The Voice of Firestone

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Bach, Sarabande*

Returning on a rain-soaked QEW from a long day’s outing to Hamilton’s wonderfully derelict Firestone Warehouse Complex with some of the TLR gang, the penny suddenly dropped: The Voice of Firestone!

From 1949-1963, The Voice of Firestone was synonymous with the finest of classical music programming, on both radio and television. What a legacy, and kudos to Firestone for their visionary sponsorship of music, utilizing leading-edge media of the day! Judging by the state of these massive, emptied warehouses, however, there won’t be any such sponsorships forthcoming in the foreseeable future!

Here is the 3rd movement of Bach’s Partita in a-, his rather elusive and poignant Sarabande for solo flute. Okay, so this may not be opera, but nonetheless it’s delivered in the finest ‘bel canto’ playing style I could muster, especially considering that the temperature was hovering near freezing and that security might approach at any moment. Water drips somewhere from far above and wind tugs at some loose sheet metal cladding as the sound of my flute melds into the middle-distance of this vast interior space: the new voice of Firestone, circa December 2008.

Next time I pack the Puccini!

     * Some stubborn soundfiles aren’t uploading easily for some mysterious reason…apologies for any inconveneince as I attempt to resolve this tech glitch! Some readers are able to open and listen to these soundfiles (the ones with the icon should work fine).

       If you are able to open any of these files that have written text instead of an icon, unfortunately it will lead you away from the main page…but at least you’ll have an idea what the hec I’m talking about!! Working on it, and please check back soon!