John Work

The Journey Home: Live from the Kennedy Center. Inspired by the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, the concert, which sold-out at the time, explores timeless themes of longing, loss, love, and the search for peace in the wake of catastrophe. Musical selections range from Schubert's Der Wanderer, to Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel, as well as popular tunes and art songs by composers and poets who died in the war. The concert is performed by Grammy Award winning baritone, John Brancy, and pianist (and host of NPR’s From the Top), Peter Dugan in a 2018 live performance from the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. The concert was presented by Vocal Arts DC and the General Delegation of Flanders to the United States. Brancy and Dugan will also release a single and music video from their performance of, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” from the album.

Some years ago a distinguished music professor said to me, "You must go and see Doktor Faust at English National Opera - you'll hear a second rank composer at the height of his powers". Backhanded though this compliment may seem, it was clearly conveyed with a spirit admiration and perhaps a tinge of surprise.

A talented and adventurous altoist whose career has gone through several phases, John Handy started playing alto in 1949. After moving to New York in 1958, he had a fiery period with Charles Mingus (1958-1959) that resulted in several passionate recordings that show off his originality; he also recorded several dates as a leader for Roulette. Handy led his own bands during 1959-1964, and played with Mingus at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival, but it was at the following year's festival that he was a major hit, stretching out with his quintet (which included violinist Michael White and guitarist Jerry Hahn) on two long originals. Soon, Handy was signed to Columbia, where he recorded his finest work (three excellent albums) during 1966-1968…

Returning to action after a nine-year absence, John Anderson set up shop on his own Bayou Boys Music label and settled in to do what he does best: pure country. He was aided in his comeback by Merle Haggard, who penned "Magic Mama" specifically for Anderson while holed up in a hospital recovering from pneumonia, and it provides a nice touchstone for the rest of Goldmine. With its West Coast Western swing, it's proudly part of tradition but Hag's lyrics are nimble and funny, the perfect match for Anderson's voice, a nimble, supple instrument. One of Anderson's great gifts is how he feels inherently worn-in and laid-back but he's never lazy; whether on a ballad or a honky tonk tune, he never follows conventional beats, his ease disguising his idiosyncratic phrasing.

Continuing its excellent series of Guarnieri Symphonies, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra under John Neschling presents another program of marvelous music that deserves the widest possible exposure outside of its native Brazil. Guarnieri's First Symphony was composed in 1944 and dedicated to Serge Koussevitsky. It's as fine an example of American (in the widest sense) neo-classicism as anything by Copland, Harris, or Piston, and it's worth pointing out that this confidently mature work actually precedes much of those composers' symphonic output, as it does, say, Tippett's, whose rhythmic complexity and contrapuntal business it in some ways resembles. The central slow movement, marked "Profundo", is particularly well sustained and supports the composer's claim to be regarded a major 20th century symphonist.