Upcoming and Noteworthy

Clearly André Previn was a lot of things.  And he made them all sound so easy.  As a composer, Previn frequently wrote at the request of friends, or for friends, performers with whom he had developed lasting relationships.  His fluency was such that his music could sometimes come across as almost off-the-cuff.  Tune in to enjoy a loosey-goosey cello sonata, written for Yo-Yo Ma, and “Diversions,” a concerto (of sorts) for orchestra, composed for the Vienna Philharmonic.  Previn goes with the flow, this Sunday at 10 pm.

We got a little carried away by overwhelming nostalgia on this week’s Dress Circle (3/10 7:00 p.m.).  While we were planning a previous program, we listened to a cut on a newly acquired CD, and that sent that nostalgia spinning.  The result is this program that looks at some of our musical memories.  Now, these all don’t come from musicals but are pieces that played a role in our childhoods and, often, into our adult lives.  

Before André Previn became an acclaimed conductor of symphonies, he stood before some of the greatest sight-readers in the world, who made up the Hollywood studios’ crackerjack orchestras.  From “Lassie” to “My Fair Lady” to “Rollerball,” Previn worked on over 50 films.  He was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 4.  We’ll explore a neglected aspect of this supremely talented musical polymath, with selections from “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” “Irma la Douce,” “Dead Ringer,” and “Elmer Gantry,” this Friday at 6 pm.

Irvine, California-based Pacific Symphony is exploring an Iranian musical tradition that it hopes to make an annual part of its season, part of its on-going efforts to offer engaging programs for audiences in its diverse community.

The Twin Cities’ Dominick Argento died on February 20 at the age of 91.  Acclaimed especially for his vocal music, he left behind a substantial body of operas, song cycles, and choral works, including “From the Diary of Virginia Woolf,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975.  Celebrate his legacy with “Six Elizabethan Songs” for soprano and Baroque ensemble, “A Ring of Time,” composed for the 70th anniversary of the Minnesota Orchestra, and the “Valentino Dances” from his opera “The Dream of Valentino.”   It’s a musical monument to a Midwestern master, this Sunday at 10 pm.

Lion or lamb, we’ll be celebrating the month of March on The Dress Circle this week (3/3 7:00 p.m.) with songs from some of the shows that opened in New York this month.  Our earliest show this time comes from 1954 and the Jerome Moross / John Latouche retelling of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” in “The Golden Apple,” and our most recent show is the stage version of Disney’s “Frozen.” 

Less than a week after Hollywood’s Biggest Night, take a look behind the film industry’s glamorous veneer with music from “Sunset Boulevard” (Franz Waxman), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (David Raksin), “The Stunt Man” (Dominic Frontiere), and “The Artist” (Ludovic Bource).  Nothing is as important as that perfect shot or the next big hit.  What price fame?  Stars are born and careers fade, this Friday at 6 pm.

A Tempo this Saturday (3/2) features a conversation with conductor and musicologist Jane Glover, author of the new book Handel in London: The Making of a Genius. Rachel Katz is your host Saturday at 7 pm.

CBS Records’ landmark Black Composers Series has finally come to compact disc.  Made under the direction of conductor Paul Freeman and employing world class orchestras and soloists, these recordings originally appeared on vinyl between 1974 and 1978.  Sony Classical has reissued these invaluable documents as a boxed set.  To coincide with Black History Month, we’re listening to highlights from the 10-CD collection, Sundays in February at 10 pm.  This week, we conclude our survey with music by William Grant Still (pictured), Ulysses Kay, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

We’re celebrating black history month on this week’s Dress Circle (2/24 7:00 p.m.) by looking at shows featuring black casts like “Simply Heavenly,” a musical with a book and lyrics by Langston Hughes based on his novel “Simple Takes a Wife” and other “Simple” stories, “Purlie,” a musical based on Ossie Davis’ play “Purlie Victorious,” and “Raisin” based on Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun.”