Wednesday, 12/3, 9 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.

Performance Today's Fred Child joins WDAV's Mike McKay and Jennifer Foster on the air. And pianist Pamela Howland drops by for a performance and chat.

Schedule:

9 a.m. - Fred Child joins Mike McKay

10 a.m. - Fred Child joins Jennifer Foster

11 a.m. - Fred Child and Pamela Howland together for a performance of holiday music and a chat.

Selections:

Trad.: Fum, Fum, Fum
Listen

Bartok: Rumanian Christmas Music Series II
Listen

We Three Kings / Infant Holy / In the Bleak Midwinter
Listen

Hugh Martin, arr. Howland: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Listen


Fred's "10 Fascinating CDs of 2008":

"Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile"
Nonesuch
The finest classical double bass player in the world joins THE young mandolin phenom for 12 duets that fall somewhere between art music, bluegrass, and free-range country. Thile’s playing redefines fast, clean, and tasteful for mando-philes. Meyer’s writing, as ever, jumps genres as quickly and effortlessly as a jackrabbit overtops fences on the lower 40. The writing has Stravinsky’s rhythmic jabs with Copland’s open harmonies. When they improvise, it seems that one playfully devious mind is controlling both the bass and mandolin. As thrilling as they are on CD, do whatever it takes to see them in person. Each is insanely busy, but they’ve taken to playing annual concerts at the Aspen Music Festival. See you there, summer ‘09.

"Daniel Hope -- Vivaldi"
Violinist Daniel Hope, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and special guests.
DG 477 746
The centerpiece here is a set of 19 variations Vivaldi wrote on the old Iberian tune, “La Folia.” Daniel Hope plays Vivaldi’s variations, and improvises his own with fellow fiddler Lorenza Borrani, leaping wildly from virtuosic pyrotechnics to pensive reflection. And even when Hope is playing the notes written by Vivaldi in three concertos, the continuo ensemble laying down the bass line and chord progressions is improvising in full baroque flourish, with twisting transitions that bring an immediacy and freshness to music that too often comes across on CD as rote and predictable.

Jordi Savall (and many friends), “Invocation a la Nuit.”
Alia Vox 9861
Jordi Savall, the Catalan master of haunting beauty, began his recording career playing 17th century music on viola da gamba at an ancient church in Versailles in 1975. It was close to an airport, so they could record only at night. Savall’s fatigue led him to discover what he later called “the mysteries which inhabit the infinity of night.” Over the last three decades, Savall and his close circle of collaborators have explored those mysteries in dozens of late-night recording sessions, with music from the 12th through 17th centuries. Savall and friends are bohemian scholars, learning all they can about the history of their music, but in the moment of creation making it very much their own. Improvisation interweaves with interpretation throughout this sublime “best of” collection from 1993-2008.

Marc-Andre Hamelin, “In a State of Jazz.”
Hyperion 67656
CD after CD, I am blown away by Hamelin’s recordings. His Haydn Sonatas last year were a brilliant balance of elegance and wit. And Hamelin brings the same approach to this collection of 20th century music inspired by jazz. His technique, as always, is laser-sharp. And even though there is no actual improvisation here, Hamelin’s whip-smart whimsy animates works by Friedrich Gulda, George Antheil, Nikolai Kapustin, and even a few classic French pop songs by Charles Trenet.

James Pugh, with Colorado Symphony. “X-Over Trombone.”
Albany TROY 926
Most frequently asked question in the 22-year history of Performance Today: did Mozart write the PT theme? Nope, it was written for the show by trombonist and composer James Pugh. Pugh is the eclectic’s eclectic: he played with the Woody Herman Big Band, he’s recorded classical with Yo-Yo Ma, electric jazz with Chick Corea, he tours with Steely Dan, he’s a first-call player for film soundtrack sessions, he teaches at the University of Illinois. This CD features three jazzy concertos for trombone and orchestra: Nathaniel Shilkret’s wacky 1942 masterpiece (written for Tommy Dorsey), Jeff Tyzik’s 2003 concerto, and Pugh’s own trombone romp from 1992. An absolute must for trombone fans, and an ear-opener for anyone who has yet to hear improvised trombone multi-phonics.

Brooklyn Rider “Passport”
In a Circle Records 001
A young string quartet from Brooklyn, all classically trained to within an inch of their lives. But they also tour with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road project, gathering influences and inspiration from around the world. This wildly eclectic CD reflects their omnivorous tastes: haunting Armenian laments, Osvaldo Golijov’s arrangement of a lovely ballad by Mexican art-rockers Cafe Tacuba, and the driving Gypsy-inflected improvisations of Colin Jacobsen’s tour de force “Brooklesca.” Brooklyn Rider is recreating the three hundred year old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st century ensemble.

Nigel Kennedy (w/Polish Chamber Orchestra), “Beethoven and Mozart Concertos.”
EMI Classics 95373
The English violinist who revels in sneering at what he calls “the old farts” in the classical establishment shows he hasn’t forsaken straight classical with a glorious performance of Beethoven’s soaring Violin Concerto. He seems to take the same elegant approach to Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 until...huh?...whoa! An ethereal improvised cadenza for electric violin with reverb 7 minutes in. Same again in the second movement, floating free in a way Mozart could never have imagined, but certainly would have tried, given a set of effects pedals for his harpsichord. And just in case you didn’t get that Kennedy is an iconoclast, he finishes his Beethoven/Mozart CD with a gently swaying bop standard by Horace Silver.

Cameron Carpenter, “Revolutionary.”
Telarc 80711
Organ is the one corner of the classical world that never lost improvisation. But this young American combines astonishing technical prowess with a taste for the theatrical (check out his rhinestones and flying feet on the accompanying DVD!) in a way that is polarizing the organ community. Traditionalists hate him (see rhinestones, above, and the fact that Carpenter doesn’t give a damn what they think), but he has a growing following, and is bringing many non-classical listeners to his organ recitals. His major-label debut includes a couple of jaw-dropping organ standards, a fiery piano etude by Chopin (impossible to play this way on the organ, but...he does), a lilting improvisation around Duke Ellington’s “Solitude,” and Carpenter’s spectacular five-part fugue improvisation on “Pop Goes the Weasel.”

John Potter (et al), The Dowland Project, “Romaria.”
ECM New Series 1970
Vocalist John Potter is best known as a member of the venerable Hilliard Ensemble, but here he’s teamed up with lutenist Stephen Stubbs, saxophonist John Surman, and Slovakian violinist and violist Milos Valent. The album includes everything from 12th century chant to contemporary composition, suffused throughout with cross-cultural improvisation from classically trained players. If you love the early music improv of Jordi Savall and company, “Romaria” takes it a step further into the airy realm of ECM jazz.

Eroica Trio “American Journey.”
EMI 7351
Like Hamelin’s “State of Jazz,” no actual improvisation from the Eroica Trio, but they swing sweetly through American classics by Gershwin and Bernstein. And bring a gutsy flair to Mark O’Connor’s Copland-esque “Poets and Prophets,” a classical paean to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash. O’Connor’s writing and the Eroica’s playing evokes the piercing directness and populism of Cash’s best work.