Today starts out as another beautiful morning. Glad I was able to enjoy a little of it already, since if the forecasters are to be believed, looks like we’ll be dodging raindrops again most of the week ahead. Good timing, however, as the break in the weather coincided with my first days off since Easter Sunday. Now that I have my weekends back at least until fall quarter, maybe I can post more regularly here.
Granted, many of my memories from the latter half of the 1970’s aren’t all that great. But a pleasant one that has stuck in memory involves listening to the local public radio outlet, where during the 6 AM hour every weekday morning, Bill Engelke would play one of the treasures from Claudio Monteverdi’s capstone collection, Selva morale e sprituale, or “Moral and Spiritual Forest.” What glorious works! I always had mixed feelings when the doxology started in the psalm and other religious settings; it was often one of the more melodious section of the piece, but at the same time it signaled the end of the composition was near. (I always thought Bill, now retired or at least not on the radio that I know of, was one of the better morning show music hosts I have had the pleasure of hearing. Not quite in the league of WFMT’s Carl Grapentine, but as they say, you always remember your first one.)
Anyway, most happily this morning, another really good radio music host, Robert Aubry Davis, is devoting his weekly VOX Choral block on SiriusXM to a complete performance of Selva morale e sprituale. Playing now, by the way — if you read this post right away, you can catch the end of it! Monteverdi’s music works well for me in any setting, though this morning it fit in especially nicely for a brisk reservoir walk with the dogs. (Monteverdi’s no dog, though. He easily makes my list of favorite four composers all time, alongside Bach, Handel, and Telemann.)
Enjoy your Sunday!
Critical Condition 
Leave a Reply