On Demand
Further Out With the Old
By David Garland
June 27, 2008
I’ve got lots of good music to share this weekend, including Thomas Newman’s score for “Wall-E” on the Friday night film music feature at 9 pm; J. J. Johnson’s “Perceptions,” an ambitious 1961 composition for trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and orchestra on Saturday; and Indian mandolin virtuoso U. Srinivas on Sunday. Much more, as well, of course.
I’ll be playing it all for you from the old studios at Centre Street. Almost everything and everyone has been moved to WNYC’s new facility, but I remain in the un-air-conditioned ghost town–out of necessity, not sentimentality! Here are some more images of WNYC’s old home, The Municipal Building.
The Municipal Building entrance, night view–the way I’m used to seeing it.
The latest view of the Music Library shelves.
The hallway to the on-air studio, stripped bare.
Relic of the past: a reel-to-reel tape machine. I spent hours at this thing, editing tape with a razor blade. We’ll bring one or two of these machines with us, but the format is now outmoded (sorry, analog purists).
The golden statue at the top of the Municipal Building is not called Civic Spirit, or Civic Pride, but rather “Civic Fame.” That always amused me.
Comments
Comment from Caren
Date: June 27, 2008, 9:21 pm
Hi … I’m listening.
Who was the boogie-woogie piano guy, again?
This music now is indeed very “Ghost town” like! Spooky to think of you in that emptied out place.
If you see Shelly Duval or Jack Nicholson in the hallway, my unsolicited advice is to skeedadle.
Thanks for all the great music!
Comment from Cory
Date: June 27, 2008, 9:50 pm
Hi, David. Sad that this is my first visit to your little chatting section. Sad because I never visited the old studio that’s been the setting for so many shows that have blown my mind, taught me something new, etc. I’m gorging on WNYC this week, which I don’t get to do most of the time. I’m dazzled by your photographs. Thanks for always being there and inviting us into your special world of music, thoughts, ideas, feelings.
Comment from David Garland
Date: June 27, 2008, 10:09 pm
Thanks for listening, and thanks for your comments! Caren, the boogie-woogie piano guy was Meade Lux Lewis. And thanks for your advice to skeedadle from from Duval or Nicholson, or any of the ghosts and spooks native to the Municipal Building. Will do!
–David
Comment from Susan
Date: June 27, 2008, 11:21 pm
Ahh David. You are a master at your craft and apparantly a good photographer too. Love the pictures and the imagery of you beaming out to the city from a hollowed studio. I not only enjoy your music selections but appreciate your companionship on the radio. I hope you’re still as magical in the new place.
Comment from betty
Date: June 29, 2008, 9:03 pm
Yes, I agree, great photos! Thanks for posting them, and for all the great music you’ve turned me on to over the years.
Comment from William
Date: June 30, 2008, 7:52 pm
Deqar Mr. Garland,
I fear I must take a bit of issue with the opening of tonight’s program (Monday, June 30). I do agree that you need more Bach (indeed, more “classical” music altogether), but not the superficial and rather trivial takeoffs you are presenting.
I didn’t catch what you called the Bach piece, but plase note that it is “GoldBERG Vatiations”
Much more significantly, it is certainly not “Theme and Variations.” There are absolutely no variations on any melodic theme. The various themes are a real hodgepodge, the most beautiful of which is actually a drinking song.
In fact, I hope you will challenge your listneers to declare if they know (without consulting a reference wor) exactly what it is that is varied. Almost nobody, including musicians, knows. [It is actually the chromatic interval among the key of the variations. The piece is a kind of celebration of the newly-adapted well-temperedc scale.]
A big argument has always been whether it should be played on the piano or the harpsichord. The consensus is that it is a harpsichord piece, but two of the most memorable recorded versions are the piano versions by Wnada Landowska and Glenn Gould (who loved the piece enough to record it twice).
A long-time New Yorker, I am originally also from Atlanta. Growing up, WABE was an important part of my life. A French Horn player as a student, I loved starting my day with the wonderful Horn solo from “Rite of Spring” that opened the station’s programming.
Best of luck.
William
PS: Criticized for her bizarrely eccentric interpretation, Landowska’s reply was “You play it your way; I’ll play it HIS way.”
By the way, I have no privacy concerns about what I say. I like the way you take listeners’ comments seriousy, such as the one about the third-grader’s “thirstyear.”
Comment from William
Date: July 1, 2008, 5:20 am
Dear Mr. Garland,
I apoloogize for sending my comments intended for Mr. McKnight about the Goldberg Variations to you by mistake–and in the wrong section, too. I find the webside opaque, its navigation obscure. Could you perhaps ask your webmaster to give me some hints, even forward my remark ti Mr. McKnight or tell him whre they are.
Many thanks,
William
Write a comment