By Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Charnofsky from WRUW, summer organ institute faculty from Oberlin
. R.I.P. Peter Nero
. Nipper, an early audiophile?
HAPPENING TODAY:
From 2 to 4 this afternoon, Eric Charnofsky hosts Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music from the studios of WRUW. Today’s playlist includes unusual selections by Louis Aubert, Gerhard Stäbler, J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, Carl Orff & Elizabeth Austin.
And tonight at 7:30, an Oberlin Summer Organ Institute Faculty Concert features Jonathan W. Moyer & Kirk M. Rich performing on the organs by D.A. Flentrop (Dutch) & Greg Harrold (Spanish) in Warner Concert Hall. Click here for webcast.
For details, click here.
IN MEMORIAM:
“Peter Nero, the concert pianist who soared to popularity in the 1960s with a swinging hybrid of classics and jazz and kept the beat for nearly six decades with albums, club and television dates, and segues into conducting pops orchestras, died on Thursday in Eustis, Fla. He was 89.
“‘We shall play Tea for Two,’ he would say. ‘Since our arrangement is complex, we’d like to explain what we’ll be doing. My right hand will be playing ‘Tea for Two,’ while my left hand will play Tchaikovsky’s Fifth. My left foot will be fiercely tapping out the traditional rhythm to the Tahitian fertility dance. My right foot will not be doing too much. It will just be excited.” Read the New York Times obituary here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On July 10, 1900 “His Master’s Voice” was registered with the U.S. Patent Office. The logo of the Victor Recording Company of the Radio Corporation of America, later known as RCA Victor, shows a dog named Nipper staring into the horn of a gramophone machine, based on a 1898 painting by his human, Francis Barraud, made three years after Nipper’s demise.
It is difficult to say how the idea came to me beyond the fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my dog listening to the phonograph, with an intelligent and rather puzzled expression, and call it ‘His Master’s Voice’ would make an excellent subject. We had a phonograph and I often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where the voice came from. It certainly was the happiest thought I ever had. — Francis Barraud
Here’s a vintage way to kick off your Monday: click here to listen to The Sunny Side of the Street played on a 1924 portable gramophone — leading-edge technology of the day. Nipper — who got his name from his ankle-biting habits — would surely approve. But where’s the horn?
