One of the leading composers for guitar of our time, John Duarte remains best known for his folk song suites for the instrument. The most recent of these, The Joan Baez Suite, op.144, was written for the great guitarist, Sharon Isbin, and brings together some iconic songs associated with the legendary folk singer in superb arrangements. We'll hear that this afternoon, as the work's dedicatee, Sharon Isbin, performs from her recording, Journey to the New World.
That will be paired with Mark O'Connor's remarkable Piano Trio No. 1, Poets and Prophets—"inspired," according to the note in the score, "by Johnny Cash, champion for society's downtrodden," and exploring through music various facets of "The Man in Black" and his world—from the Eroica Trio's recording An American Journey.
In between those two will be the afternoon's major work, the Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler, one of the composer's most beguiling creations, sometimes known as "Song of the Night," for its inclusion of two different movements both titled "Night Music," and further marked by Mahler's use of unconventional instruments, as displayed by the scoring of tenor horn, cowbells, guitar and mandolin.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
