Now is the Time

No matter how you feel about the presidential election, there’s music for you on Now is the Time, Sunday, November 11th at 10 pm. There’s Privilege, New Beginnings, Deploration, or perhaps Vernacular Dances. Maybe you Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Above all, there’s the National Anthem, in a fascinating construction for solo piano.

It’s flickering light and melting images on Now is the Time, Sunday, November 4th at 10 pm. Eric Moe channels the Nightingale ode of Keats by way of flute and piano, and Joseph Waters rocks Vivaldi to a fare-thee-well through a violin and band.

Bertolozzi makes a very large object (the Mid-Hudson Bridge) sing, Stucky does the same with an orchestra, and Neuburg and Amirkhanian mesmerize one violin into receding reflections of shimmering voices.

It's ten people hovering over a piano on Now is the Time, Sunday, October 28th at 10 pm. Stephen Scott wrote Paisajes Audibles, Spanish for "Sounding Landscapes," for his Bowed Piano Ensemble and soprano Victoria Hansen. The Spanish, French, and English texts are inspired by the physical landscape Scott has seen on the Canary Islands, and the inner landscapes of imagination.

The "bowed" piano, played with guitar picks, horsehair, fishing line, and percussion mallets, sings like an orchestra. Or a steel drum band. In it you'll hear the voice of jazz, flamenco, West African music, and Terry Riley. It is fun, it is evocative, it is mesmerizing.

It’s exotic with a touch of pop on Now is the Time, Sunday, October 21st at 10 pm. Gandolfi writes tangos for wind ensemble, Hulse is rhythmic and quirky, Rosenblum bends the flute of Patti Monson with electronics, and Coleman dips into the orchestra and tips her hat to the Great American Songbook.

Host Kile Smith brings you Now is the Time, American contemporary music on WRTI-HD2 and the all-classical stream at wrti.org.

PROGRAM:
Michael Gandolfi: Vientos y Tangos

It's music with clarinet on Now is the Time, Sunday, October 14th at 10 pm. Tru'a is Hebrew for "fanfare," and the work by the Israeli-American Amos Elkana is one of three pieces clarinet virtuoso Richard Stoltzman plays on this program, along with those of the neo-Romantic McKinley and Davidson.

From Panama, the composer and guitarist Emiliano Pardo-Tristan now lives in the Philadelphia area. His Ludus No. 1 is rich and colorful, as is all his music.

It’s geology and music on Now is the Time, Sunday, October 7th at 10 pm. When you’re on the verge of slipping down a hill, you’re flirting with the angle of repose, and Ethan Wickman slides all around it on this Zeitgeist CD. An intercalation is a time insertion (such as February 29th) or an unexpected layer between strata, and Richard Wilson plays with those ideas in his piano work.

Percussion sets the scene on Now is the Time, Sunday, September 30th at 10 pm. From Michael Hersch's vast, chime-grounded symphony to drum master Glen Velez's kicky duo, percussion comes out of the background to speak a language all its own. Joel Chadabe blends percussionist Jan Williams's playing with on-the-spot electronic manipulation, giving new meaning to the word "ensemble."

Now is the Time means American contemporary music on WRTI-HD2 and the all-classical stream at wrti.org.

PROGRAM:

It’s the stuff of earth and of life on Now is the Time, Sunday, September 23rd at 10 pm. A solo piano rocks, and water meets stone at a Mediterranean coast. Michael Gandolfi interprets the garden where natural geometry gives way to physics. Brooks plays with air and percussion, and Mason Bates composes Elements for Philadelphia’s Mimi Stillman and Charles Abramovic.

Now is the Time means American contemporary music on WRTI-HD2 and the all-classical stream at wrti.org.

PROGRAM:
Patrick Beckman: Rock

It’s horns French, English, and other on Now is the Time, Sunday, September 16th at 10 pm. Andrew Violette's Trio is for French horn, bass trombone, and piano. Philadelphia's David Bennett Thomas composed his Short Suite for the luscious alto flute, English horn, and bass clarinet. David Rakowski's Locking Horns is a concerto for horn and chamber group, and Paul Richards gives us a traffic report in Rush Hour!

For the 11th anniversary of 9/11, listen to a work written for its 10th anniversary, on Now is the Time, Sunday, September 9th at 10 pm. The Ground Zero church, Trinity Wall Street, commissioned Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem. We’ll hear the haunting work for youth chorus, cellos, harp, and organ, and listen to the composer in a revealing interview.

Also read a CD review and hear the podcast here.