Festival of Carols

The annual tradition of the Festival of Carols begins tomorrow on Portland’s classical station, KQAC. They play the most beautiful Christmas music composed through the ages, so many pieces and arrangements that you’ve likely never heard. It’s four days of non-stop glorious music so if, like me, you’ve had all  you can stand of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” or “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and need some real music, tune in online at allclassical.org and go to “Listen” at the top of the page.

Also tonight at 8:00PM PST on their program Club Mod, Robert McBride will be featuring some music by one of my favorite composers, Morten Lauridsen. Club Mod showcases modern ‘classical’ composers. Lauridsen is a particular favorite of mine, and it doesn’t hurt that he hails from this area (Beaverton). If you’re not familiar with Lauridsen, check here for a small intro.

Edmund Stone’s movie music program “The Score” will feature music from movies about Santa Claus on “A Right Jolly Old Elf” today at 2PM PST (and will repeat next Sunday at 2PM PST).

Check out all their programming. And no, I don’t work for the station, but I am a long-time supporter. I’ve listened to a lot of classical stations around the country (sadly there aren’t many left) and I think they’re one of the finest. They’re also commercial-free (apart from the old-style mentions of supporters by the hosts) which is LOVELY.

Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice, and Merry Christmas! Click the picture for an animated card.

The Score Presents Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

For all the Harry Potter and film music fans out there, my fav radio program EVER, The Score, on AllClassical.org is going to give us a sneak preview of the soundtrack to the new HP film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” today at 2:00PM PST. (if you need a time zone converter, go here.) It’s streamed live over the interwebs so you can listen anywhere in the world. If you can’t catch it today it will be archived and available on their site under the “Listen Now” button. It will also repeat next Sunday, November 21 at 2:00PM PST, but by then of course the movie will be out. I don’t know about you, but I never go on an opening weekend. I like to wait for the crowds to thin out so you can actually, I don’t know, ENJOY THE MOVIE, and not have to listen to people’s cell phones, and watch the iPhone screens light up the theater while texting. Dante should have reserved a circle in Hell for people who do that. But I digress.

From  a quick glance at the movie listing on IMDB.com, Alexandre Desplat composed the original music used in the film, although I also saw a credit for John Williams for “Hedwig’s Theme”. It also looks like there’s some pop music used in it, they mentioned a song by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “O Children.” Tune in if you can!

Film Noir on The Score

I know several of you like film noir so I wanted to let you know this Saturday, July 24 on The Score, Edmund is delving into this dark-tastic genre. I don’t think they’ll mind if I copy the little blurb from the Web site and post it here:

Dead Men
Don’t Play Bach

Rain-soaked sidewalks that reflect the neon anguish of a man on the run. Sultry dames whose wide eyes are just a mask for quiet deception. An unforgiving city that turns its asphalt back on sentiment but still respects a code of honor. This week on The Score, host Edmund Stone samples music from Film Noir classics The Maltese Falcon and Vertigo, plus more modern examples of the genre such as Mulholland Drive.

Turn up the collar of your trench coat and join Edmund under a lonely lampost on Saturday, July 24, at 2 p.m.

If you can’t tune in Saturday, you can catch it the following week on Sunday at 2:00PM, or listen to the archived program online. And big excitement, the program is being picked up by a station in Australia some time this fall! No details yet, but it’s great that it’s going international!

Hans Zimmer Fans Take Note

Next Saturday, March 27 on The Score, Edmund’s guest (via phone) will be composer Hans Zimmer. His most recent work is of course the soundtrack to the latest Sherlock Holmes movie. You may also be familiar with his work from Angels and Demons (my personal fav), The Lion King (for which he won the Oscar), Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and The Pirates of the Caribbean series, among many others.

The program airs at 2:00PM PDT, but if you miss it, it will repeat the following Sunday afternoon at 2:00PM PDT, and it will be archived on the AllClassical.org Web site under “Listen Now/On Demand.” I think the programs stay in the archives for two weeks.

The Score Goes National

You guys know I like to plug my local classical music station, KQAC, online at All Classical, because I just think they are the most entertaining classical station I’ve ever listened to, and they’re independent, commercial-free, listener supported, and they get no funding from PBS, they are not affiliated in any way.

My favorite program is on Saturday afternoons, called “The Score” hosted by Edmund Stone, one of the many delightful hosts at the station. Edmund created this program, calling on his great knowledge of the film industry and film scores in particular. This program is so well-received it has just been syndicated and is going national! I was so excited when I heard that I ran to the kitchen to make some popcorn while I listened and went online to pledge support! They were having so much fun on the air I just had to join in. Not only is The Score going national, but it’s so popular it’s been expanded to Saturday AND Sunday. According to the newsletter it will air now at 2:00PM Pacific Time on Saturdays, with an earlier episode repeat at 2:00PM on Sundays. The Web site hasn’t been updated yet, but they did mention this on the air this afternoon as well.

Edmund is a genial funny host, and really does answer if you e-mail him with comments or suggestions on the program. He knows so much about the composers and films he makes it so entertaining to listen to. If you miss it live they archive programs online for two weeks so you can pull it up and listen later.

Well, they’re in their spring membership drive this week so naturally I re-upped during The Score this afternoon, and they read my little congratulatory comment on the air, so I got my 15 seconds of fame. Really, I am so thrilled that Edmund’s program has been picked up and will be so widely heard now. If you listen drop him a note and tell him how you like it. His e-mail is on the Web site and he gives it out over the air as well. I think next Saturday is going to be all music from Oscar winning movies, just in time for the Oscars on Sunday. So, pull up a chair, pop some popcorn and enjoy!

Oh, one last thing: Yay Edmund! You RAWK! 🙂

Mood Music

I’ve been listening to a program called “The Score” on my local classical music station, KQAC. Every week the program host focuses either on a particular composer, or movie director, or theme. This week it was the composer Hans Zimmer, who composed the music for both The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Good stuff. I may have to buy the soundtracks for these movies, even if I don’t ever get around to watching the flicks themselves. I’ve never seen either movie, but the music is really intense.

The station streams over the Web, you can tune in at All Classical.org. This particular program runs every Saturday from 4:00-5:00PM (Pacific Time). It’s really fun, and Edmund Stone is a very entertaining, often hilarious host.

The program is part of their “On Demand” line-up, so if you want to hear it anytime over the next two weeks (I think it’s two weeks) you can go to the Web site, click on “Listen Now” then the “On Demand” button, and select “The Score with Edmund Stone”. (don’t try it if you’re on dial-up, as I am. I have to catch it the first time around over the air) They are listener-supported so you won’t have to put up with commercials.

If you like what you hear, you can pull up playlists, and there should be a “Buy Now” button that will link to ArkivMusic. If you buy through them the station gets a percentage of the sale.

Enjoy the music!