WNYC’s first-ever Must Have Festivalan on-air music festival designed to help you create the classical music library of your dreams. Find the Must Have picks below of WNYC hosts and special guest personalities from the world of music.
Click the listen links and enjoy these special episodes of Evening Music again and again.
Airdates and Special Guests on Evening Music
Monday, November 28
Jonathan Schwartz | Wu Han | George Preston
Tuesday, November 29
Kurt Andersen | Peter Schickele
Wednesday, November 30
Leonard Lopate | Rob Kapilow | Elena Park
Thursday, December 1
Amy Eddings | James Conlon | Margo McLean
Friday, December 2
Sara Fishko | George Steel | Arun Rath
Saturday, December 3
Brian Lehrer | John Zorn | Ed Haber
Sunday, December 4
Jad Abumrad | Soterios Johnson | Julie Burstein
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Jonathan Schwartz, WNYC Host: The Saturday Show and The Sunday Show I have always been embedded in classical music. To me, it is not classical, it is essential. On Monday night, November 28, I've been offered the opportunity to listen to and talk about some of the pieces that hold deep meaning (feeling) for me. This, on Margaret's program at 7PM. > J.S. Bach: Suite No. 2 for Unaccompanied Cello Mstislav Rostropovich (EMI/Angel 55365) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, “Pathetique” Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (RCA 60438) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15, Op. 144 Borodin String Quartet (EMI/Angel 49270) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 Jascha Heifetz with Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (RCA 68980) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Mozart: String Quartet No. 23 in F, K. 590 Alban Berg Quartet (EMI/Angel 49971) » Purchase at Amazon.com > George Gershwin: Preludes Arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle on Verve (from The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Book) (Verve 3145198322) |
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> Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419 499-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Martha Argerich/Berliner Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado Prokofiev: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (Deutsche Grammophon 415 062-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Emerson String Quartet: Shostakovich String Quartets (Deutsche Grammophon 289 463 284-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Da-Hong Seetoo/Wu Han/David Finckel Tchaikovsky/Kodály (ArtistLed 19601-2) > Theresa Stratas: The Unknown Kurt Weill (Nonesuch 79019) > Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore Schubert: Die Winterreise (Deutsche Grammophon 47421) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Emerson String Quartet/Mstislav Rostropovich Schubert: String Quintet in C Major (Deutsche Grammophon 431 792-2)) > Music@Menlo/2002: Messiaen Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Music@Menlo archival recording) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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George Preston, WNYC Music Director If you like great singing, you’re going to love this hour. It features a stunning live performance of Wagner from Bayreuth, the plaintive tenor of Josef Schmidt, cut down in the prime of life, a serene Faure choral masterpiece, and a profound Bach solo from Benjamin Luxon. And sure, I’ll have some instrumental faves as well. > Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, Act I Lauritz Melchior/Lotte Lehmann/ Erich Leinsdorf/ Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera (Guild 2215) > Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A, Opus 92 Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Philharmonic (DG 447400) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Giacomo Puccini: “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca Joseph Schmidt (Angel/EMI 64673) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Fauré: Requiem, Agnus Dei Stephen Cleobury/ Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/ /English Chamber Orchestra (Angel/EMI 49880) > J.S. Bach: “Mache dich, mein Herze, rein” St. Matthew Passion Benjamin Luxon/Johannes Somary/ English Chamber Orchestra (Vanguard Classics 4060/1/2) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Kurt Andersen, WNYC Host: Studio 360 Most of my eight choices were revelations when I first heard themcomposers I hadn't known (Raymond Scott, Zez Confrey, Michael Nyman) or unfamiliar pieces by familiar composers (Beethoven's “Grosse Fuge,” Britten's “Four Sea Interludes”). And to my slight surprise all but two are from the 20th century. > Ludwig van Beethoven: Grosse Fuge in B-flat Major The Alban Berg Quartet (Angel/EMI 69792) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Eric Satie: Gnossienne No. 5 Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Decca/London 473620) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Zez Confrey: Fourth Dimension Eteri Andjaparidze (Naxos 559016) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Raymond Scott: “Powerhouse” (Basta 1998 or Stash CD-543) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Britten: “Four Sea Interludes” Bernstein, Boston SO (DGG 431768) » Purchase at Amazon.com > John Adams: “Short Ride In A Fast Machine” Edo de Waart, San Francisco SO (Nonesuch 79144) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Harold Budd: “Breathless…I” and “Breathless….2” (New Albion) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Michael Nyman: “Piano Concerto, III. The Hut” John Lenehan/Takuo Yuasa/Ulster Orchestra (Naxos 554168) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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> Mozart: Symphony No. 1 in E-flat, K. 16 Erich Leinsdorf and the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of London (MCA 9808) > Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments Igor Stravinsky and the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra (Arkadia 766.2, CD 2) > Mozart: Divertimento in E-flat, K. 563 Jascha Heifetz/William Primrose/Emanuel Feuermann (RCA Victor 61740) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Webern: Variations for Piano Maurizio Pollini (DG 419 202) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Ravel: L’enfant et les sortileges Lorin Maazel and the French National Radio Orchestra with various soloists (DG 423 718) > Lennie Tristano: Turkish Mambo Lennie Tristano Rhino 71595 > Mozart: “Un aura amorosa” from Cosi fan tutte Richard Lewis with Fritz Busch and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Guild 2303) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Gershwin/Davis: “My Man’s Gone Now” from Porgy and Bess Miles Davis with Gil Evans and orchestra (Columbia 40647) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Leonard Lopate, WNYC Host: The Leonard Lopate Show > J. S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 (excerpt) Matt Haimovitz (Oxingale 2000) > Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow (gospel song) J. Robert Bradley (Shanachie 6005) > Robert Schumann, “Ich hab im Traum geweinet” Dichterliebe José van Dam and Dalton Baldwin (Forlane 16595) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Mellin-Wood, My One and Only Love John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (ImpulseGRD-107) » Purchase at Amazon.com > The Day is Past and Gone (gospel song) Marion Williams (hanachie 6063) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Van Heusen-Burke, Here’s That Rainy Day Bill Evans (Verve 314 589 319-2) |
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> Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in c minor, 3rd mvt. Wilhelm Furtwängler/Berlin Philharmonic (DG 427 402) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 132 in a minor 3rd mvt The Fine Arts Quartet (Everest 9056/58) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Bernstein: Simple Song from Mass Alan Titus/Leonard Bernstein and orchestra (CBS/Sony 63089) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in c minor, 5th mvt Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic (CBS/Sony 63159) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Vivaldi: “Winter” from The Four Seasons, 1st mvt. Piazzolla: “Primavera portena” Spring in Buenos Aires Gidon Kremer/Kremerata Baltica (Nonesuch 79568) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Elena Park, WNYC Executive Producer for Music & Culture My musical tastes do include the much heralded Three B's: Bach, Beethoven & Brahms. But much of music I love features sounds and textures that expand notions of "classical" music. So joining Beethoven and Wagner are Arvo Pärt and John Adamsand a rollicking new, genre-busting recording by Osvaldo Golijov. > Pärt: Tabula Rasa Staatsorchester Stuttgart Dennis Russell Davies, conductor Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (ECM 1275 1375) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Adams: Harmonium San Francisco Symphony & San Francisco Symphony Chorus John Adams, conductor (Nonesuch John Adams Earbox) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Golijov: Ayre Dawn Upshaw & The Andalucian Dogs Wa Habibi (My love) (DG B0004782-02) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Adagio (EMI) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Wagner: Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser (Telarc 80333) |
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Listen Amy Eddings, Host: All Things Considered I like my pop music to make me shout, and my classical music to make me cry. Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings does just that. It’s the soundtrack to all who are lonesome in the world. And then there’s Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony Number 3, Opus 36, his slow, structurally repetitive lament of the Nazi occupation of Poland. The version I have has the gorgeous, crystal clear soprano of Dawn Upshaw. > Henryk Gorecki: Symphony no 3, opus 36, Lento e Largo Dawn Upshaw/London Sinfonietta/ David Zinman (Nonesuch 79282) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (CBS/Sony 63088) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Royal Philharmonic/pianist Earl Wild (Chandos 8521) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Thomas Tallis: If Ye Love Me Voices of Ascension Dennis Keene conducting (Delos 3165) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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> Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, 2nd mvt. Wilhelm Furtwängler/Berlin Philharmonic (Nuova Era 013.6339) > Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, 5th mvt. Fritz Wunderlich/Otto Klemperer/(New) Philharmonia Orchestra (EMI/Angel 47231) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Verdi: Otello, “Dio mi potevi scagliar...” Ramon Vinay/Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra (RCA 60302) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, D. 898. Alfred Cortot/Jacques Thibaud/Pablo Casals (EMI/Angel 61024) » Purchase at Amazon.com > J.S. Bach: St. Matthew Passion, “Erbarme dich.” Bernarda Fink/Nikolaus Harnoncourt/Concentus Musicus Wien (Teldec 81036) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, exc. Pierre Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra (CBS/Sony 37764) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Wagner: Die Walküre, Act III, exc. Thomas Stewart/Herbert von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic (DG 415-149) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Beethoven: 7th Symphony, 4th mvt. Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Philharmonic (DG 447 400) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Debussy: La Mer, Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea Arturo Toscanini/Philadelphia Orchestra (RCA 60311) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81, Finale Menahem Pressler/Emerson String Quartet (DG 439 868) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Margo McLean, Interactive Producer, Music & Culture Content Herbert von Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in an intensely ravishing recording of Debussy's opera based on Maurice Maeterlink's play Pelléas et Mélisande. With an exquisite, heartbreaking performance by Frederica von Stade singing the mysterious and fragile Mélisande, the cast is first-rate including the masterful José von Dam singing Golaud. > Maurice Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit Ondine Martha Argerich/Claudio Abbado/Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon #47438) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande Frederica von Stade/Richard Stilwell/ Herbert von Karajan/Berliner Philharmoniker (EMI Classics #67168 ) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Reynaldo Hahn: Tyndaris sung by Ian Bostridge Songs by Reynaldo Hahn (Hyperion CDA67141/2) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Hans Huber: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, 3rd mvt. Dan Franklin Smith, piano/Stuttgarter Philharmoniker (Sterling #1056) > Richard Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder Beim Schlafengehen Gundala Janowitz/Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon #47422) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Gustav Mahler: Ich bin der welt abhanden gekommen Janet Baker/Sir John Barbirolli (EMI #66996) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Adagietto Leonard Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon #23608) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, conclusion, Act.3 Mild und leise wie er Lächelt... Heller schallend, mich umwallend Kirsten Flagstad/Wilhelm Furtwängler (EMI Classics) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Jerome Kern: All the things you are The Jerome Kern Songbook Sylvia McNair/André Previn (Philips 442 129-2) |
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Pianist Simone Barere was a technical wizard, dismissed by some critics as a mere ‘machine.’ He was inclined to play familiar pieces at triple-speed; but his 1951 recording of this impossibly difficult Liszt etude is chills-producing in the extreme and not at all machine-like. > Irén Marik: performing Beethoven’s Sonata no. 30 op. 109 recorded 1956 in her home (Arbiter 143) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Fine Arts Quartet: performing Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue for string quartet in c minor, K 546 from a broadcast in the late ‘60’s (Music & Arts 1154) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Sviatoslav Richter: performing Prokofiev’s “Visions Fugitive” recorded in concert in 1960 (RCA 63844) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Simon Barere: Liszt’s Concert Etude no. 2, “La Leggierezza” rec. in a studio in 1951 only recently released (Cembal d’amour 114) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Ivo Pogorelich: encore (DG 445 573) |
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Listen George Steel, Executive Director of the Miller Theater > Stravinksy: Vom Himmel Hoch Variations American Stravinsky: Robert Craft, conductor (Stravinsky edition Volume IV) (Music Masters 67113) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Purcell: Fantasias Jordi Savall and Hesperion XX Fantasias X and XI (Astree 9922) » Purchase at Amazon.com > J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio Jauchet, frohlocket Bach Collegium Japan (BIS 941) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Tallis: Lamentations of Jeremiah Lamentations II Tallis Scholars (Gimell 025) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer Le Mort de l'amour Jessye Norman & Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo (Warner/apex 48992) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Mahler Fifth: Adagietto Leonard Bernstein's 1972 DVD (Unitel/DG) (DGG Video UCBG-1037) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Stravinsky: Variations Conducted by Oliver Knussen (DG 447-068-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Arun Rath, Senior Editor of Studio 360 Ives’ First Symphonyamazingly, written when he was a studenttakes the European orchestra and gives it an utterly American sound. His Fourth Symphony was so far ahead of its time, we still haven’t caught up with it. One is easy listening, the other is not, but both will blow you away. > African Dawn Abdullah Ibrahim (Enja #4030) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Ives: Symphonies No 1 & 4 Tilson Thomas/Chicago So & Chorus (Sony Classical #44939) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Mass in D) John Eliot Gardiner English Baroque Soloists/Monteverdi Choir (Archiv 429779) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Brian Lehrer, WNYC Host: The Brian Lehrer Show I will start with my single biggest musical hero, Miles Davis, who inspired me to think creatively about change. Then I’ll sample from three of my favorite 20th Century classical works, and throw in a piece of Rumsfeldian new music for an unusual dessert. > Miles Davis: Boplicity from Birth of The Cool (1949) Bill Evans's arrangements: "Boplicity" and "Moon Dreams" (Blue Note Records 30117) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Miles Davis: Orbits from Miles Smiles (1966) (Sony 65682) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Miles Davis: Spanish Key from Bitch’s Brew (1969) The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (Sony 65570) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Messiaen: Quartet For the End of Time, mvt. IV Jian Wang/Gil Shaham/Myung-Whun Chung/ Paul Meyer/Jian Wang (Cello)/Gil Shaham (Violin) (DGG 469052) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Movement I Solti with the Chicago/Chicago Symphony Orchestra (London/Decca 470516) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Steve Reich: Vermont Counterpoint Ransom Wilson/Solisti New York (EMI Classics Red Line CDR5729942) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Phil Kline: Three Rumsfeld Songsfrom Zippo Songs Todd Reynolds/ Phil Kline/David Cossin/Theo Bleckmann (Cantaloupe 21019) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen John Zorn, composer, performer Composer and improviser John Zorn chose to represent the spirit of experimentalism through the centuries, in the realm of classical music. Despite diverse sources and centuries, there's a common thread of boldness, surprise, and a sense of breaking through old rules and stepping into new territory. > Guillaume de Machaut: Horquetus David Studio der Fruhen Musik, dir. Thomas Binkley (EMI, 63424) > Moondog: Big Cat Moondog (Prestige, 1741) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Charles Ives: Improvisation Ives Plays Ives (CRI, 810) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Burmese music: Chit Kyoo... from the album "White Elephants and Golden Ducks" (Shanachie 64087) > Pierre Boulez: Marteau Sans Maîtres conductor Pierre Boulez (Ades, 202902) » Purchase at Amazon.com > K. Sivaprasad: Atukaraadani from the album "Whistle Wizard" (Sangeetha/Koel, KDI 057) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Terry Riley: The Gift (excerpt) Terry Riley (Organ of Corti, 1) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Giancinto Scelsi: Canti di Capricorn (part 1) (Wergo, 60127) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Gesualdo: O Dolorosa Gioia Moro Lasso Concerto Italiano (Opus 111, 30-238) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Heinrich Biber: Battaglia (part 1-3) Concentus Musicus Wien, cond. by Harnoncourt (Teldec, 8.43779) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Maurizio Kagel: Exotica (excerpt) Michel Portal, at al (Deutsche Grammophone, 445 252) » Purchase at Amazon.com > traditional Japanese Gagaku: Hyojo... (Japanese Columbia, 6194) > Harry Partch: The Dreamer That Remains Harry Partch Ensemble (New World Records, 80623) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Ed Haber, WNYC Senior Concert Engineer While almost certainly intended as a political parable, the text of The Seven Deadly Sins is actually quite nuanced, encompassing a broad range of emotions, including a great deal of humor in addition to the underlying anger and sadness. The English translation (by W.H. Auden & Chester Kalman) is powerful and rarely recorded, and conductor Dennis Russell Davies and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marianne Faithfull, and members of the Hudson Shad give thrilling performances of one of the great underrated pieces of the 20th century. > Kurt Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins (RCA Victor, 74321-60119-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Philip Glass: Satyagraha (CBS Masterworks, M3K-39672) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Bach: Cantata BWV 33 (Teldec, 4509-91756-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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| Listen Jad Abumrad, WNYC Producer: Radio Lab I enjoy playing Kiln while people-watching on the subway. I'm not sure what to call this style of music...maybe the musical equivalent of a still-life. In any case, it's a perfect soundtrack for hectic days because the mental pictures are beautiful and wide open. > Shostakovich Cello Concerto #1 in E-Flat Rostropovich/David Oistrakh/Moscow Philharmonic (Yedang Entertainment 10037) > Kiln, "A Place in Between" "Thermals: Sonic-Carousels, Tonesheets, Loopstrata, And Slo-Wave Microsymphonies 1993-2000" (Available at Infractionrecords.co) > Morton Feldman, Morton 2 "For Philip Guston 1" (Bridge 9078) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Metric "Combat Baby" "Old World Undergroun, Whare Are You Now?" » Purchase at Amazon.com > Bernard Parmegiani, "Moins I'infini" "La Creation Du Monde" (INA-GRM 1002) > Radiohead, "Let Down" "OK Computer" (Parlophone CDNODATA02) » Purchase at Amazon.com > 7/4 (Shoreline) Broken Social Scene "Broken Social Scene" (Arts & Crafts 014) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Stars of the Lid, The Better Angels of Our Nation "Gravitational Pull Vs The Desire For An Aquatic Life" (Kranky) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Boards of Canada, Happy Cycling "Music Has the Right to Children" (Warp 55) » Purchase at Amazon.com or... > Boards of Canada, Julie And Candy "Geogaddi" » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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Listen Soterios Johnson, Host, Morning Edition |
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| Listen Julie Burstein, Executive Producer, Studio 360 > Elgar: Cello Concerto, Op. 85 Jacqueline DuPre/Daniel Barenboim/ London Philharmonic Orchestra (Sony 60789) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 68, 1st mvt. Kurt Masur/New York Philharmonic (Teldec 90883) » Purchase at Amazon.com > J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No 5 Yo Yo Ma (CBS/Sony 63203) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasilieras #5 Netania Davrath/Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic (CBS/Sony 46715) » Purchase at Amazon.com > Weill: Mack the Knife Ella Fitzgerald (Verve314 519 564-2) » Purchase at Amazon.com |
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