How do you compose a birthday tune for a beloved cultural institution in a midlife crisis? “Well, I myself am middle-aged. So I can sympathize with the sad situation at the station. I feel like an anachronism–just like the station.” Jan Bach is talking about WFMT, which earlier this year commissioned from him a string quartet to commemorate its 40th anniversary. “There was a time not too long ago when people didn’t use four-letter words, when civility was valued. There was no heavy-metal music or simpleminded minimalism. No desecration of music into commercial jingles. Now even FMT is forced to accept canned advertisements–in order to survive as an anachronism. So I titled my piece Anachronisms. Intentionally provocative.”
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The premiere of Anachronisms will be broadcast live today at 5:30 PM on WFMT (98.7), capping the station’s daylong commemoration. The piece will also be played during the Vermeer Quartet’s season opener (which also includes quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn) at 3 PM Sunday, December 15, at DePaul University’s Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden. Tickets are $20; for more info call 242-6237.
