On Demand
Evening Music Archive
August 2004
Happy Birthday Alma Mahler
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
We mark Alma Mahler’s birthday (1879) in our second hour, as soprano Christina Hogman sings her “Four Songs,” Roland Pontinen supporting her on piano.
A Big Bouquet
Monday, August 30, 2004
Confucius says: “Virtue is the strong stem of man’s nature, and music is the blossoming of virtue.” Tonight’s Evening Music brings you a big bouquet with many musical blossoms. . .
Wistful Questions in a Slow Tempo
Sunday, August 29, 2004
“In the evening at supper I played the Strasbourg Concerto. It flowed like oil; everyone praised the beautiful, pure tone.”—Mozart, re the Violin Concerto in D, K 218.
Gabriel Faure’s Requiem
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Faure: “. . . someone has called [my Requiem] a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above . . .”
Rebecca Clarke 1886
Friday, August 27, 2004
Heading the score of Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata are these words by Alfred de Musset: “Poet, take up your lute; the wine of youth this night is fermenting in the veins of God.”
Paganini Rules
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Macaulay said of Paganini: “. . . long streamy flakes of music fall from his strings, interspersed with luminous points of sound which ascend the air and appear like stars.”
Happy Birthday, Lenny!
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
What American conductor/pianist/composer/pedagogue was born this day in 1918? Hint: the most famous and successful native-born figure in the history of classical music in the USA.
A Sweet Concord of Mind
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
“The best, most beautiful, and most perfect way that we have of expressing a sweet concord of mind to each other is by music.” Jonathan Edwards
Barber at the Plaza
Monday, August 23, 2004
The settings: The Lobby, the Third Floor Hallway, A Corner of the Ballroom, Tea in the Palm Court, A Bedroom Affair, and The Next Afternoon. What’s the music?
Claude Debussy 1862
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Said Ferruccio Busoni of Debussy’s “Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun”: “It is like a beautiful sunset; it fades as one looks at it.” How’d he mean that?
In memory
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Chopin’s last words are said to have been “Play Mozart in memory of me.” Instead, we play Chopin’s own “Marche funèbre” Sonata, in memory of no one in particular.
Gershwin Goodies
Friday, August 20, 2004
Gershwin goodies light up our first hour. Stretch your legs and that of your pet(s) to “Walking the Dog.” Then wax rhapsodic with Rhapsody No. 2, which truly ain’t blue!
A violinist remembers
Thursday, August 19, 2004
In 1940, the great violinist George Enescu (born this day in 1881) revisited memories of the famous gypsy fiddler Nicolas Chioruand his own childhoodby composing “Impressions d’enfance.”
Ballet of the Dolls
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
In what ballet do tourists purchase two mechanical dolls from a French toymaker, only to have all the dolls revolt so none of them has to leave the shop?
A lotta harpin' goin' on!
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Not to harp on it, but there’s a lotta harpin’ goin’ on this evening! Twentieth-century, Classical, and Baroque—written for the harp or transcribed, it all still sounds great.
Song of the Celestial Lake
Monday, August 16, 2004
This evening’s most unusual offering: “Chant of The Celestial Lake” (really a flute concerto), by Estonian Peeter Vahi, evoking a journey into a mysterious oriental landscape of the soul.
Birthday Bonbons
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Sprinkled throughout the evening are Birthday Bonbons by Jacques Ibert. (You’ve got three guesses as to who was born on this day in the year 1890!)
Pizza and Piazzolla!
Saturday, August 14, 2004
A big piece o’ pizza and a little-bitty piece by Piazzollathat’s what’s called for at the start of this evening’s Evening Music!
Cuba Libra
Friday, August 13, 2004
Airs weekdays at 7PM on 93.9 FM
It’s time to pour yourself a Cuba Libre, chill out and listen while “Brassil plays Brazil.” (Brassil’s a brass quintet specializing in Northeastern Brazilian music.)
Paris Anytime
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Some love Paris in the springtime; some love Paris in the fall. But most love Paris at almost anytimeeven on this August evening...
Purcell's Star Shines Tonight
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Our early evening is brightened both by Henry Purcell’s own music and by Benjamin Britten’s take on a Purcell theme, better known as “A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.”
Celebrating Eliot Fisk
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
“When [Eliot] Fisk plays the classical guitar, it becomes an instrument of seemingly endless possibilities.” So said The Chicago Sun-Times, and so say we. Besides, it’s his birthday (1950) today.
Celebrating Reynaldo Hahn
Monday, August 09, 2004
Tonight’s birthday celebrant is Reynaldo Hahn, born this day in Caracas, but bred in Paris, a friend of Marcel Proust and Sarah Bernhardt, and darling of the turn-of-the-century beau monde.
Four Delightful Movements
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Quiz: Put the following four delightfully titled movements together, and what do you get? “Boisterous Bouree”; “Playful Pizzicato”; Sentimental Sarabande”; and “Frolicsome Fugue.” For the answer...
From Spain to Finland
Friday, August 06, 2004
An evening of contrasts awaits: Hispanic warmth and vibrancy sets our feet to dancing, while a Finnish chill brings on introspection and perhaps even gloom.
Hymn and Fuguing Tunes
Thursday, August 05, 2004
What is “something slow followed by something fast”? That’s how Henry Cowell described the two-part form of his 18 “Hymn and Fuguing Tunes.” We’ll hear one this evening.
Adjustable Wrench
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Our rather traditional first hour of Evening Music, featuring music by those venerable suspects, Pachelbel, Bach, and Haydn, is interrupted by a musical monkey wrench. Listen in; you’ll love it!
A Little Night Music
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Our introductory hour to the “Mostly Mozart” WNYC Live broadcast will feature, appropriately, music by Wolfgang himself: “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” played by members of Gidon Kremer’s chamber group, Kremerata Baltica.
Jupiter Rising
Monday, August 02, 2004
Few pieces of classical music have excited the imagination like Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C (also known as the “Jupiter” Symphony). Tonight, we’ll hear a recreation of this symphonic masterpiece with the London Classical Players, performed on instruments from Mozart’s time.
Send in the Clowns
Sunday, August 01, 2004
The character of Pierrot has entertained, fascinated and even terrorized audiences since the 16th Century. He’s also inspired a host of music by classical (and not so classical) composers, a few of which we’ll hear tonight.
Music Playlists
View WNYC's music playlists dating back to 2001 (full playlists are generally posted the day after broadcast).
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Festivals and Specials
Listen on demand to our online archive of music festivals and specials, where you'll find a treasure-trove of stimulating conversations, opinions, reflections, and of course, great music!
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Ear to Ear
Ear to Ear takes innovative musicians off the New York stages and into the studio for relaxed, insightful conversation, as they share their personal recordings with host David Garland.
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