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December 24, 2008

All is Calm

Christmas Eve of 1914 wasn't supposed to be a silent night. World War I was going on, and men were supposed to be killing one another. But, just for that night, both sides gave up fighting and made peace. Join us today as the men of Cantus tell the story of that night, in word and song.

Today's Playlist

hour 1

  • Traditional
    "He Whom the Shepherds Praised"
    The Taverner Consort with conductor Andrew Parrott
  • Traditional
    "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly"
    The London Brass
  • Traditional
    "Veni, Veni Emmanuel,""Corde Natus ex Parentis," and "Adeste Fideles"
    Chanticleer
    Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford, California
  • Carl Davidoff
    "Hymn"
    The Cellissimo Quartet and friends with conductor Christian Mandeal
    Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest, Romania
  • Traditional (Arranged by Samuel Adler)
    "Spin, Dreidel, Spin"
    The Spivey Hall Children's Choir with conductor Martha Shaw and pianist Judy Mason
    Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
  • "The Piano Puzzler"
    This week's contestant is Dan Duke from St. Paul, Minnesota.
  • Igor Stravinsky
    "Ave Maria"
    The Gabrieli Consort with conductor Paul McCreesh
    St. Elizabeth's Basilica, Wroclaw, Poland
  • Sigvaldi Kaldalons
    "Ave Maria"
    Pianist Vikingur Heidar Olafsson
    University Cinema, Reykjavik, Iceland
  • Erick Lichte and Timothy Takach
    Excerpts from "All is Calm"
    Cantus
  • Edward Elgar
    "The Song of the Night," Op. 15, No. 1
    The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra with conductor Scott Yoo
    St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, Houston
  • Gustav Nordqvist
    "Christmas, Christmas, Radiant Christmas"
    The Swedish Radio Symphony Chorus with conductor Mats Rondin
    Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, Sweden

hour 2

  • Benjamin Britten
    Selections from "A Ceremony of Carols"
    The American Boychoir with conductor Vincent Metallo
  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski
    "Nocturne"
    Pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi
    Portland International Piano Festival, Portland, Oregon
  • Scott Ethier
    "A Mother's Carol"
    VocalEssence with conductor Philip Brunelle and Charles Hodgson, French horn
    Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis
  • Cristobal de Morales
    "O Magnum Mysterium"
    Piffaro
    Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia
  • Traditional (Arranged by Anders Ohrwall)
    "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "Come to the Manger"
    The University of California at Santa Barbara Chamber Choir with conductor Michael Marc Gervais
    St. Anthony's Seminary Chapel, Santa Barbara, California
  • Anthony Holborne
    "As it Fell on a Holie Eve"
    Lutenist Paul O'Dette
    Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • John Frederick Coots
    "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
    The Tokyo FM Boys' Choir with conductor and pianist Megumi Yorita
    Tokyo FM Hall, Tokyo, Japan
  • Anthony Holborne
    "The Night Watch"
    Julien Martin, recorder, with Capriccio Stravagante and conductor Skip Sempe
    St James's Church, Bruges, Belgium
  • Anonymous
    "Alma Redemptoris Mater"
    Chanticleer
    Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford, California
  • Andre Jolivet
    "Pastorales de Noel"
    Members of the Chicago Chamber Musicians
    Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall, Chicago
  • Traditional (Arranged by Mads Tolling)
    "Beautiful Savior"
    Violist Mads Tolling
    Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Joseph Gregorio
    "Dona Nobis Pacem"
    The St. Olaf College Choirs with conductor Christopher Aspaas
    Skoglund Auditorium, Northfield, Minnesota
Today's Fredlines

Fred Child

Music and Silence

Posted at 9:25 PM on August 31, 2009 (5 Comments)

Robert Fripp: "Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."

Aldous Huxley: "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."

Marcel Marceau: "Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music."

Leopold Stokowski (to an audience not providing enough silence): "A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. We provide the music, and you provide the silence."

Former pianist, now anonymous monk: "Silence is my music now."

Edith Sitwell: "My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence."

Music theorist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis: "The same acoustic silence, embedded in two different excerpts, can be perceived dramatically differently."

John Cage, on reaction to his 'silent' piece 4'33": "They missed the point. There's no such thing as silence. What they thought was silence, because they didn't know how to listen, was full of accidental sounds. You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the second, raindrops began patterning the roof, and during the third the people themselves made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out."
Quoted by Richard Kostelanetz in his 2003 book, "Conversing with John Cage."

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