This Thursday morning on WPRB, I’ll be giving you the bird. Lots of them, as a matter of fact.
We’ll hear music about eagles, condors, blackbirds, loons, cuckoos, swallows, nightingales, peacocks, larks, ravens, geese, and many more.
The bird is the word, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. You can forget the binoculars, on Classic Ross Amico.
This Thursday morning on WPRB, I just want to relax and enjoy the birds. Perhaps you’d care to join me?
We’ll have a full playlist of works on avian themes, including symphonies by Alan Hovhaness, Einar Englund, and Anthony Philip Heinrich, the so-called “Beethoven of Kentucky,” who was a personal friend of John James Audubon. There will be abundant music inspired by migratory birds, songbirds, scavengers, raptors, sardonic birds, ominous birds, and literal cuckoos.
Prepare to take wing, this Thursday morning, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll totally freak for the beak, on Classic Ross Amico.
He was born Ludwig, but became recognized everywhere, outside of his native Germany, as Louis (pronounced “Louie,” as in the French).
In his day, he was as highly regarded as Beethoven. A triple threat – a violinist, a conductor, and a composer – he churned out music in all genres. He wrote nine symphonies, ten operas, fifteen violin concertos, four clarinet concertos, and 36 string quartets. Add to that, innumerable chamber works for all sorts of instrumental combinations – with a special emphasis on the harp, since it was the instrument of his wife, with whom he often appeared in concert.
Following his death, in 1859, his reputation plummeted. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that his music underwent a significant revival.
This week on “Music from Marlboro,” we’ll hear the Sextet in C major, Op. 140, by Louis Spohr, a comparatively late work, but one infused with a remarkably youthful spirit. A supporter of German unification, republicanism, and democratic causes, Spohr was inspired by the revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848.
From the 1980 Marlboro Music Festival, we’ll enjoy a performance by violinists Pina Carmirelli and Veronica Knittel, violists Philipp Naegele and Karen Dreyfus, and cellists Peter Wiley and Georg Faust.
Spohr was a friend and colleague of Beethoven. He participated in a memorable run-through of Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, with the composer banging away at an out-of-tune piano. He also played in the premiere of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
With their association in mind, we’ll also hear Beethoven’s Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, Op. 16, from 1796, a work allegedly inspired by Mozart’s Quintet, K. 452. The 2012 Marlboro performance will feature pianist Jonathan Biss, with oboist Mary Lynch, clarinetist Tibi Cziger, hornist Wei-Ping Chou, and bassoonist Natalya Rose Vrbsky.
Beethoven’s Quintet will be among the highlights on a program to be toured by Marlboro musicians, beginning this Saturday, with stops in Brattleboro, VT, Greenwich, CT, New York City (at Carnegie Hall), Philadelphia, PA (at the Kimmel Center), Washington, DC, and Boston, MA. Also on the program will be György Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet, Samuel Barber’s “Summer Music,” and Francis Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet. You’ll find more information at marlboromusic.org.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll join me for music by the two Ludwigs, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page
Cravat-wearing clothes horses Beethoven (left) and Louis Spohr
Be patient for “Job: A Masque for Dancing.” Experience Ralph Vaughan Williams’ unsung masterpiece, inspired by the Book of Job, from the Hebrew Bible, in an illustrated edition by William Blake. It’s coming up this afternoon in the 2:00 hour EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Get ready for a lively lunch hour of Baroque and Rococo music courtesy of Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS). On today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, we’ll hear selections from two of GEMS’ Downtown Concerts: Tableau Vivant will present a program titled “Telemann in Paris,” consisting of Telemann’s “Paris Quartets;” then the New York Classical Quartet will perform Luigi Boccherini’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 64, No. 1.
Concerts in GEMS Downtown Concerts series are held at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, 50th St. and Park Avenue, in midtown Manhattan. You’ll find a complete schedule of free lunchtime performances at midtownconcerts.org.
In addition, GEMS presents evening concerts, such as “Christmas at the Court of Henry VIII,” with music by Robert Fayrfax, which will be performed by the early music choir Polyhymnia (at the Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch on November 11); and “Viennese Masters,” with quartets by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, which will be performed by the period instrument ensemble House of Time (at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens on November 17, and at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on November 18). You’ll find more information about GEMS, in this, its tenth anniversary season, at gemsny.org.
Then stick around for more music, with yours truly, until 4:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Luigi Boccherini: Rococo never looked so intense
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