• Dvořák Symphony No 8 Princeton Symphony Orchestra

    Dvořák Symphony No 8 Princeton Symphony Orchestra

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    Chase away the rainy-day blues with Dvořák’s sunniest symphony!

    The Princeton Symphony Orchestra continues its “At Home with the PSO” series, as music director Rossen Milanov introduces the Symphony No. 8. Escape into a world of birdsong, uplifting fanfares, and continuous melody, influenced by the Czech countryside. The live performance took place at Richardson Auditorium on March 24, 2019.

    “At Home with the PSO” is a gateway to original online content – performance webcasts, musicians’ recipes, photo albums, and more – with fresh material being introduced weekly.

    While you’re over there, at the PSO website, check out the new Virtual Gallery. Explore artwork and creative writing by student participants of the PSO Bravo program by navigating a 3-D space. Click on the speakers located throughout the gallery to hear Saad Haddad’s Clarinet Concerto, the PSO co-commission that inspired the works adorning the virtual walls.

    Then search under “Cooking with the PSO” to learn how to bake Chunky Chocolate Drops with concertmaster Basia Danilow. Rossen Milanov’s Maple Soy Sauce Glazed Tofu is archived at the bottom of the page. A new recipe on the way on Wednesday!

    To hear Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, look online at princetonsymphony.org, search under “At Home with the PSO,” and click on “Play it Forward.”


    PHOTO: Dvořák and family, making the most of a lovely day


  • Easter Staycation Fred Astaire & Holiday Films

    Easter Staycation Fred Astaire & Holiday Films

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    Staying home for Easter this year. Yay!

    That’s right. It’s Fred Astaire and Biblical epics for me.

    Happy Easter!


  • Isolate Prevent Data Breaches Now

    Isolate Prevent Data Breaches Now

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    Isolate… or else.


  • Claudio Spies Princeton Composer Dies at 95

    Claudio Spies Princeton Composer Dies at 95

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    Princeton University professor emeritus Claudio Spies has died. Born in Santiago, Chile, Spies was on the faculty of the Princeton University music department from 1970 to 1998. Prior to that, he taught at Harvard, Vassar, and Swarthmore. He also taught at Juilliard from 1998 to 2010. His own teachers included Nadia Boulanger, Harold Shapero, and Irving Fine. Conductors Erich Kleiber and Fritz Busch were also early mentors. His friendship with Igor Stravinsky facilitated the premiere of Stravinsky’s “Requiem Canticles” at McCarter Theatre in 1966. Spies was 95 years-old. Learn more about this remarkable man here:

    https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/04/10/claudio-spies-composer-music-theorist-and-great-role-model-dies-95


    PHOTO (left to right): Claudio Spies, Lukas Foss, Harold Shapero, Esther Geller, Verna Fine, Irving Fine, and Leonard Bernstein, at Tanglewood in 1946


  • Easter Music Vaughan Williams and More

    Easter Music Vaughan Williams and More

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    Rise heart; thy Lord is risen!

    For me, it just isn’t Easter until I’ve heard Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs.” I defy anyone not to be uplifted by the opening song of the cycle, titled, appropriately enough, “Easter.” The songs are settings of poems by George Herbert (1593-1633).

    This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll enjoy a classic performance, with bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk, as part of a program devoted to music inspired by the 17th century metaphysical poets.

    We’ll also hear William Alwyn’s “Lyra Angelica” of 1954, a harp concerto inspired by Giles Fletcher’s epic poem of 1610, “Christ’s Victorie and Triumph.” The composer regarded it as his most beautiful piece, and I am inclined to agree. The work likely received its widest exposure when Michelle Kwan elected to skate to it during the 1988 Olympics.

    Finally, we’ll have a lute song by John Hilton, setting poetry by John Donne, “Wilt thou forgive that sinne.” It’s from an album on the Harmonia Mundi label, titled “The Rags of Time.”

    I hope you’ll join me for “Donne Deal” – an hour of metaphysical therapy – this Easter Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


    Vaughan Williams’ “Easter,” from “Five Mystical Songs”:


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