radio klassik Stephansdom - George Hunka

Bach from Vienna

I was just finishing up work yesterday when I turned on radio klassik Stephansdom and got something I didn’t think I needed. On a special broadcast to recognize the 50th anniversary of the death of Hans Swarowsky, the Vienna radio station presented a restored recording of the conductor’s St. Matthew’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. I treasure my CD of John Eliot Gardner’s recording, but Swarowsky’s 1967 performance with the Wiener Symphoniker and the Wiener Akademie Kammerchor was absolutely stunning. You can listen to it yourself here. (For those of you whose German is a little rusty, just click on “Sendung nachhören.”)

radio klassik Stephansdom’s September Spendentag is coming up in just a few days and you’ll read more about it then, but the very fact that rkS will present a recording like this without commercial or other interruption — all three hours of it — is one of the many things that make rkS special. You needn’t wait until September 18 to donate, either. I wrote more about radio klassik Stephansdom here.

My five minutes and 25 seconds of fame

A special birthday gift this past weekend was a shout-out from radio klassik Stephansdom, and needless to say I was flattered and honored. They were also kind enough to accommodate my request for Scott Joplin’s “Reflection Rag” from my wife’s Syncopated Musings CD of a few years back. A tip of my hat, then, to Ursula Magnes, Christoph Wellner, and the rest of the gang at rkS. You can hear both their kind words and the music below.

Wallets out

It is a rare day that I can solicit donations to organizations in both Vienna and Philadelphia, and this is the day.

Tomorrow, March 13, radio klassik Stephansdom will be holding its second fundraising drive of the year — and this month the theme is spring, the season. The Vienna-based station is going all out tomorrow with special offers and programming (Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring will be shoehorned in there, I’m sure), along with a chance for you to call in to your favorite hosts, not to mention a report from Christoph Wellner and the ongoing success of the campaign. I’ve written about radio klassik Stephansdom before, so I hope you’ll step up and donate here. (Though if you don’t subscribe to international calling or don’t know German, you may want to forego the call-in.)

Closer to home, the Pen & Pencil Club of Philadelphia, one of the nation’s oldest private press associations, has launched a GoFundMe page to cover a few pressing bills. In addition to this, the Club is seeking new members, and don’t let the fact that you don’t live in Philadelphia deter you — you’ll always be welcome when you drop by the city for a few days and want to enjoy a comfortable, gregarious drink with the gentlepeople of the press. You can donate here and learn more about the club here. I’ve written briefly about the Club before too.