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For those who feel there ain't no cure for Leonard Cohen (hands up!) he just gets better and better. If you were lucky enough to get to one of the shows on his recent tour, you know this. If not, tonight you have a chance to get close to that experience when Canada Live (8 p.m.) broadcasts a performance recorded live in London.
Note that you can also download the music on the Radio 2 website (via iTunes) right here.
Here are a smattering of critical responses to the show, to whet your appetite:
"It’s a joy...a masterful trawl through his towering back catalogue (including the aptly-named Tower Of Song.) -The Sun
You may have heard about the Juno Songwriters' Circle, which was broadcast live on Sunday, and again last night.
But before you get your knickers in a twist thinking you've missed the whole thing, do note that the Canada Live Podcast is releasing the entire thing in two stages: Part 1 today, Part 2 on Wednesday, April 1.
You can read more about the set up for the event here on The Radio 2 Blog, and fellow blogger Kevin Chong over at cbc.ca news has some "reax" at the 2009 Juno Awards Blog. Here's an excerpt, which will give you an idea of what you can hear, once you download the podcast:
In case you missed the last post about Bruce Cockburn, scroll back. Just kidding, the gist is right here: Cockburn is on Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) today, and you can hear him play a few songs in studio, and chat with Rich about life. "Slice O' Life," to be exact. (The name of his live double CD set that comes out today.) And yes, if you'd like to know more about that, scroll back! (Please and thanks.)
Meanwhile, please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Actually it's Bruce Cockburn's 30th recording we're talking about, the man himself is 63, if Wiki and my math are correct. Slice O' Life comes out March 31, and Cockburn joins Rich Terfry on the Tuesday edition of Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) with some in-studio music and conversation.
Cockburn shares a few road stories from his thirty five + year career with Rich, and what an amazing career it has been to date. (Although as one reviewer accurately put it: "Cockburn has been one of the lowest-key Canadian success stories possibly ever." )
In case you're wondering about the content of the new recording -- it's a double live album featuring songs from across the years, but all acoustic. (Plus some snippets of sound check takes and things like that.) One final Cockburn news note:
It's a special alchemy that makes words come together with music to form a great song. It's also a craft requiring dedication. (Or, to paraphrase Leonard Cohen, you have to pay your rent in the tower of song!)
This week, "Wordsmiths," a Canada Live (8 p.m.) celebration of Canadian songwriters who spend plenty of time in that tower. It's a terrific lineup of live concerts featuring iconic Canadian songwriters, as well as some of the new generation:
If you missed the live broadcast of the Junos Songwriters' Circle Sunday afternoon, fear not. You can hear it rebroadcast tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.). It features performances from a stellar bunch of songwriters including Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jim Cuddy and Doc Walker. Hawksley Workman is the musical moderator; Rich Terfry is your radio host.
It starts off a week devoted to songwriting, called Wordsmiths, featuring live concerts from songwriting giants like Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson, plus new generation wordsmiths like Sarah Slean and Corb Lund. Full details coming up shortly on the blog.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
So you're sitting around with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Doc Walker, Jacob Hoggard of Hedley, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Ndidi Onukwulu and Sarah Slean, listening to Hawksley Workman getting all of them to share songs and stories. Oh, and Rich Terfry is there too, just hanging out.
No, not a figment of blog -- you have this experience this Sunday afternoon (if you use a tiny bit of imagination for the visuals) by tuning in to the live broadcast of the Juno Songwriters' Circle, presented by Mister Terfry. (3pm most zones/4 in the Maritimes/4:30 Newfoundland -- repeated Monday March 30th on Canada Live at 8 p.m.)
It moves the focus away from who wins what at the Junos and trains it strictly on the music. As Jim Cuddy said in a recent interview about the Junos, it always is, for the musicians, more than just about the awards.
"It's an excuse to gather the tribe...It’s about celebrating another year in the music biz, which is a difficult life and a fun life..." And most tellingly he adds: "The Songwriters' Circle is a beautiful thing."
Today is Juno Awards Day in Canada. Also the first ever Cupcake Camp Canada day in Ottawa. (The things you learn by googling a specific date.)
But it is celebrations of Canadian, Juno-nominated music that we're concerned with on Radio 2. And today you can hear classical nominees in live recordings on Sunday Afternoon In Concert as well as a special live broadcast from Vancouver of the Juno Songwriters' Circle.
It's hosted by Hawksley Workman and presented by Radio 2's Rich Terfry -- tune in at 3 pm in most of the country, 4 in the Maritimes, 4:30 in Newfoundland.
More about this special broadcast a little later today on The Radio 2 Blog, but for now just know that you hear some great songwriters (including Buffy Sainte-Marie) sharing songs.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Ringophiles are possibly even more obsessive than Trekkies. But that doesn't mean you have to have that level of fandom to experience Wagner's Ring Cycle -- you may just be Ring-curious.
Either way you have the opportunity to hear the cycle beginning this weekend and continuing over the final three Saturdays in April on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) as The Metropolitan Opera presents it in its entirety.
And its entirety is pretty entire -- Der Ring Des Nibelungen is four operas: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
It's staggering in every way: length, the gods and mortals, giants and dwarves, valkyries and other mythological creatures that make up the characters, and its story that covers the gamut: love, power, incest, murder and the end of the world.
For more about The Ring, this current production, and the all important plot synopsis, please keep reading:
Inside The Music (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) has the blues today, with a special called Time I Met The Blues: The Buddy Guy Story. It takes a look at the great guitarist Buddy Guy, whose sound is so much a part of Chicago’s Chess Records. (While recording for Chess Guy played with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson.)
First Time I Met the Blues: The Buddy Guy Story is hosted by Dan Aykroyd, yes The Blues Brothers Dan Ackroyd. Interviews include Guy himself, plus Junior Wells, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Mick Fleetwood.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Little 'k," little "d!" Tonight a concert from Juno nominee Lady k.d. Lang on Canada Live (8 p.m.) from a not so little venue -- Massey Hall. It features music from her recording, Watershed. (For which Ms. Lang has received Juno nominations in both the Artist Of The Year and Producer Of The Year categories -- Watershed is her first self-produced project.)
As you'll know, if you're a k.d. Lang follower, most of her previous recordings tend to be somewhat themed -- but not Watershed. And this is how k.d. herself views it.
"Watershed is like a culmination of everything I've done ...It really feels like the way I hear music."
She first toured Watershed in the U.K. -- to some great response:
On the cusp of Juno Awards weekend now, and Radio 2 Juno programming is in full swing. On Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) Rich only plays Juno nominees. That's right, every song on today's show is a Juno nominee, and a Drive fave.
Tune into Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) to hear some of the classical music Juno nominees, and on Canada Live it's quite a double bill with concerts from k.d. Lang and Hawksley Workman.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
With the Juno Awards taking place this weekend Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) gets Juno fever and showcases some of the classical nominees Thursday and Friday. Thursday's performances include part of Bruckner's 9th Symphony conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and the Gryphon Trio with Schubert's Trio No. 1.
The Juno Awards website has a very nice feature this year where they've put up sound clips of each of the nominated artists, so if you click on any of the following links you can hear excerpts of performance from each of the nominated classical artists:
For the composers who have been burning the midnight oil to write new compositions for the Evolution competition -- this is it! The live broadcast of their new compositions, performed by the ECM+ ensemble. Tune into Radio 2 tonight to hear the LIVE premieres.
There can be something seductive about recommender services. (You know, the if you like THIS, maybe you'll like THIS thing). Today's Tech Q? column, presented by Radio 2's Res. Geek, a.k.a. Peter Cook, is about how you can use the Radio 2 website as a kind of recommender for CBC concerts. It's through a feature you may not have noticed, with the unglamorous nickname "The Discovery Tool." But it is actually a very handy way to discover concerts, as Peter explains:
In the left hand navigation menu of the Radio 2 site there is an item called "Programs" which (no surprise) gives you a list of the programs which air on CBC Radio 2. Not every program page is the same but all of them have a section somewhere in the right hand column with information about concerts.
When we were building this feature we referred to it internally as the "Discovery Tool". The idea was to give people another means of "discovering" the concerts CBC Radio 2 is recording, broadcasting and making available for "on demand" streaming.
Lucky Marilyn Raymond from Surrey BC may have won the tickets to hear L.C. in N.Y.C. (she told Tom Allen she is "thrilled") but you should know that right now on the Radio 2 website you can hear Cohen's Live In London concert.
I'm listening to So Long Marianne as we speak, which always makes me nostalgic for Montreal, moonily standing in Little Portugal Square by rue Marie-Anne, thinking that Cohen might suddenly appear. (Difficult, since he no longer lived there.) But the nostalgia factor aside -- there are some really excellent performances in this concert.
And not just Cohen's own. There are also the "sublime" Webb sisters as Cohen calls them -- and they are. You should hear them on If It Be Your Will. (You can -- it's the second track of the concert, actually.)
Many have strong Montreal/Leonard connections of course. For example:
The big day is here -- brand new compositions by five young Canadian composers are premiered this evening -- live. They're the results of the Evolution competition --a highly unusual challenge where the composers were given a theme, (evolution), and only a few weeks to write and rehearse the music.
One of the composers, Gordon Williamson, describes the intensity of the experience: "It included one all-nighter (finally got to bed at 10am, and then only for 1.5 hours!), and one final score/parts proofreading push that went till 4am the day before the first rehearsal. "
Yikes, shades of university! But a much better payoff, as you can hear this evening at these broadcast times:
Tonight's Juno Award nominee concert is from a very fun band led by guitarist Lubo Alexandrove -- Lubo & Kaba Horo. They're nominated in the World Music Album Of The Year category, and though heavily Balkan-party music influenced, they also bring in jazz and and Middle Eastern influences. Or, as an album review in Vue Weekly puts it:
"The band has a ferocity of attack that is compelling...this is convivial and smokingly celebratory music..."
That's on Canada Live (8 p.m.) -- for the rest of the week's Juno-nominees on Canada Live line up, see this post. And please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
If you are on Facebook, probably you'll have seen the "Five Albums That Shaped You" thing. You go to a database where you pick five recordings that had a profound positive influence on your musical tastes.
This has migrated to the blogosphere, where bloggers are expanding the idea beyond a limited choice database and just posting their Five Albums. (For example, and another example, and yet another. Just google for more.)
People (OK, music bloggers/critics) sometimes criticize the Juno Awards. You'll hear them muttering things like "the Nickelback awards." But if you have a look at the line up of Juno nominated artists broadcast in concert this week on Canada Live (8 p.m.) you see (and will hear) a different picture:
Joel Plaskett's new CD called Three comes out Tuesday, March 24th, and he'll be on Radio 2 Drive that very afternoon.
Why "Three" you may ask, (thinking vaguely about Portishead). The short answer -- it's a THREE disc set...of all new music. But it also seems there's a bit of a numerology thing going on -- each disc has nine songs. And note that the release date March 24 2009 has numbers divisible by three! (Three three three, the distant neighbour of the beast.)
Anyway, I haven't heard the recording(s) yet, but an early bird review from The Coast waxes ecstatic, speaking of the impact of this new Plaskett music:
Anondab: "Leonard is My Man because he is, in his every expression, a living paradox of sacred and profane...There ain't no cure for Leonard, just more Leonard."
Kencoe: "I think he speaks to many, if not all of our life changing experiences. It is the sad ones that he takes us through, very, very slowly."
Jenny#2: "Mr. Cohen is MY man, because since I was sixteen, his music was able to evoke all the emotions of my life."
Radio 2's Cohen contest is closed now, (congrats to Marilyn Raymond of Surrey B.C. who won the txts to Cohen's concert in NYC!) But "there ain't no cure for Leonard," so anytime is a good time to answer the question, Why Is Leonard YOUR Man?
As you likely know, the Leonard Cohen contest has concluded...but the music lingers on. More than lingers -- starting today you can hear Cohen's Live In London concert, an exclusive preview on the CBC Radio 2 website. The (recording itself including track listing on that) comes out on March 31st so this is a bit of a scoop.
Also coming up a little later -- April 23rd -- a broadcast on Radio 2 of a one hour interview with Leonard Cohen, done by Jian Ghomeshi. More about that closer to the date, for now, enjoy live performances of some of Cohen's greatest songs including Dance Me To The End Of Love, Suzanne, Sisters Of Mercy,Closing Time and on and on...for the next week streaming online on Radio 2.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Juno week begins with Canada Live (8 p.m.) celebrating nominees through concert broadcasts including performances from k.d. lang, The Duhks, Brad Turner, Eccodek and Kathleen Edwards.
Tonight things gets underway with banjoist Jayme Stone and kora player Mansa Sissoko. Their terrific album, From Africa to Appalachia, is up for the "World Music Album of the Year" Juno.
The second concert features one-man-band Chad VanGaalen who writes dark but captivating songs. His recording, Soft Airplane, is nominated for "Alternative Album of the Year."
You know you're a bass player when: "You strongly believe in the phrase 'One day bass players will take over the world.'"(At least according to one bass player.)
Jurgen Gothe might agree, since he goes into the doghouse today and plays a whole hour of bass music on Farrago (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT). It's the second time he's done this, so he calls today's programme, "Basses, Too."
But back to bass players taking over the world. It's an idea that seems to be insidiously creeping its way into the very fabric of our musical society. First, there's the song by Trout Fishing In America, with its inflammatory lyrics:
"And on that day the world it was finally set free,
All the creatures they hung out together and interacted fretlessly,
And the air began to vibrate with such a deep tonality,
The day the bass players took over the world."
Next! Canada's Music Future wraps up today. It's featured some truly talented young Canadian musicians, and today's final edition is no exception.
On Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT), violinist Adrian Anantawan. Born without a right hand, he's met that challenge, to date appearing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and at the White House. He'll perform Saint-Saens Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso, Franck's Violin Sonata In A Major and Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy Op. 25.
We're still two months away from the National Jazz Awards, which take place May 14th in Toronto. But the early bird mention is because these awards are decided by you. If that is, you vote.
So if you're a fan of the many fine Canadian jazz musicians you will frequently hear on Tonic (6 p.m.) (for instance Oliver Jones, Emilie Claire Barlow, Phil Nimmons, Jane Bunnett etc.) go on and cast your vote.
The most nominated musician is multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson (bass, piano and vibraphone) who received seven nominations in seven categories, including Jazz Recording of the Year.
CBC Radio 2's Katie Malloch, who hosts Tonic during the week, is up for broadcaster of the year. Good luck, Katie! Not to ignore weekend Tonic host, Tim Tamashiro either, since he will be co-hosting the May 14th event, with fellow CBC broadcaster Karen Gordon.
And if you have a a minute or eight, have a look at the much nominated Mr. Thompson at the piano, performing with his quartet, courtesy of Jazz Yukon:
The Met's new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula has been getting mixed reviews. (Like this one.) But not for the singing -- for the staging. (I confess I am going to see for myself today. Not to New York, sadly, just the local movie theatre.)
Anyway, the staging will not figure highly into the radio broadcast on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) of course. There you can just enjoy the singing.
And the singing is by some pretty spectacular singers -- soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Juan Diego Flórez (who were teamed in last season's virtuosic comedic hit La Fille du Régiment).
Often regarded as somewhat implausible, the plot is nicely summed up by the Washington Post: "Young girl loves boy, sleepwalks, is found sleeping in strange man's room, regains trust of lover."
For background on the opera, and the plot synopsis please continue reading:
If "Riding with the King" makes you think not of the Royals but of B.B., you will want to tune in today to Inside The Music (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT). Riding With The King is a profile of the great B.B. King, approaching his 80th birthday when this documentary was made.
It's narrated by Keb Mo, and in it King talks about his 60 year career, from his early days as a DJ in Memphis to his massive success as a blues guitarist. Music includes collaborations with Eric Clapton, Ray Charles and U2, and musicians talking about King include Koko Taylor, Carlos Santana, John Mayall and Buddy Guy.
An additional roots music note today: On Deep Roots (Saturday 11:00 a.m., 12:00 AT, 12:30 NT) Tom Power takes a look at the origins of country music -- in the minstrelsy tradition.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Happy first day of spring -- and Nowruz, the Persian New Year which also marks the day. Musically that means two concerts on Canada Live (8 p.m.) this evening. First, from the Lian Ensemble, who use traditional Persian music and instruments, but incorporate jazz and write their own original compositions.
This concert got a fabulous response from the audience, as did the second show on the bill, from one of the most famous Iranian singers in the world -- Mohammad Reza Shajarian, performing with the Ava Ensemble. It's virtuosic music featuring Shajarian's exceptional vocals -- if you're a fan of great singing, make sure to tune in.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Tempo's Temptations is about celebrating how music inspires those who love to create in a totally different sphere -- the kitchen. (Or as listener Antonio San put it: This program is all about ART...culinary art that is!") Five great Canadian chefs are creating new culinary concoctions based on music suggested by Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
So far, the recipes look amazing (that's Chef David Ferguson of Montreal's Jolifou's Poached Chinook Salmon, inspired by The Drunkard In Spring from Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde).
At 12:30 today and tomorrow you can hear two more "temptations," and for the mouth watering visuals, go to the Tempo Blog.
Of course if you are having your own lunch while listening, approach with caution. A listener named Allan noted: "The Chef interview is great but it sure makes my lunch of a peanut butter sandwich look a little anemic!"
Is it spring where you live? In T.O. it's still teasing. Warm, warmer, not so warm. But back when it was still definitely the dead of winter -- February -- The Rankin Family wrapped up a twenty stop tour in Halifax with some music from their new recording, These Are The Moments, a collection of songs chosen "to inspire and uplift - a bright light, amidst uncertain times."
You can hear The Rankins' concert tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.). AND it should be noted, music from banjoman Old Man Luedecke with Symphony Nova Scotia, and rounding out the broadcast, east coast singer Rose Cousins performing with the symphony as well.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Geeks R Us! Well no, actually Geeks R Peter Cook (and you, if just the sight of the weekly Tech Q? column makes your heart pound a little faster.)
But as Peter is always telling me, "it's just a question of degrees." So however geeky or not -- if you like to listen to music wherever whenever, this week Peter has gone a whole level deeper into audio content through portable devices -- in other words, Podcasts by Phone. Over to Peter:
Last month the good folks at CBC Podcasting received an email from Krisse Juorunen asking about CBC podcasts and OPML files. Key members of the CBC podcasting work just around the corner from me. They'd heard me mutter something about OPML in the past so they sent Krisse's query on to me.
Krisse writes for a very popular technology site called All About Symbian.
Stars, led by Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell, is a band that is adored by fans with a fervour. As Rolling Stone once said of their music, it's "witty, pretty indie rock for the sentimental geek inside all of us." (RS also asked if Canada is "the new Sweden," not realizing that Canada is the new fill-in-the-blank-with-the-country-of-your-choice when it comes to indie music.)
Tonight Canada Live (8 p.m.) broadcasts Stars in a concert recorded at The Metropolis in Montreal. One blogger was so excited after the concert he said, "I realized at this show, held in their adopted hometown of Montreal, that, yes, I want to be Torquil, and I don’t care who knows." Well good, we all know now. Besides, Stars, whose MySpace slogan is "melodramatic popular song," would probably understand.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
The Juno Awards are coming up March 29th (and with them a live broadcast on Radio 2 of a songwriters' circle hosted by Rich Terfry, more about that in days to come).
One of the happy surprises about the televised awards is that members of the "project" Eccodek will be performing, in a collaboration with Great Big Sea and Hawksley Workman.
A happy surprise because televised music awards tend not to feature performance from non-mainstream bands like Eccodek, who describe what they do as "the sound of cultures mingling, borders dissolving."
If you're curious about what that sounds like check out the Canada Live Podcast, this Tuesday's edition features Eccodek, as well as jazz singer Yvette Tollar.
Hopefully your morning does not involve green eggs, let alone green anything else like beer or ham. But Happy St. Patrick's Day nonetheless! Canada Live (8 p.m.) celebrates tonight with an evening of intimate Irish music from Saltspring Island, featuring trad Irish music performers Norah Rendell and Brian Miller. And we do mean "intimate" -- the concert was recorded in someone's living room!
Also tonight -- a "seisiún" of Irish music from a charming little Irish pub in Toronto called Dora Keogh. It's hosted by button accordionist Pat Simmonds, and features some of Toronto's finest traditional Irish musicians.
One final St. Paddy's day note: The Signal (10 p.m.) also goes green with Kila's decidedly contemporary take on Irish music.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"On my way to the concert hall, the full moon is at its zenith, just above Buffalo Mountain, which stands out against the horizon like a spot of black ink on a sheet of rice paper. It looks like a giant Chinese-shadow show. The sounds of saxophones, flutes and pianos come drifting down from the rehearsal booths, disappearing into the cold night."
Does that not fill you with the desire to be some place very beautiful with the sound of music wafting through pure night air? Radio-Canada's Philippe Santerre wrote that recently from the Evolution Composer's Competition out in Banff.
Amelia Curran is a sweet-yet-husky voiced singer songwriter who's inspired by language -- a certain word, or the sound of a phrase. For instance:
To hear the rest of Ms. Curran's interview with host Rich Terfry (plus her performance live in studio) tune into Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) this afternoon.
Small aside: I called her "sweet-yet-husky voiced" but the Globe & Mail recently described her as "the kinda' dangerous Amelia Curran." So here's the final word, in this blog post at least. "The sweet-yet-husky voiced and kinda' dangerous Amelia Curran" will be on your radio today.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
"The Concept Album Is Back!" roared a headline in the Times online. (If your reaction was, "Oh no," you are probably someone who lived through the 1970s.)
But there is no need to ridicule the concept of a concept album itself -- there are some excellent examples (Sgt. Pepper's, anyone?). And today on Farrago (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT) Jurgen has a concept about the concept album: why not celebrate it? And celebrate it through cover versions.
So if you're thinking of putting up a video on YouTube of your kid doing something adorable to music Warner's "owns," think twice. (Of course, if you're thinking of putting up a video on YouTube of your kid doing something adorable you should think twice anyway.)
Next, Leonard Bernstein's composition studio is being moved to Indiana, as Soho The Dog tells us in a post called Take Care Of This House. (Always wanted to see Bernstein's electric pencil sharpener? Now you can.)
Next! Canada's Music Future continues today on Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) with 21- year-old Toronto-based pianist Alexander Seredenko. You can hear him performing two monumental piano sonatas: Prokofiev's Sonata No. 2 In D Minor and Liszt's B Minor Sonata.
The Canada Live (8 p.m.) Next! artists begin with the idiosyncratic singer/trumpet player Kyrie Kristmanson, followed by teenage folk traditionalists The Abrams Brothers, then one man band Steve Marriner, and things wrap up with the appealing (and sometimes politically challenging) folk of Olenka & the Autumn Lovers.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
An eye-catching headline earlier this week: "Barbican Transformed By Dancing To Bowie And Venezuela's Maestro." As it turned out the Venezuelan maestro, 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel, is not actually providing dance music at the Barbican with David Bowie -- both are concertizing at that famed hall, is all.
But the very fact that it seemed a potentially plausible scenario says a lot about how much of an impression Dudamel has made to date. (Or, as that same article in The Guardian put it: "[Dudamel is] a young, dynamic artist who has been like a jolt of electricity in the world of classical music."
Antonin Dvorak's Rusalka was inspired in part by the Hans Christian Andersen story The Little Mermaid, and today you can hear the operatic version of the folk tale from the Met on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT). It stars American soprano Renée Fleming in the title role and Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko as Rusalka’s beloved prince. The NYTimes calls this production "one of the company's finest offerings this season."
A quick note about "rusalka." In English they're mermaids, in German, ondines, and to the Slavic peoples of Eastern and Central Europe, they are rusalki. If you don't know your Dvorak, Disney, or HC Anderson, here is the story in brief: Rusalka falls in love with a mortal prince. To be with him, she sacrifices her immortality and her voice. (For full synopsis please continue reading to the end of the post.)
Oh Mercy! No, not a response to the world's economic strife, but the name of today's final installment in Inside The Music Saturday Edition's (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT) series about Bob Dylan, hosted by Patti Smith.
Today's episode explores the music of Dylan's recent years. Interviews include David Kemper, Carolyn Wonderland, Josh Ritter, John Hiatt and Roger McGuinn among many others.
It's a provocative visual take on the song, made for the NFB in 1996. Curious to know what you make of it -- some may find it funny, or weird, or downright irritating -- but I can't imagine you won't have a strong reaction to it.
According to the NFB's website the short was intended to "offer a playful meditation on romance and the clichés that go with it."
Wasn't there just a Friday the 13th a minute ago? Seems like it. But today is a lucky day for those who enjoy music and food and cooking. Because Tempo Temptations launches today -- five chefs across the country create new recipes -- inspired by classical music.
Tune into Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) today as Julie calls the chefs and plays the piece that will serve as their culinary muse. (Each chef will return next week at 12:30 pm, to reveal how music inspired their creation.) Yes, if food be the love of music, play on!
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Sarah McLachlan may be "canonized forever more as the founder of The Lilith Fair tours," as The Windy City Times recently put it. But she's lionized by her fans -- old and new -- for her own live performance, and tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.) you can hear a live concert featuring McLachlan accompanying herself on guitar and piano.
One blogger who was there said Ms. McLachlan was "the big surprise" of the event, which was part of B.C.'s 150th birthday celebrations:
Emm Gryner is the kind of performer who will get up before 4 a.m. on the day the clocks "spring forward" to chat live on CBC. She's the kind of performer who will get out of her comfort zone by taking on acting. (In the recent and much talked about movie One Week -- she reported after screening: "It was my third time seeing the film, but the first time didn't count because I was in a state of irreparable paralysis from having to watch myself on a huge screen for the first time.")
She's also the kind of performer who is known for sunny summer songs but then -- in her recent and 11th album called Goddess -- switches gears into something much more melancholy. You can hear this today when Emm is at the Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) piano, playing a few songs, and talking with host Rich Terfry.
Here's a wee excerpt:
For the full interview, tune into Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) A mix of current singer-songwriters, roots and urban music hosted by Rich Terfry. Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Some of us are musing about Why Leonard Cohen Is Our Man. Others have been musing about less poetic but very relevant pursuits -- Radio 2's Resident Geek, Peter Cook, for example.
In today's Tech Q? column he has an update on some of the mobile devices that allow you to enjoy Radio 2's internet offerings in transit -- lo, progress is being made! Over to you, Peter:
Last month I pointed out a couple of ways you could listen to CBC Radio 2 on an iPhone. I've been keen to find other mobile devices that let you enjoy Radio 2 Online -- on the go -- and have a bit of an update.
Autorickshaw blend contemporary jazz and funk with the classical and popular music of India. The Penderecki String Quartet champion music of our time, with a repetoire including composers like Zappa -- and have premiered over 100 new works to date. The ensembles joined forces at Wilfred Laurier University for a collaboration, and Radio 2 was there to record -- you can hear that show tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.)
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
A few weeks back Final Fantasy, a.k.a. violinist Owen Pallett, gave away apples in New York. Really, go to Brooklyn Vegan for proof.
Tonight Canada Live (8 p.m.) broadcasts a concert featuring the one man band (famed for creating sonic layering through looping his violin through foot pedals and singing over the music -- it's quite an arresting sound).
Brooklyn Vegan, long a champion of FF aren't the only New Yorkers to take notice.
Stars in your eyes? Or at least, in your eyePod? (Bad joke, sorry, but couldn't resist.) Today's Canada Live Podcast features Stars, described by one pundit as "eighties pop meets the new millennium." This concert, recorded at The Metropolis in Montreal, was performed in front of an SRO crowd, premiering music from their recentish EP release Sad Robots, and you can hear it today in the Pod.
In the radio note that tonight's Canada Live (8 p.m.) features a concert from Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy. Nice one two musical punch today from Canada Live...
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
So what's with the banjo, anyway? At a dinner party I was at recently the subject arose -- that these days you hear banjo (maybe low in the mix, but still) in all kinds of music. Noticing that tonight's edition of Canada Live (8 p.m.) includes banjo player Old Man Luedecke raised the banjo question anew.
For a long time banjo seemed steeped in Deliverance, Dueling Banjos hillbilly stereotypes. But now banjo frolics in indie music, and joins forces with African musicians (Jayme Stone, for example). Also on the latter front, Bela Fleck's documentary tracing the banjos roots just came out, it's called Throw Down Your Heart.
Hopefully you have surfaced workaday Monday with your one less hour sleep balanced by having gone to bed early. Or by living in Saskatchewan. Either way, there's some cheery news this morning in Radio Land, as the contest to win a trip to New York City to hear Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall begins today! You can find all contest details here.
More shortly about matters Cohen and Radio 2, for now, please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
The Week In The (Music) Blogosphere was not surprised at the news of Michael Jackson's determination to have a comeback. Not in these times. Or as Gawker pithily says: "He's broke, so he needs to go on tour." (They also report on the announcement itself: The press conference he staged was very odd—audio problems, mumbling, eerie Hitler-like gestures. News people were befuddled.")
But on Farrago (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT) Jurgen Gothe celebrates the trombone in all its glory. For instance, the classic, 76 Trombones -- played by 76 trombones. Great Canadian trombones, or at least trombonists, with Alain Trudel and Rob McConnell and Ian McDougall.
And as well as the nuttiness at the top of the post, here are some trombone resources of a more serious nature. Sort of.
Whoever came up with that jaunty "spring forward" saying wasn't accounting for the end of Canadian winter, when every hour of sleep is precious. Regardless, today is the day when you must set your clock ahead an hour and try not to be grumpy about it.
It's also the 8th week of 10 in the Next! Canada's Music Future series. Today on Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) the featured Next! artist is 23 year-old Valérie Milot, a harpist from Quebec City. Last fall she was recognized by an international jury of Francophone public broadcasters as a "Young Soloist" for 2009. And today you can hear her performing music by Bach, Britten and Buhr, among others.
This week the YouTube Symphony concluded auditions and made decisions. Among the ninety members of the orchestra (who head to NYC in April for workshops, rehearsals and ultimately to play at Carnegie Hall under Michael Tilson Thomas) are five Canadians.
It's one of the stories Katherine has on today's edition of In Tune (Saturday 5:00 p.m., 5:30 NT) -- and purely coincidentally one of those Canadian musicians to make the final cut is her neighbour, Donovan Seidle, violinist with the Calgary Philharmonic. (The other four are vibraphone player Gael Chabot-Leclerc of Saguenay, Que., viola player Yunior Lopez from Toronto, Montreal cellist Stephane Tetreault, and bass player Ian Whitman from Kitchener, Ont.)
The YouTube Symphony page is reported as attracting 12 million views since it went up in December, and three thousand plus audition videos were submitted -- so to be chosen is no small feat. Here is some "reax," as we say in the biz, from a few of the Canadian contingent upon hearing they were chosen:
Live from the Met and broadcast on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera (Saturday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT) today, one of the most famous operas of all time, Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
Although it is so beloved, twas not always thus. Its premiere at La Scala in 1904 wasn't quite a Rite Of Spring moment, but there was enough hostility (in the form of disruptive cat calls) that Puccini withdrew the score for a few months. People got over it though. (For the full story of the creation of the opera, please visit Madama Butterfly Opera Background at the Met.)
Today's production features soprano Patricia Racette as the young geisha Cio-Cio-San, and tenor Marcello Giordani as the visiting U.S Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton. Even if you don't know the story you can probably guess with that set up --heartbreak ensues.
And abandonment, and a child, and then worst of all...well, you can read the full plot synopsis at the end of the post if you want all the heart wringing details!
Today the documentary series on Bob Dylan hosted by Patti Smith continues on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT). This segment's called Shelter From the Storm, and it covers the many moods of Dylan during the 1970's and 80's. It looks at Dylan during his born again recording years, and at his involvement with Live Live Aid, Farm Aid, and the Traveling Wilburys.
Dylan Trivia Bulletin: This week news broke that he's (unexpectedly) releasing a followup to 2006's Modern Times-- as soon as this April. It's not named yet, but according to Rolling Stone it's made up of "raw-country love songs," contains "sly wordplay," and is replete with a "seductive border-cafe feel."
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
What a lovely phrase, makes you immediately conjure in your mind's eye the experience of seeing northern lights, always awesome (in the truest sense).
But Dancing To The Northern Lights is also the name of a 4-part radio series focusing on the music of Canada's north. It traces "fifty years of northern music and the CBC." CBC's northern service began in 1958, and it soon became very involved in documenting northern music of all kinds. (Today it exists as CBC North.)
It's Friday, no one wants to hear the words markets or economy or even drink eight glasses of water a day, so let's turn our minds to some sheer entertainment, from the ridiculous to the sublime.
The Ridiculous -- The Joy Division Pep Rally:
The Sublime -- Dancing To Nina Simone:
Brought to you by the weekly Radio 2 Video Festival -- that link will take you to past editions. Thanks to Arts Journal for tips for this week's showing.
Tom Allen, at Radio 2 Morning, and The Radio 2 Blog ask: Who's Your Diva?
Canada Live (8 p.m.) features young Canadian "divas" in concert all week. Friday night it's a great double bill from Montreal: Martha Wainwright and cellist/singer Jorane.
And Tom has recordings by some of the Canada Live divas to give away -- so make your case for the diva of your choice here on the blog for your chance to take home the music. Here are some examples of "diva defenses":
Ndidi Onukwulu is Sengas' diva: "...I will not falter in my enthusiasm for Canadas great Diva. Within the company of many greats like Jill Barber, Sarah Harmer, and Serena Ryder it is my opinion that Ndidi Onukwulu stands out as having the Diva spirit."
Alita Dupray is "lward77's" diva: "Ok I love Sara Vaughn and Ella and the other vibrato-izing divas too. But Alita Dupray is another kind of singer and one of the very best of her breed. I vote Alita."
Nicole Edwards is Virginia Labelle's diva: "Even though she is coping with a debilitating illness, she continues to make music and absolutely personifies that great against-all-odds Diva Spirit!!!"
Martha Wainwright is the headlining "diva" tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.). One listener/blog reader, responding to Who's Your Diva?, says that Ms. Wainwright is her "deepest source of inspiration...She leaves herself vulnerable with every song she sings. She is able to transcend the ordinary..."
Tonight you'll hear Wainwright play one of Montreal's largest venues, The Metropolis, performing music from her latest, I Know You're Married But I Have Feelings Too. Bonus: mum and aunt (Kate and Anna) make a special guest appearance.
Also on the Canada Live diva bill, the cellist/singer Jorane.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
So it's fitting that the theme of the Evolution composer competition, underway at the Banff Centre, has been revealed as "Inspirations by Darwin and Evolution." Fitting because the competition is an exploration of the evolution of composition.
Alanis, as in Morissette, headlines tonight on Canada Live (8 p.m.) as part of the show's week long celebration of Canadian pop and jazz divas, The Week The Women Sang. The concert was a home town show for Alanis, known for her incredible pipes (and her ability to help people through breakups). Radio 2 recorded the show at the National Arts Centre at Thanksgiving, and it features a mix of music from her entire repertoire.
Also on the bill tonight, another Ottawan of renown, Kellylee Evans, a singer who has been described as ""Sade meets Erykah Badu meets Norah Jones." The performance was recorded right after her trip to Washington D.C. where she sang at one of the Presidential inaugural balls.
"What are you doing?" is the question that launched a thousand tweets. In other words, the fast-spreading social networking craze known as Twitter.
Part of the fun of answering that question (what are you doing?) is it has to be short and s(t)weet -- under 140 characters. But there's more to it than that and today Radio 2's Resident Geek, Peter Cook, explores Twitter -- and the big big world of small small blogging.
It's nearly ubiquitous. You can use any computer with a web browser, you can use any of a rapidly growing number of specialized Twitter clients, and you can use almost any basic cell phone with messaging capability.
Depending on the number and quality of followers you have you might get near-instant feedback to a question. If you're lucky it can give you access to people who are often difficult to reach (ok, that might have worked before the inauguration).
Unanticipated Uses
But there's more it than that. Twitter has become a platform for enabling all kinds of unanticipated uses.
Five composers are currently squirreled away at The Banff Centre busily writing new music which will be premiered live on Radio 2 on March 26th.
It's all part of CBC Radio-Canada's Evolution competition -- the winner takes home $20,000 National Composition Grand Prize. All week long on The Signal (10 p.m.) Laurie checks in with the competing composers about the experience, which is quite a little pressure cooker!
Also on The Signal tonight, some new music from Issa (formerly Jane Siberry), a performer at least one of you says qualifies for "diva" status. (See Who's Your Diva?.) Also, composer Julian Anderson's first foray into digital performance with his work The Book Of Hours from a concert recorded by Radio 2 in Montreal.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
You may really, really want to hear Leonard Cohen live. And you'll have the opportunity to win a trip to hear Cohen in New York, starting next Monday March 9th, by listening to Radio 2. In the meantime Radio 2 is presenting some exclusive Cohen tracks.
Like this one: a live performance from London of "Suzanne". Cohen still "has it," as you'll see and hear by clicking on that link. (I can also attest to this from the concert I was at in the last leg of his tour -- he was brilliant!)
Suzanne is one of Cohen's most famous songs. But the Suzanne who inspired it was relatively unknown until a few years ago when people like CBC's Paul Kennedy started telling her story.
Great Lake Swimmers are live on Drive today. Yes, the pride of Wainfleet, Ontario, will bring their version of lush alt-country to Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) this afternoon, at least in a scaled down fashion for the radio studio. And lovely stuff it is! Their latest, Lost Channels, was recorded in old churches, community halls and abandoned grain silos -- here's why:
For the rest of the interview and music performed live in studio, tune into Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.). And please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
Evolution is evolving -- the CBC Radio-Canada composers competition gets underway this week at the Banff Centre. Five young Canadian composers selected to write pieces for one ensemble -- competing for the $20,000 National Composition Grand Prize among other awards -- are now settling into their 'huts' to write.
They're spending a month out there, writing music, contemplating the mountains, presumably exchanging ideas, who knows maybe even sharing a beer or two. (Since despite the intense demands at least one of them is on record saying they're hoping not to "live like hermits.")
But you can hear from the composers themselves throughout the week on The Signal (10 p.m.), leading up to the special live broadcast of the finished works on March 26th.
They've also been blogging over on the Evolution website.
Some fine Canadian singers are featured all week long on Canada Live (8 p.m.) beginning today. And in tandem with this week o'divas, Tom Allen is asking Who's Your Diva? If you click on that link, you can share your thoughts, and maybe even win some CDs.
The CDs are recordings by some of the performers in the Canada Live line up: Nikki Yanofsky, Tanya Tagaq, Serena Ryder, Martha Wainwright, Jorane and Alanis Morissette. More about the singers in the days to come, but do note that tonight's broadcast features jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky, and South-African Canadian singer Lorraine Klaasen.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:
In fact he says, vis a vis his upcoming TV appearance: "I just expect to be mocked and humiliated in a way that ultimately makes me and my writing appear more interesting, which is the comedy-ju-jitsu service he performs for the book world night after night."
Non-Cohen Canadian #2: Steven Page has not bared all in his explanations as to why he left the Ladies. No, it's been very polite. Even so, he's been interviewed a lot about it, so that's worked out well. But Radio 3's Craig Norris asks the (1) million dollar question: "BNL without Steven? I don't know." Numerous other people weigh in too, but that seems to be the consensus. We just don't know.
And finally, the end note you've been seeking. One blogger thinks it sucks to live on Abbey Road. Watch it. (I did. For at least the first :30 seconds. Something tells me not much changes on Abbey Road after that.)
And that's all the music news that's fit to blog...this week.
What do you think the three most popular hobbies are? One poll says: 1. Reading 2. Watching TV 3. Spending time with family. If these poll results are accurate this is shocking! (And you're officially in trouble if you think spending time with family is a "hobby.")
Surely the top three top hobbies are: 1. Wasting time at the computer 2. Snacking 3. Listening to train songs. Jurgen Gothe knows this, since since he devotes today's Farrago (Sunday 5:00 p.m. 5:30 NT) to #3.
Of course there are many Canadian train songs, no surprise, given the country's history. But as Tim Rogers, who likes to write about Canadian trains and music says, much is in how you define the genre:
"...to be sure, there are unquestioned exemplars: e.g., The CPR Line, The Fireman's Lament, Wreck of the Evening Mail. But what about songs that mention railways only peripherally? For example, should songs celebrating the exploits of Bill Miner be considered railway songs, simply because he chose to rob trains?"
I say go for it. Train robberies, mentions of a nice caboose, or even of a VIA rail employee dispensing sandwiches, it should all count. But seriously, the depth and breath of train-related music really is marvelous, and on Farrago you'll hear some good ones, for instance this classic:
Like a lamb or a lion where you are? Happy March, all!
Today on Radio 2 the series Next! Canada's Music Future continues on two programmes. First, on Sunday Afternoon In Concert (Sunday 1:00 p.m., 1:30 NT), host Bill Richardson presents 13 year-old pianist Jan Lisiecki, from Calgary. Yes, you read that right, thirteen.
Lisiecki has already performed numerous times on the concert stage, and today you can hear him playing Chopin Etudes, the Andante Spianto and Grande Polonaise Brilliante and Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major with Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Howard Shelley.
The response to some of this performance, also online at Concerts On Demand, is best summed up by one listener who just said: "WOWWWWWWWWWWW. A once-in-a-lifetime talent."
And on Canada Live (8 p.m.) the "Next artists" this week include a singer songwriter who has emerged "at the front of the pack" of the very hot Atlantic Canada singer-songwriter scene, Amelia Curran; from St. John's, jazz and otherwise improvising trumpet player Patrick Boyle; Saskatoon's The Deep Dark Woods, known for their lovely harmony singing, and the self-described "sassy songstress" from Saskatoon, Farideh.
Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights -- including full details about Sunday Afternoon In Concert's Chopin special (and quiz!):
For those who feel there ain't no cure for Leonard Cohen (hands up!) he just gets better and better. If you were lucky enough to get to one of the shows on his recent tour, you know this. If not, tonight you have a chance to get close to that experience when Canada Live (8 p.m.) broadcasts a performance recorded live in London. 
In case you missed the last post about Bruce Cockburn, scroll back. Just kidding, the gist is right here: 
Actually it's 
Little 'k," little "d!" Tonight a concert from 
Lucky Marilyn Raymond from Surrey BC may have won the tickets to hear L.C. in N.Y.C. (she told Tom Allen she is "thrilled") but you should know that right now on the Radio 2 website you can 
Tempo's Temptations is about celebrating how music inspires those who love to create in a totally different sphere -- the kitchen. (Or as listener Antonio San put it: This program is all about ART...culinary art that is!") Five great Canadian chefs are creating new culinary concoctions based on music suggested by Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
"The Concept Album Is Back!" roared a headline in the 
So what's with the banjo, anyway? At a dinner party I was at recently the subject arose -- that these days you hear banjo (maybe low in the mix, but still) in all kinds of music. Noticing that tonight's edition of Canada Live (8 p.m.) includes banjo player 
What a lovely phrase, makes you immediately conjure in your mind's eye the experience of seeing northern lights, always awesome (in the truest sense). 
"What are you doing?" is the question that launched a thousand tweets. In other words, the fast-spreading social networking craze known as 
You may really, really want to 
What do you think the three most popular hobbies are? 
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