Words That Should Not Have Been Spoken

Heard on KDFC, said by different announcers:

• ".....the McGill boys," following a performance featuring the distinguished musicians Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, and his brother Demarre McGill, principal flute of the Seattle Symphony. They are both great players, if I haven't already made that clear. If you're not aware of it, the McGills are Black men. Apply the word "boy" to adult Black men was something done by white people to dehumanize and disrespect Black men during the period of slavery, during the Jim Crow/segregation period, and at other times. Don't do this, ever. And remember, it would have been easy to refer to "the McGill brothers," which is factual and neutral. 
• "Celebrate Esa-Pekka Salonen's last season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony." COME ON. Somebody at KDFC should be paying attention enough to know that Salonen's last season is nothing to celebrate. It's an institutional disaster and a huge mistake. We should have been celebrating the extension of his contract, but no. I mean...maybe this was part of a paid ad. Maybe KDFC should have refused the money.

"A Little Off Most of Our Radars"

The post title is how I heard a KDFC announcer describe Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. I mean, it's amazing that one of Shaw's works made the "Classical Top 100" garbage contest that KDFC does every year, but is that ever a tell. They've played enough Shaw that the piece they were playing got the votes to be in 54th place; they have the reach to get Shaw or any other composer "on the radar" of their listeners, and yet they make this bogus claim.

The Opera Hour

Several years ago, David Gockley, former general manager of San Francisco Opera, succeeded in negotiating the return of opera to the airwaves of San Francisco. We had a few telecasts and some years of monthly radio broadcasts on KDFC of SFO productions, mostly from the previous season but with occasional blasts from the past.

Alas, this seems to be coming to an end. We will now get a monthly one-hour show with Matthew Shilvock and Bill Leuth, call The Opera Hour. At least for now, the opera broadcasts are "on hold," according to San Francisco Opera; according to KDFFC, The Opera Hour "replaces" the monthly broadcasts.

I missed the first installment, which was last Sunday, Maybe 8, at 8 p.m. - if you heard it, I'm curious to hear what it was like. It remains to be seen what shape, exactly, this show will take; previews of upcoming works on the season? Anna Netrebko and Renee Fleming's greatest hits? A little Caruso for fun?

I am not particularly a fan of KDFC or Bill Leuth; even since the station's acquisition, the programming is of the Mozart in the Morning / one movement of a symphony / lightweight variety, with barely a nod to new or very old music, and little vocal music. I can imagine that the Sunday evening opera broadcasts weren't getting much in the way of an audience, because the time was bad and during much of the year they were competing with the Met's Saturday morning (local time) broadcasts).

I'm sure Matthew Shilvock will be an engaging host, because he is unfailingly enthusiastic, knowledgable, and good in front of an audience. Bill Leuth, despite his music degrees, is a radio announcer who has to push KDFC's particular brand.

I'm also still waiting to hear whether the show takes requests....in which case, I'll be asking for some Birtwistle.

SF Opera press release after the cut.

Get Out Your Tape Recorders: SF Opera Fall Broadcasts

From San Francisco Opera comes the fall schedule of broadcasts on KDFC and the WFMT Network. In addition to the June, 2016 operas (Carmen, Don Carlo, and Jenufa), you can hear the David Gockley gala concert and a 1982 performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, conducted by the late Sir Charles Mackerras and starring a terrific-looking cast.

KDFC can be heard on the FM dial at 90.3 (San Francisco, Los Gatos and Saratoga), 89.9 (North and East Bay), 92.5 (Ukiah-Lakeport), 104.9 (South Bay and Peninsula); on Comcast Cable 981; or online at kdfc.com.  KDFC monthly broadcasts can also be streamed on demand at kdfc.com after each initialSunday night broadcast.

Sunday, August 7 at 8 p.m. – CONCERT: Celebrating David! Gala in honor of David Gockley

Julie Adams, Renée Fleming, Ana María Martnez, Karita Mattila, Patricia Racette, Nadine Sierra, Heidi Stober (sopranos); Catherine Cook, Sasha Cooke, Daniela Mack, Dolora Zajick (mezzo-sopranos); Michael Fabiano, Brian Jagde, Simon O’Neill, Pene Pati (tenors); Edward Nelson (baritone); Eric Owens (bass-baritone); René Pape, Anthony Reed (basses); Nicola Luisotti, Jiří Bělohlávek, John DeMain, Patrick Summers (conductors); Frederica von Stade and Thomas Hampson (co-hosts).  Recorded June 16, 2016.

Sunday, September 4 at 8 p.m. – FROM THE ARCHIVES: George Frideric Handel’s Julius Caesar

Tatiana Troyanos (Julius Caesar), Valerie Masterson (Cleopatra), Sarah Walker (Cornelia), Delia Wallis (Sextus), James Bowman (Ptolemy); Charles Mackerras (Conductor). Recorded Summer 1982.

Sunday, October 2 at 8 p.m. – Georges Bizet’s Carmen

Irene Roberts (Carmen), Brian Jagde (Don José), Ellie Dehn (Micaëla), Zachary Nelson (Escamillo), Amina Edris (Frasquita), Renée Rapier (Mercédès), Edward Nelson (Moralès); Carlo Montanaro (Conductor). Recorded Summer 2016.

Sunday, November 6 at 7 p.m. – Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo

Michael Fabiano (Don Carlo), Ana María Martnez (Elisabetta), Nadia Krasteva (Princess Eboli), Mariusz Kwiecień (Rodrigo), René Pape (Philip II), Andrea Silvestrelli (Grand Inquisitor); Nicola Luisotti (Conductor). Recorded Summer 2016.

Sunday, December 4 at 8 p.m. – Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa

Malin Bystrӧm (Jenůfa), Karita Mattila (Kostelnička), William Burden (Laca Klemeň), Scott Quinn (Števa Buryja); Jiří Bělohlávek (Conductor). Recorded Summer 2016.

Prepositions are Hard

Or so you might think, if you listen to KDFC at all. Their announcers have a bizarre new tic: "And next we'll hear music from Claude Debussy." "That was [some work or another], from Antonin Dvorak."

No, no, a thousand times no.

Here are some definitions produced by a Google search on the preposition from:

1. 1. indicating the point in space at which a journey, motion, or action starts.

   "she began to walk away from him"

   • indicating the distance between a particular place and another place used as a point of reference.

     "the ambush occurred 50 yards from a checkpoint"
2. 2.

   indicating the point in time at which a particular process, event, or activity starts.

   "the show will run from 10 to 2"
3. 3.

   indicating the source or provenance of someone or something.

   "I'm from Hartford"

   • indicating the date at which something was created.

     "a document dating from the thirteenth century"
4. 4.

   indicating the starting point of a specified range on a scale.

   "men who ranged in age from seventeen to eighty-four"

   • indicating one extreme in a range of conceptual variations.

     "anything from geography to literature"
5. 5.

   indicating the point at which an observer is placed.

   "you can see the island from here"
6. 6.

   indicating the raw material out of which something is manufactured.

   "a varnish made from copal"
7. 7.

   indicating separation or removal.

   "the party was ousted from power after sixteen years"
8. 8.

   indicating prevention.

   "the story of how he was saved from death"
9. 9.

   indicating a cause.

   "a child suffering from asthma"
10. 10.

    indicating a source of knowledge or the basis for one's judgment.

    "information obtained from papers, books, and presentations"
11. 11.

    indicating a distinction.

    "the courts view him in a different light from that of a manual worker"

"We'll hear music from Claude Debussy" implies that Debussy sent this music to the announcer or KDFC, as in, "I'm going to read a letter from Barack Obama now." 

"We'll hear music by Claude Debussy" is the right way to put it.

{Yes, I'm ashamed to admit, by implication, that I've listened to KDFC recently, but I was in the car at the time! Really!)

KDFC: Composer Dates vs. Musical Trivia

A friend sent email to KDFC asking why they don't announce the dates when works they broadcast were composed. He got a reply. Here it is in full, with his identifying information removed.

From my friend:

 Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:12 AM
 To: feedback@kdfc.com
 Subject: Suggestion

 How about giving the composition dates of the pieces? To me this is more useful  information than the apocryphal anecdotes that typically follow a piece.

KDFC's response:

Thanks for the feedback [friend of Lisa],
We regularly discuss these sorts of topics with listener panels. Predominantly we're told dates without context are not as helpful to  most.  We completely understand our presentation can't be ideal for all interests, and we thank you very much for listening.
KDFC

 Now you know: KDFC's listener panels - we don't know how big these are, or how representative of their listeners - are determining whether it's useful or helpful to tell listeners when compositions were written. Boo. Feel free to send email to KDFC telling them what you think.

And by the way: in the old, old days, KDFC did provide this tiny amount of factual information. How much time does it take to say 1788 or 1805 or 1913, for that matter?

Heard on the Radio

Diane Nicolini at KDFC:

That was the Tchaikowsky violin concerto, one of the most technically difficult concertos, played absolutely perfectly by Hilary Hahn!!

Diane, honey: a raft of first-class violinists can play the Tchaikowsky very well indeed, and if you haven't noticed, recordings are edited within an inch of their lives so that they are always perfect.

And this, my friends, is an example of why I won't be contributing to KDFC's current (or any) pledge drive. They're doing extra fund-raising to retire the $7.5 million outstanding of the $18 million borrowed when they lost 102.1 and had to purchase the rights to other frequencies.

The day I'll donate is the day that KDFC acts like the non-profit educational institution its tax designation makes it out to be. When I can hear Machaut, Dufay, Josquin, Schuetz, Carter, Boulez, Janacek and others among the Mozart and Vivaldi; when they play lieder and chanson without apologies; when their announcers provide information rather than trivia, well, then I'll reconsider.

Mavericks on the Radio

If you've been reading the Times or various NY bloggers, you know that SFS's American Mavericks programs were a huge hit in NYC. (I only wish I'd been there to...no, wait. I'm actually very glad to have been on vacation elsewhere.) If you  missed the SFS and NY shows (and the other landing places in between), or you want to hear everything again, KDFC is your friend. The station is broadcasting three Mavericks programs, on April 15, 22, and 29; all Sundays, all at 8 p.m. Not sure why these aren't in the usual SFS Tuesday-night time slot...oh, probably the perceived hatred of their typical audience for anything out of the ordinary (sigh). Anyway, starting this Sunday, there you go.

News, Big News, About Bay Area Classical Radio

KDFC, the "classical music" station everybody loves to hate, has been sold to the University of Southern California, and will become a nonprofit. It's giving up its frequency (102.1) and moving to 89.9 and 90.3.

If those frequencies sound familiar, it's because KUSF was located at 90.3 - at least until 10 a.m. this morning, when the staff got blindsided. For now, at least, KUSF becomes a web-only station. This will increase their online presence greatly; presently, they can only have 100 online listeners at a time. Work being performed this week will allow thousands to listen at once.

One result of this is that KDFC will have a much weaker signal. I can't get KUSF on my stereo in Oakland; will I be able to get KDFC? WIll they get a stronger transmitter?

I understand, I think, why KDFC lost its old frequency: the sale didn't include the frequency, which the former owners get to keep. I do not understand how KDFC obtained access to KUSF's old frequency. I have email out looking for more information.

No, wait: here's an article at KUSF's web site explaining the situation: USF sold the frequency. assigning it to the Classical Public Radio Network. (Note to self: collect facts before writing.)

The big question for me, and probably for you, is whether this means that KDFC's programming is about to improve drastically because it will no longer be profit driven. The smaller question is, why were they sold? Their listernership was supposed to be huge; did that not translate into profitability? or not enough profitability?

KDFCization of WQXR?

Today's Times has an article about programming changes expected at New York City's WQXR. Read it and weep: they're keeping the Met broadcasts, but expect less vocal music and (ahem) less music that might be deemed challenging. Here are a few paragraphs:

A mission statement prepared by WQXR’s new programmers said, “There may indeed be times when the more radical and unfamiliar pieces work, but we will not favor them over the work that speaks directly to the needs of uplift, beauty and contemplation.”

...

The programmers also provided a sample list of “core composers” and the works that would most likely play on the radio versus the Internet. They stressed that the list was but a guideline.

Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner were there. So were Copland, Janacek, Gershwin, Satie, Sibelius and the ever-popular Vivaldi. Mahler was missing.

Schubert symphonies were deemed radio-worthy but not the piano trios or songs, which were reserved for Q2. Radio received Ravel orchestra music but not solo piano works; Sibelius’s symphonies but not his tone poems; Janacek chamber works but not operas; Brahms symphonies but not choral works; Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos but not the late piano sonatas, songs or chamber works.

Vivaldi had sweeping approval. Except for “shorter sacred works.”

American Idol, Semi-Operatic Division

Want to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of tens of thousands? KDFC and San Francisco Opera are giving you the chance to take a shot at our unsingable national anthem; the reward is that if you win, you get to sing it at Giants Stadium before the simulcast of Il Trovatore on September 19. For full details, go to KDFC.com.

Proofreaders Wanted

Found in email from KDFC:

KDFC is the radio home of the San Francisco Opera with a broadcast on the first Sunday of every month at 8pm. The March choice is up to you. Pick from 10 productions that offer a virtual A-list of sopranos, including Natalie Dessay (pictured), Angela Gehorghiu, Susan Graham and Ruth Ann Swenson. Or is a Wagnerian voice-of-god bass more your style?

Susan Graham is a mezzo-soprano; Wotan is a baritone role.

Sublime -> Ridiculous

I'm on the mailing list of KDFC, the nation's most embarrassing excuse for a classical radio station. In reality, they're an easy-listening station, and I hear from friends that they've recently devolved from playing single movements of multimovement works to playing excerpts from movements of multimovement works. But...they make a lot of money! So they can laugh all the way to the bank.

In any event, a day or so ago, I received email with a link to their favorite recordings of the past year. Not the best, mind you; their favorites. Because it would be a problem if they recommended anything dissonant or anything written before 1710 or anything with a singer in it.

At least they've posted their list at ArkivMusic, so if their listeners buy directly, the money goes to a good classical music source. And if they navigate from that page, they might find Arkiv's much more interesting recommendations. If the list were at Amazon, you never know what a listener might buy instead: luggage, a stand mixer, a personal lubricant. Or a book!

The KDFC list contains about what you'd expect: some guitar music, a little Lang Lang, the required Vivaldi Four Seasons, other violin light classics played by a second-tier violinist, some Tchaikowsky, an Einaudi disk. Nothing too challenging - say, the Brahms piano quintet - or atonal - say, the Carter quartets.

There are a couple of surprises in there. Since they like Hilary Hahn's Sibelius violin concerto, they have to mention the devil himself Schoenberg. And the Anne-Sophie Mutter disk comes with a Gubaidulina work.