Category Archives: Programming
Ancient Journeys
Today, Weds 10 February, join us on a journey across the Ancient World, guided by the ancient and mysterious Piri Reis Map.
We visit Ancient Greece, Rome and beyond to encounter the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We rediscover lost Atlantis, the ancient civilisations of South America, cross the Pacific and even travel to Antarctica and the Moon.
Genre Day: Music of the Baroque
Today, Saturday February 6th, we explore the music of the Baroque era. We’ll be including the work of a wide range of composers. Many will be familiar; other perhaps less so — or they may have written pieces that we know well but have no idea of who composed them — for example English composer Thomas Arne, who wrote Rule Britannia but also a range of other pieces which deserve more interest than is usually paid to them.
The Black Mass: Fridays at 4pm Pacific
Every Friday at 4pm Pacific time (midnight Fri/Sat GMT), join us for an episode from the landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, created at the Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California, over fifty years ago. In 30 chilling tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, The Black Mass brings you some of literature’s most haunting stories, by masters of the craft.
Realised with the minimum of audio equipment, the performances were quite remarkable and trod ground seldom covered by radio drama before — or since. The series includes a little over 30 episodes of eight to 30 minutes each. They will be randomly selected for broadcast.
Note that episodes will not start until the track playing at the top of the hour has finished, so the actual start time of the episode may be a few minutes after the hour.
New Series: Where’ve You Been?
Join Caledonia Skytower and Elrik Merlin on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 12 noon and 4pm Pacific/Second Life Time (8pm and midnight GMT) for Where’ve You Been? — our new series that goes out and about in Second Life, finding interesting places to visit and fun things to do.
We’ll usually cover one attraction in a show, but as this is the very first episode, we’re covering two! There’ll be a new episode every couple of weeks.
Genre Day: The Early Music Show
Today, Weds February 3rd, join us for a day of Early Music from the Renaissance period of North-West Europe. Many of today’s pieces are played on original and replica instruments, and there are some lively modern interpretations too. Composers range from the well known, such as Michael Praetorius and King Henry VIII (well, attributed) to people you may not have heard of.
“Early Music at Waterworks ‑12” by Mikeal Everett is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Piano-issimo
Join us today for a programme of piano music — mainly classical but not entirely.
In addition to some amazing piano concertos and other classical works, we’ll also be playing pieces like the “Denham Concertos” — pieces written to capitalise on the success of Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto from the film Dangerous Moonlight (the film-makers asked Rachmaninov to write a piece but he declined). These include Clive Richardson’s London Fantasia, originally to be titled Coventry Fantasia after the Midland city severely damaged in the Blitz of November 1940, but his publishers told him that London would sell better. This tremendous work musically traces a day in the life of a city at war.
There are other piano pieces from the movies too, but in addition there’s light music, solo and orchestral works, music-hall pieces arranged for piano, and much more. Do tune in!
Image: “piano keys” by mararie licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Genre Day: British Composers
It’s the middle of Winter here in the UK but hopefully you’re able to keep warm inside — and listen to today’s programme, which features music from British composers old and new. Edward German, Richard Harvey, Gerald Finzi, Sir Arthur Bliss, Jon Lord, Christopher Gunning, Vaughan Williams and many more.
Image, “Midwinter” by Lord Skully is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Saturday At The Movies
Stuck at home like everyone? Pouring with rain or snow outside at the same time? Tune in to Virtual Community Radio for Saturday At The Movies, one of our collections of Genre Days, each featuring a different genre of music.
Movies are where most people today hear orchestral music, and there will be plenty of that today. But movie music is a much broader field than that, and today you’ll hear music from the movies of many different kinds, from the very start of the genre (with Camille Saint-Saens) to the latest blockbusters; from orchestral music to rock, to Fifties songs. There is a slight bias towards fantasy and SF movies, but never mind, we all need a bit of an escape these days.…
So… Grab the popcorn and settle down in front of the speakers in the best seat in the house — your own.
Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash
Genre Day: Light Classical
Today on VCR, we’re pleased to present a programme of light classical music, in our first live playout broadcast.
The programme features a wide range of both artists and composers, some well-known and some, perhaps, who are seldom heard of. Listen out for the likes of Tomlinson, Ketelbey, Alwyn, Gunning and Addinsell, for example, to name but a few, and enjoy a day of tuneful, often relaxing orchestral music.
Photo: The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, by
Coming Soon: The Black Mass
Coming shortly to Virtual Community Radio is the landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, created at the Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkeley, CA, over fifty years ago. In 30 chilling tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, The Black Mass brings you some of literature’s most haunting stories, by masters of the craft.
Realised with the minimum of audio equipment, the performances were quite remarkable and trod ground seldom covered by radio drama before — or since. Watch this space for details on when the shows will air. There are 30 episodes of up to 30 minutes each, and each weekly episode will be broadcast twice on the same day, once for UK/European listeners and the other for those in North America.
