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Rich Putter
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Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - 09:42 am:
My dear Bill,
Many thanks again for shattering one of my prejudices. With a couple of notable exceptions (the Tallis fantasia, The Lark Ascending, the Five Folk Songs for a cappella chorus, and a handful of chamber works which, as an avid cellist in chamber ensembles, I have had the pleasure of playing) I've always thought him to be a rather dull composer. Your weeklong exploration of his oeuvre showed me sides of him I never knew were there. I'm still not terribly drawn to his symphonic works, but at least I know where he was coming from. Thanks again!
--Rich
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Julie Panetta
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Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 - 05:46 am:
I really enjoyed the shows I heard on RVW. I have an hour long drive to work every Thursday, between 9 and 10 am, so get to hear the whole program. I was rapt that you played my absolute favourite, the 5th Symphony. I left my car on a high that morning! Then last week the program was on pastoral works, and you played The Lark Ascending. Thanks so much, all the way from Melbourne Australia.
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Carola Dunn
Unregistered guest
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Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012 - 10:46 am:
Wonderful series on RVW. Thank you!
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renato perez
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Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012 - 08:56 am:
The tuba concerto (part of which you played today Fri 12) brought back a personal memory.
Back in the late 1950s, I read an article in TIME magazine about Philip Catelinet and the RVW concerto. The article mentioned Sir Adrian Boult, then conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where Catelinet was the tubist.
I was then a young student of tuba living in New York City and wrote to Sir Adrian, asking where I could find a copy of the solo part. Imagine my amazement and joy when, by return mail, I received a copy of the piano score and solo part from Sir Adrian's secretary, who told me that it was "Sir Adrian's personal copy" and that I should accept it with his compliments. (Oxford was the music publisher, I recall.)
I kept the score and part until 2004, when I donated them – along with other sheet music and a couple of instruments – to my alma mater, Lebanon Valley College (former Conservatory) in Annville, Pennsylvania. The letter from Sir Adrian's secretary was included in the gift.
I'm an old man now, but those memories keep me young.
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Renato Perez
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Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2012 - 09:16 am:
Am enjoying the Ralph Vaughn Williams series, Bill, especially the insight you provide before each composition. The allusion to a Stravinsky-like passage in RVW's Symphony No. 2, for instance. I was also able to detect what sounded like a children's song, and that reminded me of other children's tunes used in classical compositions (e.g. Bizet's "Jeux d'Enfants," the Children's March in "Carmen," the opening of Respighi's "The Pines of Rome," etc.)
Of course, since RVW collected folk tunes he would also collect children's tunes, right? That's the kind of "inside stuff" that I enjoy finding in your program.
Am looking forward to tomorrow's installment and "The Lark Ascending," which is one of my favorite compositions (along with "A Siegfried Idyll.")
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