Sounds Interesting: Day in, day out.

This podcast from the Sounds Interesting series takes a musical week, a day at a time.     Links to the music featured in this podcast: George Bogatko In a Monday Mood (8.572835) Richard Danielpour Mardi Gras (8.559669) Edmund Rubbra Judas mercator pessimus (8.555255) Kenneth Fuchs Holy Thursday (8.559753) Benjamin Britten Fishing song (8.553183) Aaron Read More …

Warpaths

It’s maybe too convenient to restrict references to war to big anniversary dates, so this blog presents a small selection of musical works that paint the subject of conflict in tuneful reminders of how wearisome and worthless the daily pursuit is. There’s no place like home, as they say, so I’m going to start with Read More …

Day in, day out.

If there’s a man for all seasons, is there a music for all days? The answer seems to be ‘yes’, so off we go. Our wake-up call comes from one of Naxos’ major artists, conductor Marin Alsop, who puts us In a Monday Mood with my first item. It’s by George Bogatko, who describes the Read More …

Podcast: Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua

Raymond Bisha introduces Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua, a 105-minute work for large chorus, six soloists and orchestra that takes the listener back to Jesus’ final day on earth, removing as much as possible the accretions of history since that moment in an attempt to provide a fuller understanding of the connection of Read More …

Podcast: Richard Danielpour. Songs for Serious Subjects.

Three orchestral works by the contemporary American composer Richard Danielpour immerse the listener in both a world of conflict and the richly colourful palette with which the composer depicts his narrative. Songs of Solitude and War Songs respectively present a response to 9/11 and commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil Read More …

Podcast: Toward a Season of Peace

Contemporary American composer Richard Danielpour calls them ‘siblings’: two discrete yet connected works that ponder the current endless cycle of brutalization and despair in the Middle East. Raymond Bisha introduces ‘Darkness in the Ancient Valley’ and ‘Toward a Season of Peace’, perfectly channeled subject areas for a composer who describes himself as “a 21st-century American Read More …