Welcome to Shift, where Tom Allen takes you on a daily musical journey from the stalwarts of Classical music to the cutting edge of Contemporary tunes. Join us here on CBC music for a round-up of the stories of the day, some videos of music (or maybe just videos interesting to music fans) and a place to speak your voice.
Wednesday October 31th
It's Halloween! And SHIFT is dressing up a little bit. We're starting off the show with a military march from Franz Schubert. Schubert never came close to military service. This is simply his best soldier costume.
(our on-air broadcast dressed this piece up as a orchestra symphony, performed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra)
Camille Saint-Saens knew a thing or two about dressing up with friends. His most famous piece, "Carnaval des Animaux," was based on the concept. He brought the piece to a small group of friends that came together to rehearse. Each movement, based on a different animal, was meant to caricature one of his friends. Imagine his surprise when his party gift exploded to become his most recognized work.
(our on-air broadcast featured a movement from "Carnaval Des Animaux" performed by the Festival Ensemble of the Festival of Sound)
But we won't just be dressing up. Some of these piece are legitimately terrifying. If you're looking to bolster your classical music Halloween playlist, we're your spot. We'll be playing the brooding movement from the opera Freischutz, "La Valse" from Maurice Ravel, and a piece from Sergei Prokofiev that honours the mysterious and evil mythological Russian monster: the Chuzbog.
Music for Halloween seems to come in eras. The Monster Mash exploded in the disco era, but we haven't heard a lot of songs after that. Before it, even, you'd have to go a far way for classic Halloween tunes. The 30s sound, for whatever reason, seemed to perfectly harness the Halloween atmosphere. To honour those tunes, we'll play "Headless Horseman" from Kay Starr, and "Skeleton in the Closet" by the Junior Jug Band.
What's that scary movie that hit you the hardest? Is there a movie that made you leave lights on, just to ease your mind? Tom shared his experience of watching The Blair Witch Project late at night, which kept him awake for days. What's the movie experience that made you jump and things that go bump in the night?
And as we regroup from Hurricane Sandy, we think of those right in the hardest parts of the weather. An individual family in New York will have enough hardships to deal with in the wake of the storm. The area impacted housed millions upon millions.
You can contact us at SHIFT with your ideas, questions, or anything else by sending us a message on our Facebook page. Through email, you can reach show producers Alison Howard ( alison.howard@cbc.ca ), Alex Redekop ( alex.redekop@cbc.ca ) or Pete Morey ( peter.morey@cbc.ca )