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Tag: WWFM

Leif Kayser Danish Composer Centenary

Composer, organist, pianist, conductor, priest, husband, teacher – Leif Kayser was certainly a multifaceted individual.

Born in Copenhagen on this date in 1919, Kayer began his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1936. In Stockholm, he studied composition with Hilding Rosenberg and conducting with Tor Mann. In 1941, he made his debut as a pianist, in Copenhagen, and as a conductor, in Gothenburg.

As a composer, he emerged as one of Denmark’s most promising young symphonists. However, following theological studies in Rome, Kayser was ordained in 1949. He largely abandoned concert music – but you can’t keep a good composer down.

Over time, he began to write for the organ and gradually he produced another symphony. He served as pastor and organist of St. Ansgar Roman Catholic Cathedral until 1964. Then he left the Church to marry and to teach at his alma mater, the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Kayser died in 2001. He is still regarded as one of the leading organ composers of Denmark.

We’ll remember Leif Kayser, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, with a performance of his Symphony No. 2. It will serve as the spire atop a cathedral in sound, as we also observe the birthdays today of Antonín Vranický (1761-1820), Anton Eberl (1765-1807), and Carlos Chávez (1899-1978).

That will be me in the cowl, enacting the ol’ switcheroo with David Osenberg, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Kayser pulls out all the stops for his centenary

June 13, 2019
Marlboro Music Change Beethoven Tchaikovsky Sextets

MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!

Last minute programming change for this week’s “Music from Marlboro:”

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we will not be able to bring you Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, as previously announced. In its place, we’ll lose ourselves in wild abandon over Beethoven’s Sextet for Winds in E-flat major, Op. 71, and Tchaikovsky’s Sextet for Strings in D minor, “Souvenir de Florence.”

I hope you’ll join me for the joy of sextets on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

June 12, 2019
Strings Music Festival Steamboat on WWFM

Once again, we’re off to a Rocky start. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, when you consider we’re talking about the Rocky Mountains and the Strings Music Festival Steamboat Springs, CO.

On today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, enjoy highlights from a recital given by Cliburn silver medalist Kenny Broberg. The program will include César Franck’s Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18; Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 24 in F major “À Thérèse;” and Bach’s Toccata in C minor, BWV 911. We’ll also hear pianist Benjamin Hochman perform Bach’s French Suite in G major, BWV 816.

The Strings Music Festival is a summer series that presents music of the highest quality in a picturesque mountain setting. Each year, a genre-spanning lineup is performed by classical musicians from the nation’s top orchestras and chart-topping contemporary artists, all of whom appear in an intimate 569-seat pavilion nestled at the base of the mountains around Steamboat Springs.

This summer will mark Strings’ 32nd season. The festival’s nearly 60 events will embrace orchestral and chamber music, instrumental soloists, world music, blues, jazz, rock, a youth and family series, and free community programs.

The opening classical concert will take place on June 22 and will feature Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll,” Grieg’s “Holberg Suite,” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. The orchestra will be conducted by Michael Sachs. For more information and a complete schedule, look online at stringsmusicfestival.com.

Following today’s concert broadcast, stay tuned for more mountain music. Among the featured works will be Carter Pann’s “Slalom” – inspired by a family skiing trip to Steamboat Springs!

Go tell it on the mountain. We’ll present quite a range, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 11, 2019
Khrennikov Shostakovich and Soviet Power

Tikhon Khrennikov, in his role as Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, made life miserable for many of his more talented colleagues, especially Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, and Mieczyslaw Weinberg. In fact, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who was a big man, once stormed into Khrennikov’s office and gave him a good shaking by his lapels for being such an A-one a-hole.

But Khrennikov was also one of the great survivors. Following the death of Stalin in 1953, he managed to ride out each successive regime for four more decades, holding on to his influential post until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

There were some who claimed that Khrennikov was actually quite the sensitive fellow, who used his influence to quietly protect some of his more vulnerable colleagues. Whether or not that is true, I cannot say. He was a controversial figure, no doubt.

Just because Khrennikov was an artist doesn’t mean he was a nice person. All the same, I hope you’ll join me as I sample some of his music this afternoon, alongside that of his fellow birthday celebrants Heinrich von Herzogenberg and Frederick Loewe.

We’ll be seeing Red, between 4 and 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Khrennikov talks; Shostakovich listens

June 10, 2019
Charles Lecocq Birthday & “Mam’zelle Angot”

Today is the birthday of Charles Lecocq (1832-1918). Lecocq’s affinity for light opera made him a natural successor of sorts to Jacques Offenbach. “La fille de Madame Angot” was a triumph when it opened in Brussels in 1872. Soon, it was wowing them not only in Paris, but also London and New York, and indeed all across Europe. In fact, it was the most successful French-language musical theater piece up through the turn of the century. In terms of box office, it managed even to outpace “H.M.S. Pinafore” and “Die Fledermaus.” Its momentum was such that it is now the only work of Lecocq that is ever performed.

The opera was given a superfluous boost in the 1940s, when choreographer Léonide Massine created a new version that found its definitive form in a production by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet. Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer were among the principals. The adaptation, “Mam’zelle Angot,” employs arrangements by Gordon Jacob and broadly follows the opera’s original plot. Let’s just say that it is a flighty and frothy divertissement, set in a politically charged climate following the Reign of Terror. Despite the threat of looming peril, all ends happily, with mismatched lovers paired off to everyone’s general delight.

Get an idea of what the fuss was about. It will be a boost from the roost – music from Lecocq and beyond – between 4 and 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 3, 2019

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