Hank Reynolds
Gurney, In Flanders Last week we featured a work by George Butterworth, a young English composer who was killed in action in World War I. Today, we look at Ivor Gurney (1890-1937), another English composer and contemporary of Butterworth. Gurney saw combat in World War … Read more
Butterworth, The Lads in Their Hundreds George Butterworth (1885-1916) was one of several the English composers who in the early 20th century collected folk songs and worked them into his compositions. We have already looked at his contemporaries Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge, … Read more
Cowell, The Banshee I don’t pay much attention to Halloween, but once I decided to feature this work, it seemed appropriate to save it until we could get all of our ghosts and goblins dealt with at the same time. A mythical creature “banshee” comes … Read more
Kosma, Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles mortes) Fall has arrived for most of the country, including here in North Carolina and almost surely in Paris, so we might as well celebrate with one of the most popular songs in the repertoire. Autumn Leaves was composed by … Read more
Franck, Panis Angelicus I had something else scheduled as today’s Friday Performance Pick, but it can wait. I want to note instead the passing of soprano Patricia Janečková. She died of breast cancer on October 1 at the age of 25. Janečková seems to have … Read more
Professor Carol is traveling to Budapest today. While she is preoccupied with conducting tours and webinars and writing about Mahler, I thought I might take this opportunity to say a few words about our Friday Performance Picks. I began this series in October of 2014 … Read more
Persichetti, Divertimento for Band I grew up in band country—Texas. There was only one year in one school where we had an orchestra. And let’s face it, the orchestra was not very good, whereas the band had many competent instrumentalists. Band repertoire didn’t always offer … Read more
Anchieta, Bone Jesu The composer Juan de Anchieta (c. 1462-1523) served in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella in one of the most dynamic periods of Spanish history. In 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) married Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504), uniting Catholic Spain after … Read more
Beach, Romance This week we feature a short character piece by the American pianist and composer Amy Beach (1867-1944). But unlike other women composers before her, notably Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, Beach established her reputation as a composer with large-scale works: primarily her Mass … Read more
Rautavaara, Credo (from Missa a Cappella) I ran across this piece yesterday while looking for an assortment of Credos. Professor Carol is teaching our Early Sacred Music course online for Memoria this semester and, as always, she wants to bring in new materials and find … Read more