Arizona Public Media :: Cue Sheet, Archives August 2005

BACK TO THE BEACH

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 31st 2005 at 6:54

I am, to be polite about it, most assuredly not a fan of playwright Neil Simon, but even I have to admit that his Brighton Beach Memoirs is a fine piece of theater. The University of Arizona’s Arizona Reprtory Theatre is reviving its production of the play starting tonight. Read my review of the show’s opening earlier this summer, order your tickets, and see what Simon is capable of when he’s not content to be merely glib.

NAME THAT TUNE

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 31st 2005 at 6:51

    This morning the radio alarm went off at 3:55, as usual, and as usual I muted it within five seconds to avoid disturbing my wife, who for some reason wants to sleep in an extra hour. But those five seconds were enough to register what was playing, a chirping woodwind figure in a musical atmosphere of some tension and drive.
   “That was exciting,” my wife muttered.
   “Enesco,” I said, and shambled off to my morning ablutions.

ARTICLE ONE

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 31st 2005 at 6:49

The announcers at C24 out of Minnesota (a service known to you as Music Through the Night) are generally quite fine, but some of their tics and habits annoy me to no end. Case in point: As I was driving in this morning, John Zech introduced “the Overture in the Italian Style by Schubert.” Well, Schubert wrote two overtures in the Italian style, so you can’t describe this one as “the.”

STRUNG-OUT CORIGLIANO

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, August 30th 2005 at 8:26

The latest issue of Fanfare includes, among many other things, my review of a new Chandos recording of John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 2, which earned its composer the 2001 Pulitzer Prize. It’s a 2000 expansion of Corigliano’s 1996 String Quartet, a version that takes full advantage of string-orchestra sonorities and never hints at its chamber-music origins. The symphony is coupled with a compelling suite for violin and orchestra from Corigliano’s score for The Red Violin, and you can read my full review here.

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, August 30th 2005 at 7:58

It’s been a long time since classical radio announcers practiced the old-school, black-tie formality of 1940s and ’50s figures like Ben Grauer (who was actually one of the less tight-sphinctered announcers of his day). Now we’re supposed to imagine ourselves to be ordinary people speaking enthusiastically, knowledgeably (but never condescendingly) and directly to one listener at a time.

KALINNIKOV KISS-OFF

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, August 29th 2005 at 9:30

I didn’t get much reading or listening done this weekend, and no cello practice at all. I did finish the last few pages of an eight-month-old New Yorker, while listening to two CDs I hadn’t heard in a while. One’s definitely a keeper: Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with a pair of suites from stage works by Rameau, one of those rare composers who never seems to have had an off day. The other disc, though, I’ve finally decided after several years to dump onto the eBay pile: an orchestral miscellaney by Vassily Kalinnikov.

OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS, HAL

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, August 25th 2005 at 10:07

Our music director, Steve Hahn, just appeared haggardly on the studio threshhold, the coffee cup in his hand remarkably steady considering what he was about to tell me: He suffered a computer mishap yesterday, and had to restore data with a backup that was two weeks old. And that means that 20 new CDs that were catalogued last week need to be input again. Why do I care? Because I’m the guy who catalogs the blasted CDs. (It’s nice to have some use for my master’s degree in what used to be called library science.)

ARMENIAN EXPRESS

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 24th 2005 at 10:31

I just got off the phone with Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian, about whom I’m writing a magazine article. I don’t like conducting phone interviews during my radio shift, but our options were limited because of the 12-hour difference between Tucson and Yerevan. Midway through the interview I had to do a break, which coincidentally introduced probably the most famous Armenian classical music of all: selections from Khachaturian’s Gayane (spelling may vary in your locale). I was actually rather embarrassed about this.

STIRRED, NOT SHAKEN

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, August 23rd 2005 at 9:07

How does an audience of neophytes know what it wants if it hardly knows what’s available? This sort of lowest-common-denominator approach is what has made television unwatchable and newspapers unreadable, and it’s likely to make classical music unlistenable, for those who love it as well as those who don’t. The last thing anybody should do is alienate the existing audience while reaching out to a new group that may not reach back. It’s not how James Bond prefers his martinis, but listeners want to be stirred, not shaken.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, August 22nd 2005 at 10:24

This morning I forgot to play Arizona Almanac. Nobody, absolutely no one, called to complain.

PLAN AHEAD

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, August 19th 2005 at 8:17

Just about all students are heading back to school right now. If you’re related to—or are—a junior or senior in high school planning to study music in college, you might want to check the audition tips in one of the articles I wrote for the current issue ...

GETTING THE KINKS OUT

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, August 18th 2005 at 8:20

You know it’s a slow arts week when my only article in the Tucson Weekly previews an event that celebrates activities best practiced in the privacy of one’s home. (Note to the cautious: This is not exactly family-friendly material.)

PIECE COMES TO ISRAEL

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, August 18th 2005 at 7:05

A BBC reporter on NPR just now said that protesters were being removed from that Gaza synagogue "limb by limb." So they're being dismembered and reassembled at a remote location? Never trust the English with the use of their own language.

ONE-SHOT WONDERS

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 17th 2005 at 9:58

Greg Sandow says, "There is no real prestige in giving the premiere of a work that no one else plays, and there is no loss of prestige in giving the second, third or fourth performance of a worthy new score."

HIDEBOUND

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, August 17th 2005 at 9:54

There must be something more to draw us to the concert hall—either a truly unusual point of view from the performers, a compelling new context for familiar music, or compositions we haven’t heard much before but might enjoy.

MAHLER ON THE SHORE

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, August 16th 2005 at 9:02

As much as I love the guy, Gustav Mahler isn't my idea of a summer-vacation companion. But two smart music lovers have spent some time at his place in the past few weeks, and are writing back with details.

THE SOUND OF MUCOUS

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, August 16th 2005 at 8:22

I’ve been snorting fine powder during the past few days. No, it’s not what you think; I don’t work for a rock’n’roll station. I’m talking about dust (I do, after all, work for a classical station).

BIRTH OF A BLOG

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, August 15th 2005 at 7:31

As if the world needed another blowhard imposing his unsolicited opinions on an uncaring world, I offer you Cue Sheet, a blog about classical radio, music and arts in Tucson, Arizona, as well as other things that may tickle my fancy.