You know you're the type to look in people's medicine cabinets. We all do it. I have another quirk. I look all through people's books, records, and CDs. I don't care how they brush their teeth. I'm fascinated by what people read and what people hear. Toothpaste is toothpaste. You can tell more about a person by how s/he feeds their souls. That's what I love about * BY REQUEST*. I learn more and more about people I can't see, but who listen. Take Dan Locklair. A listener wants to hear his Symphony of Seasons, written in 2002. Locklair is composer-in-residence at Wake Forest University. I have long loved his church music. A buddy of mine premiered one of his pieces years ago. I didn't know the Symphony, but it is very much worth knowing better. The request specifies the Summer movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPIphctKlL8 (Recognize the main theme? Sumer is icumen in-from the 13th century) One lady wrote in asking for two pieces to honor her mother, a retired music teacher. The honoree would like to hear a Handel Concerto and the Rascal Tango. The latter stumped me. I did some investigating and five bucks says this is the tango in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlFFeIv4IFM (This piece is a delight, whoever asks for it) Keep requesting! I want to know more. I haven't thought of Locklair in a few years (sad) and my tango is rusty (sadder). People's taste in music comes from their hearts, no matter how they brush their teeth.
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.