Classical Discoveries – 20 Years On The Air on WPRB

In 1999, 2 years after Classical Discoveries was born I got my own e-mail address on CompuServe.

One of the first listeners contacting me was Linda Holt, which is why I was very excited when she wrote a wonderful post for Philadelphia’s “Broad Street Review”, a bit shorter version of the blog below.

I intended to write this post myself, but considering Linda’s long connection to this program her personal sharing was a great way to commemorate 20 years of Classical Discoveries.

She is the author of The Black Spaniard, a novel about young Beethoven, that she is obsessed with (and yes, the other book is coming soon). She teaches Humanities at Southern New Hampshire University and Thomas Edison State University. Her classical music reviews have appeared in newspapers and online and of course she is one of the long, faithful listeners of Classical Discoveries.

I am adding a few of my comments to this blog since it is focuses on 20 years and many things did happen  during this time.

Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries celebrates

20 years bringing new music to audiences around the world

by Linda Holt

Twenty years ago, Bill Clinton was sworn in to his second term as President, The English Patient won the best picture Oscar, and Scottish scientists cloned Dolly the Sheep.

But the big news for music lovers was the debut on May 29, 1997, of one of the most unique programs in the international radio community: Classical Discoveries, created, produced, and hosted by Marvin Rosen. Broadcast online and on WPRB 103.3 FM (Princeton University’s independent radio station), Classical Discoveries has no match as a source of seldom-heard music, exciting interviews, and playlists designed to wake up brains stuck in a 19^th century groove.

Where else can a listener hear music composed by the daughter of Lucrezia Borgia, a five-hour program dedicated to the art music of Native Americans, the art of Klezmer, music for Kwanzaa, and melodic masterworks from Poland and Estonia? A tune played on an Australian didgeridoo may follow an air composed by King Henry VIII. The program airs each Wednesday from 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., with special broadcasts throughout the year. This spring, for example, Marvin’s series, Treasures of Early Music, is broadcast from 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Mondays.

“I still have my first playlist,” admitted Marvin recently, with his unflagging enthusiasm for his favorite subject. “It is handwritten, since we didn’t go online until 2001.” While there were works by Bach, Mozart, and Scarlatti on that program, there were also signs of things to come. Marvin featured works by Glass, Yardumian, and even concluded with Lennon-McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby.”

Two first playlists

Today attracting diverse audiences including young and old listeners, Classical Discoveries found its niche by November of 1997, responding to listeners who were pleasantly startled to hear new music that unexpectedly met every standard for beauty and interest. Marvin even expanded the definition of new music to include unfamiliar or underplayed compositions, such as selections from the earliest years of the Middle Ages, (forgotten contemporaries of famous Western composers), music from countries and ethnic traditions not well known in Western classical circles, and music by women composers. While not taking any political position, the program also has focused thematically on topics of current interest, such as a recent program devoted to musical depictions of water.

“One of the unexplored areas of women’s music is the work composed by nuns over the centuries,” Marvin observed.

A glance of the program’s playlists, appealingly displayed online with easy-to-access links, reveals some of the variety that listeners can find nowhere else. In recent years, these have included Music of Asia, the annual In Praise of Woman series, Tulpe: a Native American Indians Tribute, Sacred Bridges linking spirituality in music across traditions, Return to Estonia, and Water is Life-For Flint.

Editor’s note: Attached to this article are several of Classical Discoveries’ playlists that show the diversity and originality of the program content.

Impact on listeners and composers

In addition to its impact on listeners, Classical Discoveries provides active composers with a forum to play and explain their works.

“What would we composer do without Marvin Rosen and his amazing show?” asks Robert Moran, a Philadelphia-based composer whose work ranging from chamber music to opera is recognized around the globe. “He presents the most varied of radio events, always exciting and always an adventure.” Moran has appeared in person several times on Classical Discoveries.

Composer Andrew Rudin, heralded by one critical journal as “the grand old man of new music,” agrees. “Marvin Rosen has been uniquely important to living composers of the greater Philadelphia area,” he wrote recently, “not only because he plays our music, but he also invites us into his studio as on-air guests. And in addition, he educates us as well, with his extraordinary knowledge and curiosity about music of living composers in even the most obscure corners of our planet, and in the most marginalized communities. His perceptions, taste, and explorations represent a personal passion that greatly enriches our musical community.”

A labor of love

In addition to teaching full-time at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, Marvin gets up at 3:30 a.m. to host Classical Discoveries, but he is not alone. His wife, Beata Rzeszodko-Rosen, who shares his musical tastes, is by his side at WPRB’s music studios in Bloomberg Hall on the university campus, creating exquisitely detailed and content-rich playlists and other Web resources for everyone from the musically curious to scholars and researchers of early and new music.

“Beata has been with me right from the start,” beamed Marvin in a recent interview. “She is the person behind the scenes making Classical Discoveries possible.”

The couple even met over an incident involving new music. Beata had gone to the Princeton University Store (where Marvin managed the record department) in search of music by Alan Hovhaness. It just so happened that Marvin’s doctoral dissertation from Teachers College, Columbia University, was on the music of Hovhaness. The two enthusiasts bonded over the Armenian-influenced American composer’s intensely melodic compositions and before long they were married and had the opportunity to meet the composer in person before he passed in 2000.

Another major influence on Marvin’s musical life comes from an unexpected corner of the musical world. “If there is one person whose professionalism most influenced me it’s Jim Nettleton,” he said. “Jim was an ‘oldies’ DJ at WFIL in Philadelphia when I was young. He told me that the most important lesson for broadcasters was to remember that in radio, unpredictability means entertainment. That’s advice I’ve taken to heart over the years.”

Going the distance with new music marathons

Classical Discoveries is also the only new and unfamiliar music program with an annual marathon. Instead of running 26 miles as in the athletic prototype, Marvin hosts a non-stop edition of Classical Discoveries at the end of the year, logging 24 to 25 hours of air time, and taking catnaps on the couch on a catch-as-catch-can basis.

The marathon theme is “Viva 21^st century,” with a focus on music composed since 2000. The theme was first explored on the show in 2003, and by 2007 had morphed into the marathon framework. Since then, there have been a dozen marathons, with sub-themes of International Music, American Music, and Music by Women Composers. Two marathons with special themes focused on post-9-11 music and the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Alan Hovhaness.

New music: its time has come

“After World War II, there was a lot of new music that was heavy and difficult for many people to listen to,” Marvin reflected. “Now that has changed. Much of the new music being composed is accessible and can be enjoyed by a wide audience. Think back to the time of Bach and Beethoven: new music is what was being played. The secret is to start out playing some new works that are pleasant for most people to hear, then you can follow up with music that is a little more challenging and build on that.”

Marvin will incorporate elements from the best of Classical Discoveries on his 20^th anniversary program 5:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. May 29. Expect to hear the Vivaldi sinfonia (original disk used in 1997) that opened the first program in the series, followed by other works played on the first program as well as some of the most favorite compositions of listeners over the years. “And there will be surprises,” added Marvin, who is looking forward to 20 more years of innovative programming. “It wouldn’t be Classical Discoveries without surprises!”

–Linda Holt

Almost 12 years ago, in early October 2005, I found out that Classical Discoveries was the recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award.

Here are a couple of pictures taken at the December ceremony!! It was an exciting time for me and was totally unexpected.

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Here are some photos of guests who visited the WPRB studio during the last 20 years: Maya Beiser, Martha Mooke, Marilyn Bliss and Rain Worthington, Katherine Hoover Jennifer Higdon, Jakub Ciupiński, Halim El-Dabh, Danny Dorff, Andrew Rudin, Alexandra Vrebalov, Alex Shapiro, Vivian Fung,  Sergio Cervetti, Robert Moran, Randall Woolf and Kathleen Supové, Philip Blackburn and DBR,  Paul Mealor,

At the end of last year, I was the host of a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio as presented by Choral Arts Philadelphia. Here is a small introduction to the event.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Q-ZrKd_mE

 

Here is a list of some other publication honoring 20^th anniversary of Classical Discoveries:

May 05, 2017 – Radio Survivor – HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY TO CLASSICAL DISCOVERIES – by Matthew Lasar

May 10, 2017 –Town Topics of Princeton NJ – 20 YEARS OF CLASSICAL DISCOVERIES WITH MARVIN ROSEN ON WPRB – by Doug Wallack

May 13, 2017 – Broad Street Review – TWO DECADES OF DISCOVERIES – by Linda Holt

You can follow me on:

Facebook, Twitter, in addition you can join the Classical Discoveries Facebook Group

Marvin Rosen

Sacred Bridges

I love all kinds of holidays, civic and religious. Somehow this is one of few things in today’s world that reminds me who I am and from where I came from.

Maybe the fact that I am Jewish and married to a Catholic woman makes my thinking easier. One thing I have learnt from my relationship is that except for some different traditions we are very sentimental about, there is not much difference between our beliefs.

I rather call myself an open-minded spiritual man that is always searching for the similarity between religions rather than differences. I apply these similar feelings to all kinds of music. For example, I do not see a Renaissance mass as religious church music even if it was created for a church, but rather as a spiritual expression of the composer.

The concept of Sacred Bridges was rather accidental. No question that the Cd titled “Sacred Bridges” with the Kings Singers and Sarband was an inspiration, as well as my favorite monarch in medieval history – the 13th century king Alfonso the X called El Sabio.

Since the Christian and Jewish Holidays are often celebrated close to each other I was faced with the dilemma as to which holiday I should give my attention. The annual March series “In Praise of Woman” made the situation worse since the holidays often fall in March. For sometime now, additional show times are, in addition, not available for these special programs on WPRB.  The concept of the program celebrating the spiritual music of many religions was born three years ago.

Last year the main features of the program was  “The Arabian Passion According to J.S. Bach” by Vladimir  Ivanoff.  This year the beautiful “Messe de Requiem” by the little known French Composer, Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971) will be included.  This little known work was a victim of plagiarism, which you can read about by clicking the link below.

http://www.requiemsurvey.org/composers.php?id=256

For idea what you can expect if you tune into this program see prior programs:

03/30/2010

Alfonso X, El Sabio – Cantiga No. 76

Massaino, Tirburtio – Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet

King David – Song of Exile, Psalm 137, Verses 1 thru 6  Anon.

Devotional Sufi Song  – “Ya Hou Ya man Hou”

Caceres, Avraham  -“Hiski Hizki”

Harrison, Lou – Easter Cantata

Wronowicz, Maciej – De Profundis

Hersant, Philippe   – Le Chemin de Jerusalem (2003)

Hovhaness, Alan  – Shepherd of Israel (Last Section)

Hovhaness, Alan – Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Op. 100, No. 3b (from Easter Cantata)

Marcello, Benedetto  – Psalm X “In te Domino confido”

Anonymous Middle Ages  – Gregorian Alleluia and improvization on sitar

Cohen, Egon – Stabat Mater (2006)

Anon. Sephardic – Morena me llaman

Nasco, Giovanni  – Lectio Prima: “Da lamentatione Hieremiae prophetae”

Satoh, Somei  – Homa

Skempton, Howard – How Sits this City” from Lamentations (2001)

Ali Ufki (Wojciech Bobowski)/Claude Goudimel – Psalm 5

Anon. Sephardic – Ea Judios

Silvestrov, Valentin – Psalm 150 from “Two Psalms of David” (2007)

Hamburg, Jeff – Psalm 29 and Psalm 150 from David – Five Psalms (1999)

Buddhist Chant, arr. Jean-Philippe Rykiel  – Hope for Enlightment

Avni, Tzvi  – Psalm 150 from “Mizmorei Tehillim”

Jenkins, Karl  – “Are You Lost Out of Darkness?” from “Stabat Mater” (2008)

Anon. Religious Easter song from Provence – Lei planchs de nostra-Dama

Ivanoff, Vladimir  – The Arabian Passion According to J.S. Bach (USA Premiere broadcasts)

Poleva, Victoria – “David’s Psalm 50” (2001)

Von Bingen, Hildegard – O Splendissima gemma

Machajdik, Peter – Namah (2000)

Fanshawe, David – Crucifixus: Rain Song from “African Sanctus”

04/07/2009

Ali Ufki (Wojciech Bobowski) – Genevan Psalter, Psalm 6

Binder, Abraham Wolf – Two Hassidic Moods

Escobar, Pedro de – Stabat mater

Rahbari, Alexander – Persian Mysticism around G

Alfonso X el Sabio – Cantiga #292

Handel-Gallus, Jacobus – Lamentation 1

Horvit, Michael – Aleinu (Adoration) for Violin, Baritone, Choir and Organ

Williams, Julius- Meditation from the Easter Celebration

La Rue, Pierre de – Lesson 1 from Lamentations of Jeremiah

Waclaw of Szamotul – Psalm 85

Muzafar (17th Century Turkish court) – Bashraf zenjir husseyni

Caceres, Avraham – Cantata Le El Elim (To the God of Gods)

Gubrou, Tsegue Maryam – Golgotha

Al-Ansari, Ali Zakaria – Tranquil Moment

Pamintuan, John August – Crucifixus

Attributed to Emperor Leo the 6th – Hymn to the Virgin at the Foot of the Cross

Warshauer, Meira – Bracha

Lukaszewski, Pawel – Recordationes de Christo moriendo for Soprano and Strings

Ben-Amots, Ofer- Psalm 137

Arcadelt, Jacob – Lamentations

Sidiq, Mohammad Othman – Memoirs