Explorations

*If you are interested (and please do) in submitting a recording for this, scroll down to the bottom of the page for details on submission.*

For the schedule previous schedule of Explorations Season Two, click onward.

Its my humble opinion that the classical music world is too often in search of the familiar and the polished.  Music purchasers seek out the ‘perfect’ performance and music critics spend most of their time detailing the merits of a particular performance since the repertoire is often well known.

The trouble with this is that when people beat the dead horse of pop music vs. art music they often want to bring up that classical music challenges the intellect in a way that pop music cannot.  Unfortunately, when all that is peddled by some ensembles is the well known and familiar, the amount an audience is really challenged becomes limited.

That is not to say that the canon should be totally thrown out.  All I am arguing for is more a balance towards the unfamiliar.  Personally, my imagination is massaged much more by something I have never heard before, and I hope I can offer such an experience to people like me.

With all that said, I am very happy to announce that this Spring I am going to begin a new series on Endless Possibilities: Explorations.  During this series I will be highlighting a new work – from international composers to promising students.  In some cases I will have a professional studio recording, but in others a live performance or demo recording will be the best available.  In the spirit of college radio, these pieces are in fact explorations: spanning the range of challenging electro-acoustic works to simple piano melodies that do not waste time aiming for the emotions.

I will have a schedule of pieces and composers shortly, once I can get a good idea of what the Spring schedule will be like.   Please check back soon for that information.  I would also like to thank call4scores.blogspot.com for advertising this endeavor on their site and everyone who has already submitted something.

Explorations going to be a regular series on Endless Possibilities this Spring for as long as I continue to receive recordings.

Explorations: Call for Recordings of New Works

The essence of college radio is the ability to explore the possibilities of radio for students. With this in mind, the classical music program on WRSU 88.7 FM (www.wrsu.org) is looking for recordings of new completed works for an ongoing series during a weekly broadcast that will begin in the Spring of 2009. Ideally, works should broadly be in the spirit of exploring the possibilities of music.

There is no deadline for submissions.

Guidelines

• Works may be in a variety and instrumentation (including electro-acoustic works)
• The only requirement for recording quality is that it is representative, in the composer’s mind, of the work. The recorded performance can be a professional recording or a reading of the work.
• A short biography of the composer, a synopsis of the work, and the performers on the recording is required and will be read over the air.
• Works may be of any length under a half hour. Excerpts of a work will also be accepted.

There is no award for works played during the series. Prior to being played, the composer will be given the date and time the work will be aired. A future website for the series will also identify the composer and work as being a part of the series.

Submissions will only be accepted electronically in mp3 format to douglas.laustsen@gmail.com If the work is accepted, an uncompressed version of the audio will be requested for airing.