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Comment from Ellen
Date: July 7, 2008, 8:59 pm

Alan Lomax’s field recordings…..almost any of them are good examples of American culture.

Comment from Susan Schneider
Date: July 7, 2008, 9:12 pm

Hi, Terrance, in the short time you’ve been doing this show I’ve become a devoted fan of yours! Love what you’ve been doing. So the first thing that comes to mind for “American Spirit” music is the choral music of William Billings. I find it very evocative of 18th century America and it’s always fun to sing, even though it’s pretty simple. From our time, Eric Ewazen’s pieces express the beauty and independence FROM the kind of music American conservatories of the 20th century had been imposing on their composition students. (Don’t know what they’re doing these days.) I’ve sung many of his songs and they are incredibly beautiful. Plus he’s a wonderful person.

Comment from Tim Mallard
Date: July 8, 2008, 1:04 pm

1)Richard Rodgers
2)All African-American Spirituals
3)All Shaker Music

Comment from Fernando
Date: July 8, 2008, 8:17 pm

Terrance, I’ve been listening since you started and you’ve won me over. I listen more than I don’t. American spirit of independence?

1)Charles Ives
2)Ornette Coleman
3)Patti Smith

Comment from Snark42
Date: July 9, 2008, 2:17 pm

No wonder you’re having a hard time. With so many genres, so many artists over so many decades, you could feature a different song every night on your show till next Fourth of July and not run out of material - so why don’t you!

And you want me to pick just three! I could think of three Led Zepelin songs alone that capture the Spirit if not the Independence of America. And what about Punk, Rap, Jazz and my favorite, that most American of all music Blues.

So here’s three songs (from three different genres) that move me today.

“In America” from West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein, music
Stephen Sondheim, lyrics
Hear it here:
http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6wo2wpT2k

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”
Hear it here:
http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=6se90rFN1qI

“Simple Gifts” the traditional Quaker spiritual
Hear Marilyn Horne sing to Aaron Copeland’s arrangement here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoHoupIi3ik

Now if you asked my family they would all agree on one song, the Fourth of July performance by my mom and I of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Me on clarinet. My 85 yr-old mother singing. Do you know the satirical lyrics that go to it? “Be kind to your web-footed friends….” You should hear mom’s riff on the independence of single parenting and dead-beat ducks. It would move you to tears…of laughter. If only we had a recording.

But for me the real Spirit of America isn’t capture in any song but in one word, uttered by one man a continent away on a cold winter’s day when the world’s independence hung in the balance.

Besieged and facing certain destruction in December of 1944, Gen. Anthony Clement McAuliffe’s, commander of the Belgian crossroads town of Bastogne, single word reply to the German commander demanding his surrender sums up the Spirit of American Independence in so, so many ways.

“Nuts!”

Comment from Steven Paul Mark
Date: July 9, 2008, 2:33 pm

Dear Terrence:

Bizarre tho’ it may be, I’d go with:
1/Yankee Doodle Dandy - due to lyrics and style
2/Bob Dylan’s electric/folk (115th Dream, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Maggie’s Farm, etc.
3/Beach Boys surf music
3/

Comment from C.H. Smith
Date: July 9, 2008, 4:21 pm

Terrance - when you first started, I didn’t much like the program. Somehow it wasn’t what I wanted when I came home from the proverbial hard day. But like Fernando above, I look forward now to you on your evenings, as I have David G. all along. My comment is not about Independence, but to ask for particulars about the Dawn Upshaw last evening, and Oswaldo. Thanks. I like the variety of your recent programs. CHS

Comment from mgduke
Date: July 9, 2008, 8:48 pm

Terence–
You have been making it impossible for me to listen to Evening Music on week nights.

Your combination of nervous narcissism (needing to constantly draw attention to yourself–whether by talking over the music, or forcing notice-me dynamics and syncopations into your speaking voice, or holding back info on what’s to be played), verbal ignorance (the last time I listened to you, months ago, you were talking about having to look up the word “ennoble”, tonight you repeatedly butchered the pronunciation of “betrothal”–both of which are words that any middle-school child of ordinary intelligence would certainly know), and musical ignorance (such as misidentifying the Taverner piece this evening) adds up to a very grating and unpleasant listening experience.

Would you please consider resigning to try something for which you are better qualified, which I am sure will be less stressful and more enjoyable for you, and so make it possible for Evening Music to be hosted by someone who has more respect for the audience and the music?

–mgduke

Comment from Kramer
Date: July 9, 2008, 11:25 pm

Hi Terrance–I didn’t catch the name of the composer and the name of the orchestral piece that was the last work played on your Wednesday night (July 9) show between 10:30PM-11:00PM. For some reason, your voice was very low when you came back on air at the end of the recording.

Comment from Timothy Deenihan
Date: July 10, 2008, 11:19 am

I’m very surprised to see no one has listed Aaron Copland. He is (to me, at least) the sound that exemplifies the spirit of what America has always aimed to be.

Regardless of political leanings or opinions about the current status of the American Dream or our global reputation, I’ve always felt that to be American was to accept the noble responsibility of personal action. Copland’s music positively vibrates with just that drive - the sound of exploration, of vision, determination, and celebration.

His is the sound of Optimism. And what word could possibly be used to describe our founding fathers - with their vision of a more fair world, their courage to take a stand on principle, and their hope in the nobility of the human spirit - if not Optimists?

Comment from rg
Date: July 10, 2008, 10:42 pm

hey, my HD radio is getting the same stuff on WNYC1, WNYC2 and WNYC3. what’s up?

Comment from Brad Cresswell
Date: July 11, 2008, 5:07 pm

Apropos to comment number 10 above, WNYC is in the process of moving physical equipment to our new facility. Full service on all three HD channels and on our streaming internet channels should be restored within the next few days.

Comment from Frank Feldman
Date: July 17, 2008, 7:34 pm

I am so saddened and disappointed by your lack of both musical and general knowledge. It is very dispiriting that WNYC thinks so little of it’s listeners. David Garland is Donald Francis Tovey in comparison.