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May 2005

Haydn's Surprise

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, the No. 94, is still capable of making an audience jump when that sudden fortissimo chord interrupts the oh-so-familiar and slumbering Andante.


Tonight: The King of Swing

Monday, May 30, 2005

Benny Goodman may have become the King of Swing, but he made his debut playing Haydn. His commitment to “classical” music never flagged—we’re airing two works to prove it.


Spring is in The Air

Sunday, May 29, 2005

We are featuring Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” in what looks like it may be a vain hope that Spring actually becomes manifest. Even if it doesn’t, Stravinsky conducting Stravinsky is great!


Breezy Bassoon Treats

Friday, May 27, 2005

Bassoons rule in this evening’s second hour, proving that these low-voiced winds can be as winning as more-frequently featured solo instruments. So stay tuned for bassoon!


Magical Music by Philip Glass

Thursday, May 26, 2005

“Koyaanisquatsi,” a mystical and revolutionary Godfry Reggio film with magical music by Philip Glass, perfectly captures the meaning of the Hopi word—“life out of balance.”


Rodrigo à la Miles

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

The central Adagio from Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de aranjuez” is much beloved by everyone, including Miles Davis, whose jazzed-up take on the piece we hear this evening.


Speaking of the Sublime

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata, written first for a young violinist named Bridgetower but later dedicated to a seasoned virtuoso named Kreutzer who refused to play it, nowadays regarded as sublime...


Stay Tuned for Fritz Kreisler!

Monday, May 23, 2005

Fritz Kreisler originally passed off his “Liebesfreud” as a posthumous waltz by Josef Lanner. This audience fave has inspired numerous transcriptions and arrangements. Stay tuned for Kreisler’s original plus two variants.


A Birthday: Richard Wagner

Sunday, May 22, 2005

It’s Richard Wagner’s birthday (1813), so you know whose music we’ll be enjoying for part of the evening. An unusual instrumental version of “The Ride of the Valkyries” starts us off.


Caramoor Festival Highlights

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Once again, the Caramoor Festival’s Michael Barrett joins Margaret Juntwait. Highlights are from the Amelia Trios appearance there last season; also, a glance at the coming summer’s programming.


Around the World in an Evening

Friday, May 20, 2005

For the peripatetic listener, we offer Darius Milhaud’s “Globetrotter Suite,” which might be described as ‘Around the World in Around Eighteen Minutes.’ Jet setters, rejoice!


Larks Take Wing

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Soprano Anne-Lise Berntsen and organist Nils Henrik Asheim, beloved for their earlier CD, "Engleskyts," return with five more free improvisational interpretations on Norwegian religious popular hymns. A second-hour treat.


Janácek’s Memorial to a Czech Worker

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Andras Schiff plays Janácek’s searing “Sonata I.X.1905,” written to memorialize a Czech worker killed by Austrian troops as he demonstrated in support of a Czech university for Brno.


What Would Satie Have Thought?

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Eric Satie’s last work was music for the ballet “Relâche,” titled for a theater term meaning “closed.” Gulled and gullible first night audiences found they had to return three days later.


Numbers

Monday, May 16, 2005

William Duckworth engaged in an experiment in which he collaborated with an ensemble to create a new work while an audience watched. The result? “Mysterious Numbers.”


Pulcinella

Sunday, May 15, 2005

The Ballet Russe premiered “Pulcinella” on this day in 1920. The story of the little puppet was a big success. Igor Stravinsky’s music has been a big winner ever since.


Highlights of the Caramoor Festival

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Michael Barrett, Chief Executive and General Director of the Caramoor Festival, joins Margaret Juntwait with highlights from last season at Caramoor and a look ahead to this summer.


Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

Friday, May 13, 2005

Did you know that the tune for “Hail, hail, the gang’s all here” was stolen outright from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance”? If only hearing is believing, stay tuned for proof!


Triple Beethoven

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Haydn told Beethoven: “You make upon me the impression of a man who has several heads, several hearts, and several souls.” And his Triple Concerto in C features several soloists!


A Birthday: William Grant Still

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

William Grant Still (b. 5/11/95) said he wanted his first symphony to “show how the blues, so often considered a lowly expression, could be elevated to the highest musical level.”


Paean to the Freedom Fighters

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

A paean to the freedom fighters of composer Mark O’Connor’s home state Tennessee, “Fanfare for the Volunteer” is offered for all such intrepid souls everywhere in tonight’s presentation.


Lovers of Fauré's Mélodies, Rejoice!

Monday, May 09, 2005

“Winter is past: the sunlight is warm and dances,” sings Anne Sofie von Otter, beginning the last song in Fauré’s cycle “La bonne chanson.” Is spring's warmth here at last?


Songs My Mother Taught Me

Friday, May 06, 2005

Sunday is Mother’s Day, so we thought it would be nice to listen to Renée Fleming perform one of the Dvorák “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” specifically op. 55/4.


Cinco de Mayo

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Cinco de Mayo honors the day in 1862 when the Mexican army under Zaragoza first defeated Napoleon’s army; it is now a widely (and wildly) celebrated Mexican-American holiday.


In The Mists

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Biographer Jaroslav Vogel described cycle “In the Mists,” Leos Janácek’s four-movement piano cycle, as “one long struggle between resignation and newly-felt pain.” Leif Ove Andsnes distills that pain for us this evening.


Ticking Clocks

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

When you hear a ticking clock, what do you think of? Leroy Anderson’s “Syncopated Clock?” Haydn’s Symphony No. 101, the “Clock.” Whichever, you can hear them here.


The Lark Ascending

Monday, May 02, 2005

One of Vaughan Williams’s loveliest works, “The Lark Ascending,” will enliven our evening as Nigel Kennedy’s violin songfully soars above the City of Birmingham Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle.


The Music of Gabriel Fauré

Sunday, May 01, 2005

The music of Gabriel Fauré begins and ends this evening’s music programming. The lovely “Papillon,” played by cellist Heinrich Schiff and pianist Samuel Sanders starts us off.