Good news for people with taste

According to NPR, "the fastest-growing segment of music sales in 2006 wasn't rock, dancehall, or hip-hop; it was classical music." (HT: Gideon Strauss.)

Classical radio in Washington, DC has had a somewhat turbulent time of late. First, the city's only classical station switched frequencies because its previous one (the strongest in the area and Arbitron's highest-rated station) was bought out by an all-news format. I thought it had gone off the air altogether, but then I discovered it had moved to a new frequency, albeit a much weaker one. Still, I was glad there was still a classical music option on regular broadcast radio, as I don't want to sign up for XM or Sirius.

Then, a few months ago, I found out that the second station had been bought out by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who planned on turning it into a sports-talk station (of which the city already had three). At the time when I read it in the paper, there were no plans for another classical-format station in the DC area.

Thankfully, however, when the station did switch, I found that one of the city's two NPR stations had changed formats to become the new (and still the only) classical station on the air. As it turns out, this switch has been a positive thing. Because the old station was a for-profit venture, it ran commercials and its DJs tended to play only the most familiar, popular classical works--pieces which can be both great and clichéd at the same time. The new station, because it is public radio, doesn't air commercials and isn't obligated to play only what sells. Now I get to hear things that the old station rarely or never played--organ music, vocal works, baroque and twentieth-century selections, and, on Saturday afternoons, Live from the Met opera performances.

Looks as though classical music--both here in DC and across the country--is alive and well.

Oh, one other thing--check out the Met's new series of opera perfomances broadcast in high definition to movie theaters around the country. You'll get most of the experience of attending a world-class live opera performance, for less than half the cost of the cheapest seats at the Met.

On This Day in History...

...In 1775, Patrick Henry gave the speech that made him famous to the Virginia House of Burgesses, concluding, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Incidentally, I wonder what Mr. Henry would think today of the institution that bears his name? I've wondered that a lot, actually, over the last several years.

Hymn

Leader of faithful souls, and Guide
Of all who travel to the sky,
Come, and with us, even us, abide,
Who would on Thee alone rely;
On Thee alone our spirits stay
While held in life’s uneven sway.

We’ve no abiding city here,
But seek a city out of sight;
Thither our steady course we steer,
Aspiring to the plains of light,
Jerusalem, the saints’ abode,
Whose founder is the living God.

Through Thee, who all our sins hast borne,
Freely and graciously forgiven,
With songs to Zion we return,
Contending for our native heaven,
That palace of our glorious King,
We find it nearer while we sing.

Raised by the breath of love divine,
We urge our way with strength renewed,
The Church of the first-born to join,
We travel to the mount of God;
With joy upon our heads arise,
And meet our Captain in the skies.

~Charles Wesley (1707-1788), in Hymns for Those That Seek and Those That Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Favorite Songwriter/Album

Thanks to my brother-in-law, I've recently discovered the work of singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson. I've only listened to his most recent album (The Far Country, 2005) so far, but that one album is excellent.


I don't generally make a habit of listening to contemporary Christian music. Most of what I hear on the radio is shallow and trite at best; at worst, there's nothing distinctively Christian about it or it's downright blasphemous. However, once in a while, I come across a Christian musician whose work displays a profound understanding of the gospel, love for the church, and a outlook on the world that is soaked in the understanding that Christ is King. Andrew Peterson is one of these.


The Far Country is mainly about death, dying, and the life to come. Not nice or comfortable topics even for most Christians these days, especially not those whose tastes run to what's "safe for the whole family." But Peterson has put together a compilation of songs that shows he understands this life is not as good as it gets, that something far better awaits those who are in Christ, and, paradoxically, that the anticipation of that life makes this life worth living.


Peterson's vision is no pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by sentimentalism, nor is it the product of a depressed, ascetic otherworldliness that sees everything in the present life in shades of grey. He expects that, "when you lay me down to die," he'll miss his family and the memories of a good life lived in the blessings of God. He knows that parting with friends is "the price that I must pay to sail beyond the arms of the havens grey" (a Tolkien reference that will please fans of the Professor's work). Still, he understands that the good things we enjoy in this life are meant to be a foretaste of the joys of the new heavens and the new earth.


The One who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and has already begun the rewnewing work of His kingdom, which will have no end. Andrew Peterson is caught up in it, and with The Far Country, he is helping renew a little more of God's Creation.