It's like reading back issues of Time from the Nixon Administration.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 10:00am

1. Leonard Bernstein: Mass (1971)
Additional texts by Stephen Schwarz & Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein - conductor, Alan Titus - celebrant, The Norman Scribner Choir, The Berkshire Boy Choir
Sony, SM2K 63089
119'
(Subtitled "A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players & Dancers". Egomaniacal kitsch? Innovative spiritual statement? The theatricality may not be that far removed from the pre-Reformation mass celebrated in the cathedrals of Europe.)

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

2. Andrea Luchesi: Sonata in due tempi in fa magg.
4:55

3. Giambattista Tagliasassi: Sonata a due tastadure in sol magg.
4:21

4. Giambattista Tagliasassi: Adagio in re min.
5:13

5. Ignazio Spergher: Sinfonia in do magg.
10:45

6. Ignazio Spergher: Pastorale in re magg.
8:22

7. Girolamo Schiavon: Allegro maestoso in do magg.
3:19

8. Niccolò Moretti: Sonata ad uso sinfonia in re magg.
4:12

9. Niccolò Moretti: Sonata ad uso elevazione in fa magg.
3:26

10. Giambattista Botti: Toccata in re min.
3:00

11. Gaetano Nave: Sinfonia in do magg.
4:31

12. Gaetano Nave: Sonata ad uso orchestra in do magg.
3:59

Tracks 2-12
Amedeo Aroma - organ
Settecento Organistico Trevigiano: Sonate e Sinfonie per organo
Rivoalto, CRR 9811
(Yes, the whole CD! Played on a historic 1787 organ in the church of St. Leonard in Treviso, Italy. A collection of keyboard pieces composed in the late 18th-early 19th century, orchestrated on pipe organ. The avant-garde of its time, distancing itself from the excesses of the Baroque.)

Music for Yom ha-Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Arnold Schönberg: String Trio op.45 (1946)
Janneke van der Meer - violin, Henk Guittart - viola, Hans Woudenberg - cello
Philips, 416 306-2
19:34

2. Mieczysław Weinberg: Symphony No.18 "War - there is no word more cruel" (1982-85)
Texts by Sergei Orlov, Alexander Tvardovsky & traditional folk
Vladimir Fedoseyev - conductor, USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Latvian State Academic Chorus, Imants Tsepitis - choirmaster
M. Vainberg Vol.6
Olympia, OCD 589
43:07

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

3. Steve Reich: Different Trains (1988)
Kronos Quartet: David Harrington - violin, John Sherba - violin, Hank Dutt - viola, Joan Jeanrenaud - cello
Elektra/Nonesuch, 7559-79176-2
27'

4. Ruth Lomon: Chor der Waisen (2001)
Text by Nelly Sachs
Jane Ring Frank - conductor, Jayne West - soprano, Frank Kelley - tenor, The Boston Secession
Afterlife: German Choral Meditations on Mortality
Brave Records, BRAV-0508
3:54

5. Ruth Lomon: Transport (2006)
Text by Else Dormitzer, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, John R. Saunders, Vera Weislitzova & Dan Pagis
Jane Ring Frank - conductor, Adriana Repetto - soprano, Kristi Vrooman - soprano, Mary Gerbi - mezzo soprano, Marc J. DeMille - baritone, The Boston Secession
Surprised by Beauty: Minimalism in Choral Music
Boston Secession, BRAV0720
6:45

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

6. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Symphony No.1 "Versuch eines Requiems" (1935, rev. 1954-55)
Text by Walt Whitman
Ingo Metzmacher - conductor, Cornelia Kallisch - contralto, Bamberger Symphoniker
EMI, 7243 5 55424 2 7
26'

7. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E minor "Trauer" (c. 1772)
Adam Fischer - conductor, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
Haydn: The Symphonies Vol.3
Nimbus Records, NI 5530/34
22:56

8. J. S. Bach: Prelude & Fugue in F# minor BWV 883 from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II (c. 1742)
Glenn Gould - piano
CBC Records, PSCD 2007
6:53

How does the world end? With a bang or a shrug? (One of my correspondents suggests a "horrible choking sound".)

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Antonio Amenduni: Il pianto dell'orfano (No.2)
11:18

2. Antonio Amenduni: Quante lacrime (No.4)
12:36

3. Antonio Amenduni: Eterno riposo (No.14) (1976)
9:42

4. Antonio Amenduni: Tristezza (No.20)
8:36

Tracks 1-4
Michele Di Puppo - conductor, Orchestra di fiati Ruvomusica
Passione e morte: Le musiche della Settimana Santa a Ruvo di Puglia: Composizioni di Antonio e Alessandro Amenduni
Ruvomusica, RMCD 001
(Slow marches for Holy Week. Numbers identify the marches in the band's playbook. I have long advocated a municipal wind band for Winnipeg, on city payroll, to perform at shopping centre openings and the demolition of heritage buildings.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

5. Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.4 (1935-36)
Valery Gergiev - conductor, Kirov Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
Philips, 470 842-2
64:12
(Music to put you through the emotional wringer. I'm reminded of a line by Lorca: Ya luchan la paloma y el leopardo [Now the dove and the leopard are wrestling]. Only mugs'd bet on the dove, right?)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

6. Lorenzo Ferrero: La Nueva España (1991-99)
Takuo Yuasa - conductor, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Naxos, 8.555044
71:33
(It sucked to be you in the 16th century.)

In memoriam Horst and Shirley.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Carlo Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responsories for Good Friday (1611)
Livio Picotti - conductor, Centro Musica Antica di Padova
Argo, 430 832-2
37'

2. Jean Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela (1893)
Eugene Ormandy - conductor, The Philadelphia Orchestra
EMI, CDC 7 477612 2
9:03
(The Finns' conception of the underworld sounds a lot like the fishin' and ashes-scatterin' country of Northwest Ontario.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

3. J. S. Bach: Cantata "Ich habe genug" BWV 82 (1727, rec. 1950)
Anthony Bernard - conductor, Hans Hotter - baritone, Geraint Jones - organ, Sidney Sutcliffe - oboe, Philharmonia Orchestra
EMI, CDH 7 63198 2
26'
(Nunc dimittis, not satis habeō.)

4. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.26 "Lamentatione" (1768)
Nicholas Ward - conductor, Northern Chamber Orchestra
Haydn: Symphonies Vol.6
Naxos, 8.550721
15'
(Three quarters of a symphony, missing the finale. I get a certain existential satisfaction out of that.)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

5. James Barnes: Symphony No.3 "The Tragic" (1994)
Marc Lange - conductor, Bläserphilharmonie Heilbronn
Bläserphilharmonie Heilbronn: Konzertmittschnitt vom 26. April 2008
Sbc-Music, nn
40'

6. John Tavener: ... Depart in Peace (1997)
Clio Gould - director & solo violin, Patricia Rozario - soprano, Matthew Rooke - tampura, BT Scottish Ensemble
Linn Records, CKD 085
25:06