Now is the Time

It’s the voice of the people on Now is the Time, Sunday, January 20th at 10 pm. Populism reigned in the very first commission from the Kronos Quartet, way back in 1973: Traveling Music of Ken Benshoof. Similar influences echo in the recent Close Tolerances of Christopher Braddock, written for the new music / Baroque ensemble Mélomanie, from their new Florescence CD.

We can’t think of the meeting of classical and popular in American music without soon encountering William Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs, and here we listen to live performances of the first two volumes, with the composer accompanying his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris.

We embrace ceremonies of healing on Now is the Time, Sunday, January 13th at 10 pm. Coyoteway is from a cycle of string quartets Curt Cacioppo has written on the Navajo creation story. Wreathed in smoke, and amid singing and dancing, the person seeks forgiveness through apology for past wrongs, and is healed.

David Maslanka composed Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble as a tribute to a friend, flutist Christine Nield Capote, who was also a colleague to the soloist in this work, trombonist Tim Conner, and the conductor Gary Green. Its three movements are Requiem; Beloved; Be Content, Be Calm.

We enter the cold new year on Now is the Time, Sunday, January 6th at 10 pm on HD-2. David Snow’s A Baker’s Tale, originally with narrator but in this version for trumpeter Chris Gekker and piano, is from the CD Winter. From Elena Ruehr’s CD of string quartets, How She Danced, comes her third. Its third movement is also titled “How She Danced,” and the quartet is filled with multiple influences of darting energy.

Edward Ruchalski was inspired to write his lovely, lingering chamber work Winter Light during winter walks. It includes a movement called “By Snowlight.”

We rise to inspirations and challenges in the new year on Now is the Time, Sunday, December 30th at 10 pm. Nicholas Vasallo explodes a supernova in Antares Rising, but Robert Xaver Rodriguez's Scrooge is a lightly dramatic take on the Dickens tale. David Del Tredici accompanies his song New Year's Eve, and a single clarinet sings between eerily resonating pianos in Voices Rising of Rodney Rogers, inspired by the ancient chant Iste confessor.

Daniel Sturm revoices, for flute and harp, a Czech tradition of touching nature in Early Rising, and Maggi Payne manipulates the commonest of found sounds into the surprising celebration that is FIZZ.

It's expectation, light, and looking up on Now is the Time, Sunday, December 23rd at 10 pm. Welcher's Zion for band refers to what is now the national park in Utah—the haven for Mormons in the 19th century—and the old American hymn tune. Skyriding, from Brouwer's Light CD, is "a water ride in a celestial amusement park," and Zaimont's Chroma depicts the aurora borealis.

Daron Hagen and Carson Cooman's choral music fit the show for the turn from Advent into Christmas, ending with Hagen's original and exciting Hosanna.

It is sleeping and waking on Now is the Time, Sunday, December 16th at 10 pm. Jeremy Beck’s Slow Motion duo for piano and vibes is dreamy but not really slow, Kenji Bunch’s Lost & Found, for the viola/percussion Duo Jalal, shimmers with tight constructions, and Michael Djupstrom’s piece for Mimi Stillman and Charles Abramovic is a child’s folk song.

Christopher Campbell brings in bells and electronics for a ritual procession, but the processions for Mark Winges in Luna, Nova Luna are all voices. A youth choir joins with San Franciso’s Volti for this sumptuous look at the influence of the moon.

It is the remembrance of things past—or which never were—on Now is the Time, Sunday, December 9th at 10 pm. Troy Peters recollects a taste of Vermont summer, and the string quartet Ethel riffs through a lost flight over the Sahara in Raz Mesinai's La Citadelle. Betty Wishart contemplates the romantic piano and Joel Harrison pays homage to jazz drummer Paul Motian.

Also with shades of jazz in its rhythmic polyphony, along with Eastern influences, is Jay Reise's The River Within, a brilliant concerto for violinist Maria Bachmann, with Orchestra 2001.

We search for roots of different kinds on Now is the Time, Sunday, December 2nd at 10 pm. Jeremy Gill bases his Book of Hours for piano on the ancient observances of the monastery. The birth of an orchestral season is trumpeted by Tomas Svoboda. Robert Lombardo entrances with mandolin and marimba, and Nathan Davis, with the mbira, or African thumb piano.

The roots of the banjo are also in Africa. Sidiki Conde is joined by banjo while he sings and drums, on his infectious Moriba Djassa.

It’s the composer/electric guitarist Steven Mackey on Now is the Time, Sunday, November 25th at 10 pm. Performed by eighth blackbird, Lonely Motel: Music from Slide considers isolation and self-delusion. A psychologist whose fiancée has abandoned him contemplates his fate while looking at his research slides.

The theater piece also rocks, with homages, Mackey says, to Dowland, Mozart, Stravinsky, Piazzola, and The Beatles.

We travel over different paths on Now is the Time, Sunday, November 18th at 10 pm. Sebastian Currier's Static, the 2007 Grawemeyer Award winner, illuminates the two meanings of the title, from stillness to electricity. Saxophonist and composer Mark Engebretson evokes fresh and engaging melodic inventions in SaxMax.

Daron Hagen walks us from grief to a bright land in the piano trio he calls Wayfaring Stranger.