Arizona Public Media :: Cue Sheet, Archives October 2008

CD REVIEW: MUSICA SONORA/DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 31st 2008 at 8:53

The Day of the Dead is upon us, a fine time to call to your attention a CD by the local early-music vocal ensemble Musica Sonora. The group has available a CD recorded during a 2006 concert featuring Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum, or Requiem Mass, and it’s a perfect tie-in with Day of the Dead activities in the Spanish-speaking New World ...

ADVICE COLUMNS AND CHINESE MENUS

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 30th 2008 at 9:34

Time for links to my latest contributions to the Tucson Weekly...

WHY I'M A MAC

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 28th 2008 at 7:43

This has nothing to do with the blog’s usual subjects, except perhaps its broadcasting connection, but this article from that most indispensable publication, The Onion, reports that Microsoft’s notorious bugginess is reaching ever farther ...

NEGATIVE REVIEWS

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 28th 2008 at 7:32

The proprietor of Vineography, a wine blog I read, has explained why he rarely writes negative reviews. The world of wine criticism is rather different from that of performing-arts criticism, but there are times when I elect not to review something if the evaluation is going to be negative ...

NED ROREM LIVES!

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 27th 2008 at 7:47

Last week, embroiled in radio fundraising, I didn’t have a chance to note the 85th birthday of Ned Rorem, one of America’s finest composers but a fellow perhaps better known as a sometimes disturbingly frank diarist ...

LOVE'S LABOURS

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 23rd 2008 at 7:27

Last week, I teased you with a positive comment about the new Arizona Repertory Theatre production. Now here’s the review, from this week’s Tucson Weekly ...

THESE FLATS DON'T RUN

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 23rd 2008 at 7:26

Pianist Jeremy Denk seems to have been too busy to blog recently, but now he’s back with mandatory reading: he imagines that he can interview Sarah Palin about Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata.

LOIN GIRDING

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 22nd 2008 at 7:32

When I was writing material for a yet-unpublished issue of Fanfare, a few weeks ago, I concluded a review of Cameron Carpenter’s new organ CD with the expression “gird your loins.” Coincidentally, Joe Biden dredged up that archaic turn of phrase in a speech this past weekend. In case you’re curious about the mechanics of loin girding, this article will explain it all to you.

JONESTOWN--THE OPERA!

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 20th 2008 at 7:45

This press release just in from Tucson composer Dan Buckley ...

STOP WRINGING YOUR LIVER-SPOTTED HANDS

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 20th 2008 at 7:33

So the classical audience is aging? Well, so is the general population, and composer Matthew Guerreri has crunched some numbers that show that both overall life expectancy and the age at which people start pursuing grownup interests (like classical music) have risen at almost the same rate. See it here

BLIND AND SAVAGE

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 16th 2008 at 8:06

This is a great week for theater in Tucson. Besides a wonderful production of Love’s Labours Lost, which opened last night at the UA and which I’ll review next week, there are two other plays running right now that require your immediate attention ..

DEDICATION

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 16th 2008 at 7:36

Here's a radio newscaster who won't let anything stop the show ...

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE?

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 15th 2008 at 8:11

In trying to bust what he calls myths that encourage a rosy view of the health of classical concerts, Greg Sandow finally does what few other participants in this discussion bother to do: look not just at orchestral attendance, but at chamber-music series as well ...

BETTER THAN NOTHING

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 7:28

Here are three CD reviews I wrote for Fanfare, in which I give tepidly positive recommendations ... a rather tricky sort of review to write, and unfortunately the sort we have to write most often. Rare is the CD that merits either a rave or an all-out attack. Here we go ...

ARIZONA OPERA ON ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 10th 2008 at 8:37

On KUAZ's Arizona Spotlight today, I contribute a segment about Arizona Opera's new season ...

FROM FARCE TO PHO

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 9th 2008 at 8:31

Is it Thursday already? That means I’m smudging a couple of pages of the latest Tucson Weekly ...

BRUCKNER THIRD AND A MASS

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 8th 2008 at 7:47

Have I posted these two reviews I wrote for _Fanfare_? This site still has no search function (nor a blogroll or provision for a sidebar of links of any kind), so I'm not sure what's here already and what's not. Well, even if you've read these ...

A MODEST PROPOSAL

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 7th 2008 at 7:42

In the hallway outside my radio studio, there’s a big TV screen that displays six—count ’em, six—different KUAT/Arizona Public Media video feeds. One of them is devoted entirely to children’s programming, and the main broadcast channel devotes most of the morning to PBS kiddie shows. There are lots of non-PBS children’s shows on various cable channels, and as far as I know the commercial networks still devote Saturday mornings to cartoons.

Why? ...

GRAY AUDIENCE?

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 3rd 2008 at 8:14

While I have your attention, here's a good article from the Los Angeles Times debunking the notion that the graying audience for classical music is either a new or tragic thing ...

IN THE DARK

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 3rd 2008 at 8:08

Well, I'm still fending off my case of sinusitis, which returned after a brief hiatus, but yesterday the doc gave me some antibiotics that should rid me of the infection once and for all. I may not be fit for air work, but at least I can point you to my latest Tucson Weekly contribution, a review of the latest Beowulf Alley effort ...