Has your classical station's playlist adapted to the times? Since the George Floyd protests and the corresponding surge in the Black Lives Matter movement, WQXR has played more works by black composers, such as William Grant Still, Florence Price, Scott Joplin, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Joseph Bo(u)logne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. (Coleridge-Taylor and Saint-Georges were given the labels Black (or African) Mahler and Black Mozart (Mozart Noir), respectively.) The increased exposure to their works has amplified my awareness and appreciation of the foregoing composers.
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- Thread starter Kemosabe
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WQXR under its current ownership has been a bit more open to modern composers, just as WNYC was when it was classical. On the other hand, you probably heard the story of the black MPR classical announcer who was fired from diverging from the playlist.
www.mprnews.org
I think the issue is more about playing unfamiliar works, regardless of composer race. Even in the public radio world, that tends to be a scary thing to do. I spoke with the CEO of our local symphony and he too thinks long and hard about playing less familiar works by unknown composers. He told me he'd rather do a weekend of "Pops."
MPR's only Black classical host Garrett McQueen fired after being taken off air
McQueen said he was fired Thursday for "not following programming guidelines." McQueen said he would often switch out scheduled music by "dead white men" in favor of playing something more diverse.
www.mprnews.org
I think the issue is more about playing unfamiliar works, regardless of composer race. Even in the public radio world, that tends to be a scary thing to do. I spoke with the CEO of our local symphony and he too thinks long and hard about playing less familiar works by unknown composers. He told me he'd rather do a weekend of "Pops."
This is, of course, to the displeasure of traditional classical partisans. I find little likable post-WW I, particularly as Copland and Gershwin (who for some reason many believe to be "classical"). Ravel and Stravinsky, although active after 1900, were firmly entrenched in the 19th century as were others like Debussy. I can tolerate some Villa-Lobos but that is the extent of it.
Unfortunately, many classical stations tend to believe they have an educational purpose, presenting less known and less liked works instead of the more favored pieces and orchestras.
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I don't believe the recent change is due to happenstance. The old 96.3 played works by some of the aforementioned composers, but did so with far less frequency.
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was an eighteenth-century composer. Traditional classical partisans should be able to find much pleasure in his compositions—unless race is a factor.
Fortunately, stations like WQXR and KUSC play a well-conceived balance of favorites and potential favorites.
In my humble opinion, the best classical music from the twentieth century is found in film scores.
And I retch at the idea of Horner and Williams being played on the same station as Mozart and Handel. I'm with David on Gershwin, but am OK with most Copland. Maybe that's why classical stations can't get any traction; the audience is as fractured as rock's, but with a smaller universe of actual listeners.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, or Joaquín Rodrigo. And there's Karl Jenkins, composer of some beautiful twentieth-century works.
In any case, my list of favorite film composers includes neither Horner nor Williams. It does, however, include Ludovico Einaudi, Ennio Morricone (who died in July), and Michael Nyman.
In any case, my list of favorite film composers includes neither Horner nor Williams. It does, however, include Ludovico Einaudi, Ennio Morricone (who died in July), and Michael Nyman.
I was fascinated by Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the child of a classical-loving father who used it to try to get me interested in the genre. It still makes me smile when I hear it occasionally on SiriusXM.
Dvorak, too, although he was in failing health and only composed two operas and some songs before his death in 1904.
When did Gershwin begin getting pushed on radio as a classical composer? SiriusXM seems to play his An American in Paris and/or Concerto in F at least twice a week, maybe more. It all sounds like incidental movie music to me, more appropriate to some breezy early-'60s romantic comedy than the classical stage.
That's a good question. George saw himself simply as a composer. He went where the work was. In his time, it was either in legit theater or film. He wasn't seen as classical in his time. Michael Feinstein worked for George's brother Ira for a time, and he never speaks of their music in terms other than "American Popular Song." But I think Leonard Bernstein did a lot to make Gershwin acceptable to classical music. At the same time, one wonders why Duke Ellington's larger works, such as Black & Tan Fantasy, didn't get the acceptance of Gershwin or Joplin.
Perhaps it was in 1976.
Gershwin's strongest link to classical music may be Porgy and Bess. In 1976, Houston Grand Opera staged a new production thereof with the complete original score. It was (I believe) the first time an opera company, not a theatre company, had performed Gershwin's "folk opera." The Metropolitan Opera premiere came in 1985. Porgy and Bess returned to the Met last season, and, after "smashing box office records," is slated for performance in 2021.
The following article appeared in the Times on 19 September 2019:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/arts/music/porgy-bess-gershwin-metropolitan-opera.html
I still go back to Leonard Bernstein in the 50s. He had a weekly TV show where he was able to present his views on music, and he was heavily influenced by Gershwin. Porgy & Bess influenced West Side Story. But I'd also want to see if Toscanini conducted any Gershwin with the NBC Orchestra in the 40s.
WQXR's commendable salute to Black History Month includes increased airplay of Black composers and performers, as well as special programming features.
https://www.wqxr.org/story/rundown-your-black-history-month-2021-programming-guide/In addition, the website provides detailed profiles of composers named in my original post. This year's celebration of Black History Month is the most extensive I can recall on WQXR.
https://www.wqxr.org/story/rundown-your-black-history-month-2021-programming-guide/In addition, the website provides detailed profiles of composers named in my original post. This year's celebration of Black History Month is the most extensive I can recall on WQXR.
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