of the Year at the Junos.
Critix:"Canadian producer, Dubmatix, creates some of the freshest reggae around. What's so fabulous about the outing by Dubmatix out of Canada is he's taken dub & reggae and pushed the envelope in a creative sense and taken it to another level." --Dermot Hussey XM Radio "The Joint"
For those who don't know him and would like a little more info, PLUS a clip from the interview, read on...
This note is for those who love choral music -- tonight you can hear a concert featuring the polyphonic singing of Corsican vocal quartet Barbara Furtuna, (which means "cruel fate") with Montreal's Constantinople.
Traditional Corsican men's singing is gorgeous -- if you go to the Album page on Barbara Furtuna's website (no more specific URL to give you, I'm afraid) you can hear some examples of this group. (And for those who want to go further, here is a website devoted to Corsican traditional music.)
Of course you can also just tune in to Canada Live (8 p.m.) this evening for the concert, which is one of the ongoing projects spearheaded by Constantinople, who focus on musical encounters and exchanges.
As they put it -- "The creative process of every one of our concerts feeds off of this hunger for encounters. When we are on stage, we seek this fertile synergy between the musicians but also with our audience!" And the radio audience gets the next best thing to being there.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
So who stayed up and watched The Grammys to the end last night? Once I knew that Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were going to perform I hung on all the way to the end, finally drifting off during Stevie Wonder. (Sorry, Stevie.) It was gratifying that that great Krauss/Plant collaboration was so well recognized -- and almost surprising, given that it's not exactly mainstream in the way, say, Coldplay and Jennifer Hudson are.
But as always with major awards shows, there is a second set of awards, the smaller categories that never make it to the broadcast, let alone mainstream attention. You can see video of some of those presentations here, and this post is just wee a nod to a few:
Happy Monday morning! (Hey, it's February, we all need a little pep-talkin.') And a reminder to start the week -- this is the second and last week for your chance to win a prize package to hear Diana Krall. Here are all the details. And if you'd like to say why you'd like to hear Ms. Krall please join in right here.
There have been some interesting comments, like this one from a 20-something expat Canadian in England who wrote:
"...there's something so very Canadian about her approach to it that it makes me miss home. Oh, and she was also my intro to jazz - I have since moved on to Coltrane and Mingus, and mostly instrumental rather than vocal jazz, but I'm still giving Diana the credit for opening my eyes to the genre - and I think that applies to lots of kids my age."
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
The Week In The (Music) Blogosphere was dominated by the odd story of 71-year-old Etta James seemingly savaging Beyoncé's performance of a song famously associated with the former, At Last. Specifically Beyoncé's performance of the song at Barack Obama's inauguration. (Sung for the Presidential first dance.)
Now, Ms. James is said to have talked about "whupping" Beyonce's posterior, but if the audio of Etta James posted here is correct, it sounds like she said "whipped," not "whupped." Of course you may be thinking, "whupped, whipped, whatever." But extreme behavior elicits extreme curiosity, when coming from a star like James. What was behind it remains a mystery -- ill health, ill temper, ill-conceived notion of comedic stage patter?
First of all, the two things in the subject heading have nothing to do with each other. But I wanted to draw your attention to two features on air today on Radio 2. (And it worked, didn't it?)
The pickin' happens on Farrago With Jurgen Gothe (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT), when Jurgen celebrates that fabulous style of guitar playing. The music from The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival is featured on The Signal (10 p.m.) tonight when Mr. Pat Carrebré presents music he heard earlier this week at the festival.
Let's do this chronologically then, starting with Farrago. Jurgen calls today's edition of his show Finger Pickin's Faves: Fahey and Beyond. He'll feature music by Bob Hadley; tracks from Joel Fafard's CDs (two of which mention trout, but that's another story, old trout) and also music from the mighty John Fahey, naturally. All that and the proverbial more.
And now to the music from the WSO New Music Festival where Pat Carrebré was on stage last weekend hosting. The Signal was also recording and you can hear some of the results this evening -- many of them premieres.
Today marks the 4th week in the ten part series, Next! Canada's Music Future, celebrating emerging Canadian musicians. The special is heard on two shows each Sunday during the ten-weeks, Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) and Canada Live (8 p.m.).
This morning the Sunday Afternoon In Concert broadcast features the 24-year-old pianist Darrett Zusko. Zusko was born in Windsor, Ontario, and studied as a teenager with the great Canadian pianist Ronald Turini. He's already performed across North America, the UK and Spain. (They sure liked him in Spain, La Nueva España described him as one of the most promising performers of the 21st century.) Today Zusko can be heard in recital performing a programme including works by Schubert, Morawetz and Bartok.
Then on Canada Live it's indie rock band Beija Flor from Calgary; 20-year-old soul/rock driven songwriter Michael Bernard Fitzgerald; Edmonton Carole King/Joni Mitchell inspired singer-songwriter (who is currently making waves in New York) Colleen Brown, and finally another Edmontonian, acoustic country singer Ayla Brook.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
As you likely know, 2009 is Mendelssohn's bicentenary. (See Happy 200th, Felix!) He's a beloved composer to many...but not to all. One of the most famous Mendelssohn doubters is the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Or rather one of the most famous doubters was Anne-Sophie Mutter, because she's had quite a change of heart.
As recently reported in the New York Times, (Finding Her Mendelssohn Sweet Spot), she said that in Europe, apart from the Violin Concerto the symphonies and the Octet, his music "is underestimated and rarely performed." She went on to say that many listeners don’t find his works "profound or deep enough" and then confessed that "for many years I was a member of this league, just not really believing in the sincerity of the music...We all change."
Thankfully her open-mindedness has led to her new recording of Mendelssohn, some of which you can hear today on In Tune at 5:00 p.m., 5:30 NT. (You can also watch a video of her performing some of that music here.) Part of her about face came from learning more about the man:
It reads like some 1040's movie headline: "Soprano Anna Netrebko Loses Mind At The Met!" Of course Anna Netrebko doesn't, not literally, but her character (the Lucia of Lucia Di Lammermoor) famously does, as you will hear today on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT)
In Donizetti's prolific (67!) opera career, Lucia Di Lammermoor remains one of the few that is frequently produced. For its music and for its story -- here's the movie trailer version of the latter:
L d L is based on a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, and it's about a young Scottish woman who is torn between feuding families. Her own wedding day turns out rather badly for her betrothed. Poor Lucia is cornered by forces that first break her heart...and then...her mind.
For full cast and character details & plot synopsis please continue reading.
First call for Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) fans for the weekend's Metropolitan Opera broadcast. This Saturday it's a biggie -- Russian soprano Anna Netrebko stars in a production of Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor (which incidentally is one of the best titles for anything, ever).
Ms. Netrebko is paired with her frequent stage partner, Rolando Villazón, who sings the role of Lucia's lover Edgardo, while Mariusz Kwiecien is her scheming brother Enrico, and bass Ildar Abdrazakov is the compassionate tutor, Raimondo.
Stay tuned to The Radio 2 Blog for full details about the opera a little later today. And please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
If someone says to you "London Calling" what's your first reaction? That you have a transatlantic phone call? Or do you start singing "...to the faraway towns, now war is declared - and battle come down. London calling to the underworld?" (Or at least, what you can remember of the lyrics.) If it's the latter, you are a Clash fan.
And Clash fans do take note. Tomorrow, that'd be Saturday February 7th, Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) presents The Clash: Revolution Rock.
It's a tribute to "the only band that matters," as their nickname has it. And it goes back to the band's early art- school beginnings to its rise to meteoric punk heights. So you'll hear both recent and vintage band interview clips with Clash members Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. As for the music, it's a mix of previously unreleased live tracks along with the classics.
Related Trivia Bulletin: Just out this January, "the first official book to be created about the band, by the band"-- The Clash By The Clash.
Nice, huh? The above is from a documentary called Playing For Change: Peace Through Music. Musicians around the world contributed their bit to Stand By Me -- resulting in this global version.
Today's Radio 2 Video Festival is devoted to music for humanity -- and this next one qualifies on many levels. If you didn't see this during Barack Obama's inauguration, here's your chance now -- Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, with Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land:
And one more note: Although there doesn't seem to be a good video performance of this most universal of peace songs, here's a bonus audio track (on what would have been Bob Marley's 64th birthday today): One Love.
With the Juno nominations being announced earlier this week (the annual music awards take place on March 29th this year) Radio 2 programmes are starting to play some of the nominated artists. First out of the gate is Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) -- today Rich plays tracks from Juno nominees kd Lang, Dubmatix, Jeff Healey, Coldplay, and The Duhks, among others.
And this weekend Tonic (6 p.m.) gets some early Juno fever too, with Tim playing nominees -- no less than 16 Juno nods on Saturday's show, covering jazz, world, pop, R&B, roots, and contemporary. So to listen to some of the leaders of the pack tune in to either of these shows. And of course, as we get closer to the date Juno-music will no doubt be heard right across the schedule.
As for the rest of this broadcast day, please keep reading for details.
"Renouncing formulaic bombast, Bell Orchestre dazzles by finesse, not force. Call it blank slate music-- oceans of negative space awaiting colonization-by-imagination." Deathoftheleftunfinished
Bell Orchestre are one of the featured bands tonight on The Signal (10 p.m.), with music from their much anticipated new recording, As Seen Through Windows. If you're not familiar with the band, the quickest way to describe them is to say that they are an instrumental band.
Quickest, but oh, so lacking in conveying the beauty of their music. As the band themselves say: "To say they are an instrumental band is like saying El Greco was just a painter, or Frank Gehry just builds museums: it fails to capture their essence."
So here's another stab at it. Bell Orchestre play contemporary, visually evocative, intelligent (and instrumental) music.
And although that word "magical" gets overused (guilty as charged) -- there really is something magical about some of their music. Here's a very brief snippet -- from a video that won the Best Experimental Short at last year's SXSW festival. (Be patient, the bombastic SXSW intro thing lasts but a few seconds.)
You can hear some of the influences even in that clip -- Penguin Café Orchestra, Arvo Pärt -- but they draw from a deep well. Again, if you'd like to hear more, Laurie will be playing some of their music tonight on The Signal (10 p.m.) And for more info about the new recording, here it is, from the Orchestre's mouth:
What's the difference between Anti-Folk and Freak Folk? Alt-Country and Country?
England's The Sunday Times has undertaken the brave (or maybe foolhardy) task of creating an online Encyclopedia of Modern Music to answer these and other questions.
And get this -- right above Neo Pyschedelia is an entry called "Montreal Scene." Defined thusly:
"Leonard Cohen’s home town, the Wainwright family seat (Rufus and Martha are natives), a hub of post-rock: Montreal’s place in pop history is assured."
The Encyclopedia does go a little deeper though -- each entry has a list of essential recordings, and some analysis. But do you buy this analysis of the Montreal scene?
If you would like to hear Diana Krall in concert, now you have a chance to win two tickets/flights etc. to do just that! If, that is, you listen to Radio 2 Morning (6 a.m.-10 a.m.) or Tonic (6 p.m.) between now and Feb. 15th.
When you hear Diana Krall singing, jot down the song-title, date and time you heard it, and send an e-mail to krallconcert@cbc.ca.
But why do you want to hear Diana Krall in concert? What is it about her music that appeals to you? Share your thoughts by commenting right here at The Radio 2 Blog.
How low can they go? When it comes to a bass, whether voice or instrument, pretty low -- though perhaps not quite as low as the song of a black hole. Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) sticks to the more obviously musical low sounds today, featuring some of the lowest of the low (notes). It's the latest installment in a regular Tempo Thursday feature, the "Tempo Top Five Favorites."
Each Thursday over lunch (for those of you who think of lunch as the traditional 12:00 to 1:00/12:30 to 1:30 NT) Julie counts down a new top five list of Tempo favorites. And invites you to weigh in -- via the Tempo hotline 1-877-222-8166 or blog. (If you make suggestions here I shall pass them along as well.)
Also on Tempo today -- the Mendelssohn birthday tribute continues with a performance of his famous Octet, and a selection of his Songs Without Words.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
There are few things as satisfying as looking at a map. Maps seem to magically capture the uncharted potential of our futures. And, more prosaically, maps are useful.
Today's Tech Q? column is devoted to a new map that is definitely useful to Radio 2 listeners who have occasion to travel and want to tune in where're you are. The new map is courtesy of the enterprising Radio 2 Geek, Peter Cook, who makes his weekly Radio 2 Blog appearance to explain:
Enough of this new-fangled internet thing for a moment. Let's talk about good old-fashioned FM broadcast. More specifically, let's talk about how you can find frequencies on the FM dial broadcasting CBC Radio 2.
If you are a regular Radio 2 listener you know the frequency in your home town. But what if you are traveling across the country and want to tune in away from your home base? Or what if you've heard that Radio 2 has changed their format and you want to check it out? What frequency do you tune in to on your FM dial?
Read on for the full story, or just click on the image of the image of the map above and start exploring.
Much Canadian music news on the radar this week. The Juno nominations and the announcement of the five finalists in the Evolution composers-in-residence competition, (see Evolution Composers, Juno Nominees Unveiled) for example.
He's not the first, and not the only to try and improve the lot of the many extraordinary musicians on the island, but Vogel has concentrated his efforts on the post-Hurricane Ike losses of instruments, particularly in Holguin.
In this day and age of information overload, you need a catchy title. Babes For Breasts qualifies nicely. And it's catchy to a good purpose. What Babes For Breasts is is a collective of women singer-songwriters who are "taking on the human side of breast cancer one song at a time."
Tonight you can hear music from their annual event/tour, held at the National Arts Centre this past October, and broadcast on Canada Live (8 p.m.). It features Ana Muira, Amanda Rheaume, Caridad Cruz, Natasha Alexandra, Q the Romantic Revolutionary. So you can hear folk and rock and Spanish ballads and piano-based pop music as well as spoken word. (That'd be 'Q the Romantic Revolutionary.')
The Canada Live team says the concert features the "spirit of collaboration -- and great music." So that's tonight, meanwhile, please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Evolution, as in CBC/Radio Canada not Darwin, is a challenge that was set for Canadian composers. In early March the five finalists go to the Banff Centre. There they will have a great view of the mountains and also be given a musical theme and a set of constraints (in terms of ensemble size etc.) and then get cracking. They'll proceed to write a new work within a few weeks.
Online it gets interesting towards the end of Februrary as the composers begin to document their creative processes at the Evolution website via blog and vlog. You may even be agog! They are, after all, extremely creative, interesting composers.
There is no shortage of classical composer anniversaries this year -- Handel, Haydn, Purcell and Mendelssohn are among the biggest.
Today is the bicentennary of Felix Mendelssohn, as celebrated on Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) with five Mendelssohn symphonies in five hours. (Over the rest of the week Tempo will also play some of the other key Mendelssohn compositions including the Octet, excerpts from the oratorio Elijah, and the Violin Concerto.)
The day is of course being marked around the world in performance -- as today's Globe article, 200 Years Later -- And Still A Star outlines. (The article also delves into some recent revelations about Mendelssohn that suggest his traditionally viewed "squeaky clean" image may be less than true, but that's just a tabloid-type diversion.)
Mendelssohn blogging turns up some good roundups including this nicely illustrated look at his life, from AllMusic, and recording recommendations from Culture Catch.
And then of course there is the Tube of You. One of the most played, best-loved Mendelssohn works turns up there in spades -- the Violin Concerto. It's difficult to resist this posting this performance so I won't. It features the then 13-year-oldItzhak Perlman:
Neko Case is one of those singers who may make you stop in your tracks the first time you hear her to say "Who was that?" She is that commanding. (Or as one writer put it, she's "a siren.")
Today you can hear her with Rich Terfry on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.), talking about her upcoming recording, Middle Cyclone, which has a rather striking cover, as she notes here in this wee excerpt from today's interview:
And for a little more about Neko Case, hop on back to this earlier post, which includes a good video about the making of Middle Cyclone.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
What tops the list of things that alt country singer Neko Case loves? "Canada and the Canadians therein," she says. Aww, gee, how nice.
Neko Case, who is Rich Terfry's guest on Tuesday's Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) is kind of an honourary Canadian herself, having lived and worked here before. And in the aforequoted Paste Magazine feature called 17 Things I Love, by Neko Case she makes it clear how and why she feels connected to Canada. (Also to bats and iced tea, but Canada is still #1.)
But back to her music. She has a new recording coming out March 3rd, called Middle Cyclone -- her first since 2006's excellent Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. If you're curious about the new recording, you'll want to watch this -- a sample of some of the music on the new recording -- as well as shots of the barn it was made in with its many, many pianos:
Now we are into the serious month of winter, the one that frequently is attached to the word "blues." But on Radio 2 February provides some very nice distractions, including a chance to win tickets to a Diana Krall concert. Between now and Feb. 15th if you tune into Radio 2 Morning (6 a.m.-10 a.m.) or Tonic (6 p.m.) and hear Diana Krall, just note the title of the song, the date and time you heard it, and e-mail krallconcert@cbc.ca to be entered into the draw.
Then there's celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth tomorrow on Tempo. And later in the month there will be special programming connected to love songs, February also being the month involving chocolate. (And love in human form too, of course.)
Stay tuned for more about the Diana Krall contest, and for now, please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Dylan and Will.I.Am (whose name is the bane of all music writers, honestly, where do those periods go again?) perform the song over what Pepsi calls "a visual collage of iconic images celebrating generations past and present." (Including Gumby! Definitely iconic.)
Electric Roulette was not forgiving of this decision on the part of Dylan: "He's an old tart isn't he? Spent all that time being prickly about the meaning of his songs, almost like they meant somethin' to him... and now? Well, he's a shill."
Right Wing Bob points out that: "Contrary to what early media reports conveyed, Bob Dylan himself didn’t do any work for this Pepsi advertisement, which was put together to air during the Super Bowl in the U.S.A this Sunday. The footage of him in the ad is from the 1960s."
The other day on The Radio 2 Blog I posed this question: Why Do You Sing? It got some very interesting responses, as you'll see if you click on that link and scroll down to the comments.
A corollary of that question might be, "why does a specific voice move us?" Sometimes it's the actual quality of the voice alone -- the person could sing the phone book and you'd listen. Probably more often it's some combination of the voice, the musical material, and even who that artist is aside from their music. I suspect the latter is the case for Jurgen Gothe today, as he devotes the entire edition of Farrago With Jurgen Gothe (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT) to one very interesting singer and person -- Montreal's Diane Nalini.
That's not his usual style (the show would not be called Farrago if it were!) But Jurgen considers Nalini a "wonderful singer, arranger and songwriter." And on top of that she's also a physics professor, astronomer and "tomato grower of local renown." So today's show is called "The Singer and the Universe: A Diane Nalini Hour."
But since The Blog is still in it's customary Farrago mode, we'll turn to a topic inspired by Ms. Nalini's non-musical side -- Tomato Music. (You knew there had to be a reason for that photo, right?)
Next! Canada's Music Future continues today, celebrating the next generation of Canadian musical talent. Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) features the Janaki String Trio, who have been together for about four years, founded by cellist Arnold Choi from Calgary, joining musical forces with violinist Serena McKinney and violist Katie Kadarauch at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles.
In short order they've distinguished themselves in recital, competition and festival appearances. (Proof, should you need it, is in recognition in the form of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and a residency at the Banff Centre.) As for their intriguing name, that comes from the Sanskrit word "Janaki," symbolizing enlightenment and self realization.
Next! continues Sunday evening on Canada Live (8 p.m.), and features singer-songwriter Royal Wood, "neo-soul, folk, old-time blues and pop" from Justin Nozuka, a jazz and Persian musical fusion sung by Soleyman Vaseghi, and jazz singer Yvette Tollar.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
The great tenor Enrico Caruso once said that all one needs for a first-rate performance of Il Trovatore are the four greatest singers in the world. A mere bagatelle. 
Dylan fans take note -- today you can hear part 2 of the documentary series about 
It's a double bill of powerhouse Canadian R&B tonight, with concerts from 
Thanks to Peter Cook for minding the blog while I was under the weather -- and if you missed his very nice 
Dylan fans mark your calendars -- this Saturday on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) you can hear 
The Week In The (Music) Blogosphere turns to two recent losses -- the great Cuban bassist, 
A true story: A Basset Hound named "Arlo" used to "sing" along with Linda Rondstadt's version of Blue Bayou (only the chorus). It got so when he'd hear the scratchy bit on the song before (an old LP) he'd lumber over to the stereo to get ready to "sing" along. 
Love found: love lost; love remembered. So much of that to be found in your picks for 
"Ian Tyson At 75", a special presentation tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.), features the "new voice," of Ian Tyson. Literally.
So who stayed up and watched 
There is no shortage of classical composer anniversaries this year -- Handel, Haydn, Purcell and Mendelssohn are among the biggest.
The other day on The Radio 2 Blog I posed this question: 
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