Main: Music for Shakespeare

Today's programme features a wide range of music, but around one common theme: the plays of William Shakespeare were the inspiration. The works you'll hear today range from classical – for example Tchaikovsky's fantasy overtures for Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest – to the modern: Gryphon's Midnight Mushrumps, also composed for The Tempest but this time by Richard Harvey for Peter Hall's 1973 National Theatre Company production; and a great deal more, such as Alfred Reed's evocative Shakespearian pieces for wind band. We'll also hear a selection of period pieces from Philip Pickett and the Musicians of the Globe - the marvellous recreation of the Globe Theatre in London.

Then please join us at 11am and 7pm Pacific Time (19:00 and 03:00 in the UK) for the latest instalments in our exciting radio adventures - Part 2 of Jack Flanders in Dreams of Bali and Part 2 of Ruby 8 - Good King Kapoor in The ZBS Radio Hour.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in


For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Main: From the Library: Music for Shakespeare

Today's programme features a wide range of music, but around one common theme: the plays of William Shakespeare were the inspiration. The works you'll hear today range from classical – for example Tchaikovsky's fantasy overtures for Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest – to the modern: Gryphon's Midnight Mushrumps, also composed for The Tempest but this time by Richard Harvey for Peter Hall's 1973 National Theatre Company production; and a great deal more, such as Alfred Reed's evocative Shakespearian pieces for wind band. We'll also hear a selection of period pieces from Philip Pickett and the Musicians of the Globe - the marvellous recreation of the Globe Theatre in London.

Then please join us at 11am and 7pm Pacific Time (19:00 and 03:00 in the UK) for the latest instalments in our exciting radio adventures - the final episode, Episode 12, of Return to Inverness and the penultimate week of Ruby 6: The Illusionati in The ZBS Radio Hour.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Main: From the Library - The Early Music Show

In today's programme of Early Music, we feature music of the Renaissance from across Western Europe, from Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

You'll be hearing both "loud" and "soft" bands - the former including brass instruments such as the sackbutt (a proto-trombone), shawm (a wooden reed instrument that is the predecessor of the oboe, brought to Europe from the Arab lands), rauschpfeife (an astonishingly loud capped-reed instrument in which, like a bagpipe chanter, the reed is enclosed and never touches the lips, in contrast to the shawm) and various forms of percussion, usually heard outdoors – not to mention bagpipes; while the latter includes quieter indoor instruments like the crumhorn, recorders, various stringed instruments and occasional keyboards.

In this programme we will be including authentic renditions of Early Music by some of the masters of the field, such as the late David Munrow, Ulsamer Collegium, the Baltimore Consort, Philip Pickett and Musica Reservata, covering both sacred and secular music. We will be including an extensive selection of music by Michael Praetorius from his vast Terpsichore dance collection, played by several different artists.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

From the Library: The Early Music Show - Music for Shakespeare

Today's programme features pieces from the  Renaissance and Baroque repertoires written to accompany Shakespeare's plays, along with other music of these periods that has been used in conjunction with the plays.

In addition we'll hear a few other pieces in a Shakespearian vein, with some contemporary quotations from theatre-goers. These, along with quite a lot of the music today, come from the wonderful albums released by the Musicians of Shakespeare's Globe, the marvellous recreation of the Globe Theatre on London's South Bank, where you can experience Shakespeare in as close to the original theatrical environment as is possible today. For more details on Shakespeare's Globe, please visit their web site.

Then join us at 11am and 7pm Pacific Time (19:00 and 03:00 GMT) for the ZBS Radio Hour with the second part of our exciting new adventures from Jack Flanders and Ruby..

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Illustration: John William Waterhouse's painting of Miranda and The Tempest (1916) 

We Wish You a gullar sahir Christmas!

Today we will be bringing you a selection of seasonal music from many of the genres we cover on gullar sahir's Main Stream, from Early Music to New Age, including classical, folk and other genres.

In addition we'll be bringing you radio drama in two segments: The ZBS Radio Hour at its regular times - 11am and 7pm Pacific (19:00 and 03:00 GMT) where we will be bringing our two current adventures to a close*; and also the complete gullar sahir Players presentation of A Christmas Carol, in three parts, back to back.

Included in the music programming today will be a special treat: a compilation of excellent Christmas music, mainly in a classical and Early Music vein, originally compiled by John Whiting, a staff member of the famous KPFA radio station in Berkeley in the 1960s. He writes,

"When I joined the staff of the UC Berkeley Music Library in 1958, I was asked to put together a selection of appropriate music for the University Library’s Christmas party. For a couple of delightful weeks I spent my spare time going through various record collections, including my own, and making a selection of Christmas music, ancient and modern, that avoided the usual war-horses. (Bing Crosby’s lugubrious rendition of Silent Night was conspicuous by its absence.) The tapes were played every subsequent Christmas.

"Four years later at KPFA I put them up as miscellany to fill the odd gaps in the broadcast schedule during the Christmas season. In 1966 I brought the masters with me to London, where, as sound technology evolved, I transferred them successively to compact cassette, then to minidisk, then to CD and ultimately into mp3..."

John Whiting's compilation lasts for two hours and will be broadcast at 4am and 4pm Pacific (noon and midnight GMT). His programme notes list some of the pieces included in the programme:

• Corelli, Christmas Concerto   First of several recordings by I Musici
• A Mediaeval Christmas    New York Pro Musica, conducted by Noah Greenberg. 
• Traditional French carols    Choral/instrumental arrangements from an LP that a friend had brought back from France.
• Benjamin Britten, Ceremony of Carols   Conducted by the composer. (The pronounciation and intonation of the Danish boys choir leaves something to be desired.)
• Traditional Early English Carols   Performed by Alfred Deller and the Deller Consort.
• Hans Leo Hassler, Motets   Deutsche Grammophon Archiv.
• Hector Berlioz, L’Enfance du Christ   Boston Symphony, conducted by Charles Munch.
• J. S. Bach, Christmas Oratorio, Opening Chorus & Sinfonia   Deutsche Grammophon Archiv ARC3079. This was one  of the great German conductor Fritz Lehmann’s last recordings before his death in 1955; Gunther Arndt conducted the last two of the six cantatas in 1956. I still have the original LPs.
• Music of Medieval Court and Countryside  Russell Oberlin, New York Pro Musica conducted by Noah Greenberg. Half a century ago the fans of Russell Oberlin and Alfred Deller were as passionate in their divergence as the followers of Stravinsky and Schoenberg. We in the Oberlin camp prized his instrumental purity and austerity and his extended range, totally free of falsetto; today I metaphorically embrace them both.

Here's a quick-reference guide to today's special programming elements:

4am PST/12:00 GMT: A KPFA Christmas

11am PST/19:00 GMT: ZBS Radio Hour

1pm PST/21:00 GMT: The gullar sahir Players Present: A Christmas Carol 

4pm PST/00:00 GMT: A KPFA Christmas

7pm PST/03:00 GMT: ZBS Radio Hour

9pm PST/05:00 GMT: The gullar sahir Players Present: A Christmas Carol

* Following today's programme, the ZBS Radio Hour will be on hiatus until the last Saturday in January, when we will be beginning two new adventures.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

From the Library: The Early Music Show with Elrik Merlin

Today on gullar sahir we take you back to the Renaissance period with a selection of pieces, generally of an up-beat nature, from Western Europe.

Today's programme is produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the program now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Today's music is presented from the music library of Elrik Merlin.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

From the Library: Early Music

Today for your enjoyment we present a variety of early music: loud to quiet; secular to sacred; vocal and instrumental.

From the Library is produced by Radio Riel in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the program now in-world at http://music.radioriel.org, or click one of the buttons below. Today's program is presented by Otenth Paderborn.

Tune in:

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

From the Library: The Early Music Show

Elrik Merlin presents a programme of Early Music from the Mediæval period onwards, including traditional renditions from artists such as David Munrow, Musica Reservata and Ulsamer Collegium, to modern-style versions from the likes of Wolgemut, Mince Pye and Corvus Corax.

Today's programme is produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the program now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Today's music is presented from the music library of Elrik Merlin.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Please note that from next week, Elrik Merlin's weekday show on gullar sahir's Main Stream will move from Mondays to Tuesdays. He'll continue to present the Main Stream show on Saturdays.

The Early Music Show: A Renaissance Extravaganza

In this month's edition of The Early Music Show, we're featuring dance music of the Renaissance from Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England. In addition we'll hear a variety of songs of the period.

Then at 11am and 7pm Pacific (7pm and 3am UK time) we present the seventh installments of our two ZBS adventures, The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders (at the top of the hour) and Ruby in The Underworld (at 30 minutes past the hour). Our apologies that these programmes ran a little late last week. To listen, join us for a cup of tea at our listening party in the delightful Conservatory of the Clarendon in New Babbage (http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Babbage/218/29/104).

And of course you can hear the entire day's programming at home on gullar sahir's Main Stream.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in association with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen now at http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.