By Mark Schreiner
The Great Classical Music you hear on The Classical Station comes from a variety of sources. But before you hear a note, all of it plays first through Peggy Powell‘s headphones.
For her, WCPE’s music librarian, the job is a matter of judgment — but not judging. The essence of the work lies in applying her finely tuned attention to detail, honed over years of working in school libraries.
For a community broadcaster that has operated since 1978, Powell’s position is relatively new. Over the last few years, she’s worked in the station’s Music Department, helping Music Director Emily Moss curate an ever-expanding collection of Great Classical Music.
With support from our wonderful listeners, Powell and Moss add 50 to 75 new works to an already vast digital music library every month — nearly 1,000 a year.
Recently, their work has focused on shoring up thin spots in that collection, including adding more standard hymns for broadcast during Great Sacred Music.
50 to 75 new works are added every month — nearly 1,000 a year.
Also, they’ve added more than 50 full ballets to the library, enabling the launch of a new show, hosted by Powell, Saturdays on Point.
And, the commitment to playing the latest in new classical releases on Preview! continues.
The Music Department is always scanning lists of award-winning recordings and previewing new releases made available through professional relationships with performers, conductors and publishers. Just one example, Powell said, is conductor JoAnn Falletta, who provides the station with preview copies of new Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra recordings.
Listeners impact the library through their requests, Powell said. Dozens and dozens of tracks have been added to the permanent library to fulfill new-to-us requests from listeners for All-Request Friday and the Saturday Evening Request Program.
A listener asked: Do you ever play any Zabeleta?
A typical interaction with a request occurred not too long ago, Powell said. A listener in the New York City area wrote that they preferred The Classical Station for musical content they couldn’t find on the airwaves closer to home. They added: Do you ever play any Zabeleta?
Powell appreciated the listener’s feedback. Finding few examples in the library, she and Moss set out to acquire and curate quality recordings by Nicanor Zabaleta (1907-1993), the Spanish harpist known for his exciting playing of 18th-century harp music. These recordings are now in regular rotation on The Classical Station.
New works for the library are chosen by Moss and are always in the Great Classical Music format.
Powell uses her judgment, honed over 20 years working in school libraries, to ensure that what’s added to the library meets expectations for high-quality performance and sound and that the details of each piece of music, upon which music scheduling and announcing rely, are accurate and complete.
Every note, then, of every new track plays through Powell’s headphones. She listens first for any recording errors. Each track must be sound-clean, and the transitions between tracks must be smooth. If it passes that test, there’s a little light digital sound editing, including the station’s standard lengths for short periods of silence between movements and at the end of a piece.
The polished digital tracks are then stored, along with text data including title, composer, ensemble and performers, in a software solution that makes the music available for scheduling. (The station’s 15,000-plus CD library serves as a backup to the digital-stored version, although increasingly new classical recordings are available only as digital downloads.)
One part of a deeply committed Music Department team
Powell is one part of a deeply committed team. Richard McCorkell whom you hear in the mornings during Rise and Shine, works with Dr. Jay Pierson to produce Thursday Night Opera House broadcasts. Other members of the team are working on a project to remaster and permanently archive a huge back catalog of opera programs created 20-plus years ago by the late Al Ruocchio.
All this work happens behind the scenes, so that when you want to experience Great Classical Music, all you need to do is turn on The Classical Station.