Classical Performance podcast

A Far Cry plays Tchaikovsky

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The Fraser Performance Studio rings to the sound of A Far Cry in this performance of Tchaikovsky's Sextet, "Souvenir de Florence". A Far Cry is a Boston string ensemble that performs without a conductor, standing up. Read more about the group on its website: http://www.afarcry.org/.

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Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D minor, Op. 70, "Souvenir de Florence".

A Far Cry (string ensemble)

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More info: http://www.afarcry.org/

Recorded at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on January 22nd, 2010.
©2010 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Nikolaj Znaider plays Kreisler

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Fritz Kreisler was known as one of the most expressive violinists of his generation, and also for the sweet sound of his violin. The young Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider plays on Kreisler's violin, a Guarnerius "del Gesu" 1741 and makes it sing beautifully again, in this performance of a few of Kreisler's miniatures.

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Kreisler: LIebesleid; Tempo di minuetto in the style of Pugnani; Andantino in the style of Martini; Schön Rosmarin.

Nikolaj Znaider, violin; Deborah DeWolf Emery, piano

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More information at http://www.znaider.com/

Recorded at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on January 12, 2010.
©2010 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Lise de la Salle plays Mozart and Chopin

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

21-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle’s playing is so inspiring that The Washington Post wrote, “For much of the concert, the audience had to remember to breathe...the exhilaration didn’t let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.” She played Mozart and Chopin for us in the Fraser Performance Studio.

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Mozart: Fantasy in D minor, K.397;

Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23.

Lise de la Salle, piano

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More info about Lise de la Salle: http://www.lisedelasalle.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on November 10th, 2009.
©2010 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Irina Muresanu and the New England String Ensemble play Hubay and Sarasate

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Remembering our orchestral debut! Here's the first live performance from our new Fraser Performance Studio, back in September 2007, featuring the New England String Ensemble and violinist Irina Muresanu playing Hubay and Sarasate. Until then, we had been unable to feature a string orchestra because we just didn't have the space, but now we do!
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Hubay: Czardas Scene No. 2 and Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
Irina Muresanu, violin; New England String Ensemble, Federico Cortese conducting
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Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 20th, 2007.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Ina Zdorovetchi plays Scarlatti and Bach

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Ina Zdorovetchi was a prizewinner in the Israel Harp Competition last summer, and to celebrate her achievement, we invited her to perform for the radio audience from the Fraser Performance Studio.

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Scarlatti, Domenico: Andante, K.380 in E major and Allegro, K.198 in E minor.

Bach, J.S.: from Suite in C minor, BWV.997: Prelude, Sarabande, Gigue.

Ina Zdorovetchi, harp.

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More information: http://www.inazdorovetchi.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on December 17th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

The Boston Chamber Music Society plays Brahms

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

In the summer of 1865, Brahms escaped his busy life in Vienna and rented rooms in the ancient German spa town of Baden Baden. That's where he came up with this beautiful Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E flat major.

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Brahms: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E flat major, Op. 40

Jonathan Crow, violin; William Purvis, French horn; Mihae Lee, piano

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More information: http://bostonchambermusic.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on November 20th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Julie Scolnik and Mistral play Telemann

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Telemann has to be the most productive composer of the Baroque era. The man was a powerhouse, and he wrote for every solo instrument he came across. This piece was probably inspired by the visit of Louis Bouffardin, a virtuoso on the transverse flute.

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Telemann: Suite for flute and strings in A minor.

Julie Scolnik, flute, with the ensemble Mistral

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More information: http://www.andoverchambermusic.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on December 3rd, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Sergei Schepkin plays Bach

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Sergei Schepkin has been getting accolades for years about his performances of the music of Bach. According to Fanfare magazine, "No one who loves Bach can afford not to listen to these performances". He has several CDs available on the Ongaku label. Here's a sample of his Bach interpretations from two separate performances in our studio.

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Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier; and

Bach: Partita No. 5 in G major

Sergei Schepkin, piano

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More information: http://www.ongaku-records.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Studio One on January 21, 2000 and April 7, 2003.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Haldon Martinson plays Mozart

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Mozart was on the road a lot as a young man, and some of his best pieces were written during his stopovers in various towns along the way. He wrote this Sonata in Mannheim, during a trip to Paris with his mother in 1778.

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Mozart: Sonata for violin and piano in G major, K.301

Haldon Martinson, violin; Sally Pinkas, piano

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More info:
Haldan Martinson:
http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/bios_detail.jsp?id=1700055
Sally Pinkas:
http://sally.hirsch-pinkas.org/
Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on February 26th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Sergio Fiorentino plays Chopin

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Legendary pianist Sergio Fiorentino was struck with an injury which kept him from performing for many years. It was only late in his life that he was able to recover from it, and we were lucky enough to capture this performance a few months before he passed away in 1998.

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Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor

Sergio Fiorentino, piano

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Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Studio One on April 14th, 1998.

©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Peggy Pearson and Katherine Chi play Haydn

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Oboist Peggy Pearson has a knack for bringing together some of the finest musicians for her Winsor Music Chamber Series, performing concerts in the Boston area. Here she joins the Canadian virtuoso pianist Katherine Chi to play a Sonata in G by Haydn, an arrangement of his String Quartet, Op. 77 No. 1.

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Haydn: Sonata in G

Peggy Pearson, oboe; Katherine Chi, piano

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More information: http://www.winsormusic.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 14th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Inna Faliks plays Beethoven and Pasternak

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Nobody really knows what Beethoven's improvisations sounded like, but this Fantasy gives a rare glimpse into the inventive mind of the master, as he put music together on the spot, at the piano. Eventually this was written down as his Op. 77. As bonus, Inna Faliks plays a couple of Preludes by the composer, poet and novelist, Boris Pasternak.

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Beethoven: Fantasy, Op. 77.

Pasternak: Two Preludes (1906)

Inna Faliks, piano

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Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on October 29th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Aldo Abreu plays Anonymous music from Mexico

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

This anonymous composer wrote some beautiful tunes. Too bad we have no idea who he or she was! These pieces dating from around 1750 were discovered in the Mexico City Cathedral. Aldo Abreu has arranged them for recorder and basso continuo.

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Anonymous (Mexico City Cathedral, 1750): Sonatas;

Salaverde: Canzona Segunda.

Aldo Abreu, recorders; Peter Sykes, harpsichord; Sarah Freiburg, cello

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More info: http://www.hunsteinartists.com/artists/abreu.html

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on October 22nd, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Narek Hakhnazaryan plays Beethoven

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Beethoven's friend the Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein was the lucky dedicatee of this beautiful Sonata for cello and piano. Beethoven must have had a lot of respect for the cello-playing Baron, because he gave him the first notes of the theme to play without any accompaniment!

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Beethoven: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in A major, Op. 69

Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello; Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano.

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More info: http://www.yca.org/hakhnazaryan.html

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 17th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Roberto Plano performs Liszt's Petrarch Sonnets

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Franz Liszt was captivated by the poetry of the 14th century humanist, Petrarch, who wrote ardent love poetry in honor of a woman he hardly knew, named Laura. Liszt thought of these pieces as his own sonnets in honor of his beloved Marie, the Countess Marie D'Agoult.

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Liszt: Three Sonnets of Petrarch.

Roberto Plano, piano

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More information: http://www.robertoplano.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 10th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Raphael Popper-Keizer and Gloria Chien play Debussy

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Debussy planned to write six sonatas before he died, for various combinations of instruments, but only got around to writing three before he died of colon cancer. This Cello Sonata is the first one he finished. He originally wanted to call it "Pierrot angry with the moon", refering to the unhappy clown character in Commedia dell'arte theater. You can imagine PIerrot in this music: whimsical and funny, but occasionally revealing an undercurrent of sadness.

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Debussy: Sonata for cello and piano

Raphael Popper-Keizer, cello; Gloria Chien, piano.

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More information: http://www.chameleonarts.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 30th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Pacifica String Quartet performs Mendelssohn

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Mendelssohn used his own song as a theme throughout this beautiful string quartet. It asks the question, “Is it true that you wait for me each evening under the arbor – that you ask the moon and the stars about me? Is it true? Oh, tell me!”
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Mendelssohn, Felix: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 130
Pacifica String Quartet
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Simin Ganatra, violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello
More info: http://www.pacificaquartet.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on November 16th, 2007.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Fenwick Smith and John Gibbons play C.P.E. Bach

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

During the 1750’s, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a musician in the court of Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia. In addition to being a shrewd and powerful king, Frederick was quite an accomplished flutist, so it’s not surprising that most of C.P.E. Bach’s flute compositions come from this period. Sonatas like this one show off the beauty of the flute, of course, but they also serve as showcases for the art of the keyboard – C.P.E. was a harpsichord virtuoso. We hear them played by modern virtuosos, Fenwick Smith and John Gibbons.
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Bach, C.P.E.: Sonata in G for flute, W.86 (1755)
Fenwick Smith, flute; John Gibbons, harpsichord
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More information: http://fenwicksmith.com/ and http://necmusic.edu/faculty/john-gibbons

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 11th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Roberto Plano plays Liszt

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Franz Liszt was deeply inspired by the landscape, music and culture of Italy, where he went for a while in the 1830’s with his lover and the mother of his three children, Marie d’Agoult. The result of these travels was his Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), in two sets of pieces published several years later. These three pieces were published as a supplement to the Second Year.
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Liszt: Venezia e Napoli
Roberto Plano, piano
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More information: http://www.robertoplano.com/i_index.asp

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 10, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Helena Winkelman and Anton Kernjak play Brahms

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann had a special relationship - there's no denying it. Brahms wrote to his friend Joachim, "I often have to restrain myself forcibly from just quietly putting my arm around her..." As for Clara, when she played his G major Violin Sonata, she wrote to Brahms, "...I could not help bursting into tears of joy over it." There's no evidence of hanky-panky between them, but let's face it - he was head-over-heels in love!

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Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78

Helena Winkelman, violin; Anton Kernjak, piano

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More information: http://www.winkelman.ch/Helena/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Radio Studio One on January 11th, 2005.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Borromeo String Quartet plays Bach

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST

Nicholas Kitchen, first violinist with the Borromeo String Quartet, grew up with the sound of the pipe organ ringing in his ears - his father was an organist - so he developed a great love for the keyboard music of Bach. Here are a couple of Bach's works he has arranged.

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J.S. Bach (arr. Nicholas Kitchen) Passacaglia and Fugue for Organ in C minor, BWV 582.

Borromeo String Quartet

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Nicholas Kitchen, violin; Kristopher Tong, violin; Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello

More information: http://www.borromeoquartet.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on July 30, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Dominique LaBelle sings Saint Saens

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST

Saint Saens is best known for large-scale works like the Carnival of the Animals or the orchestral version of Danse Macabre, but you might not know that he wrote a large number of songs during his lifetime. Here are five of them, performed by Soprano Dominque LaBelle and pianist/composer Yehudi Wyner.

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Saint Saens: Five Songs: Aimons-nous; L'attente; La Coccinelle; Tournoiement; Danse Macabre.

Dominique LaBelle, soprano; Yehudi Wyner, piano.

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More information: http://dominiquelabelle.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio, on April 9th, 2009

©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Alexander Ghindin plays Mussorgsky

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST

Modest Mussorgsky had a lively interest in folk art. It was an interest he shared with his friend Victor Hartmann, a brilliant young artist who died unexpectedly in 1873. Mussorgsky was devastaed by the loss of his friend and wrote this work after a visit to a memorial exhibition of Hartmann's paintings.

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Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Alexander Ghindin, piano

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More information: http://www.clevelandpiano.org/ghindin.html

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on March 2nd, 2009.

©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Borromeo String Quartet plays Beethvoen

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST

Vienna was under attack in in 1809 when Beethoven composed this in 1809, but you won't hear it in the music. It was a publisher who gave it the nickname, "Harp" because of the effect of pizzicatto strings in the first movement.

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Beethoven: String Quartet No.10 in E flat, Op.74 "Harp"

Borromeo String Quartet.

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Nicholas Kitchen, violin; William Fedkenheuer, violin; Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello

More information at http://www.borromeoquartet.org/

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Studio One on September 29, 2000.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Classical Performance Podcast: Ensemble Zefiro plays Lotti and Vivaldi

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST

This week the Classical Performance goes "on location" at the Boston Early Music Festival, for music by Antonio Lotti and Antonio Vivaldi, played by the Ensemble Zefiro, recorded in concert at Jordan Hall, at the New England Conservatory. This was from a glorious concert called "Winds of the Serenissima", featuring early 18th century Italian music for winds and strings.

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Lotti: Echo Sonata a 4 in F major

Vivaldi: Sonata a 4 in C major, RV 801

Ensemble Zefiro; Alfredo Bernardini, director

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More information:

Ensemble Zefiro - http://www.ensemblezefiro.it/

Boston Early Music Festival - http://www.bemf.org/

Recorded in concert at Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, June 8th, 2009.

©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.

http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Classical Performance Podcast: Pacifica String Quartet plays the Mendelssohn

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST

For a musician in the 19th century, Mendelssohn had about the happiest life you could imagine. It's just that it was so darn short! Here's music from the period of his blissful marriage to Cecile Jeanrenaud.

Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2
Pacifica String Quartet

Simin Ganatra, violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello
More information
http://www.pacificaquartet.com/

Classical Performance Podcast: Michael Lewin plays Liszt, Lewin and Saint-Saens

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 EST

Michael Lewin has been collecting piano pieces inspired by birds, and he plays some of them for us, in this live-to-air performance at the Fraser studio.
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Saint Saens: The Swan;
Trad., arr. Michael Lewin: Turkey in the Straw;
Alabieff, arr. Liszt: The Nightingale;
Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1.
Michael Lewin, piano
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Watch for Michael Lewin's upcoming CD: "If I Were a Bird". More information at
http://www.michaellewin.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on April 6th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Classical Performance Podcast: Jonathan Crow, Douglas McNabney and Matt Haimovitz play Bach

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST

Bach's Goldberg Variations are brilliant as keyboard pieces, but you can hear their elaborate detail much more clearly in this remarkable arrangement for String Trio.
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J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV.988.
Jonathan Crow, violin; Douglas McNabney, viola; Matt Haimovitz, cello
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More information:
http://oxingale.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on April 17th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Classical Performance Podcast: Yaron Kohlberg plays Schumann

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST

Robert Schumann was a critic and a composer, and in his words he was often critical of the "Philistines" in music - those who promoted conservative and ordinary talent. He gathered together a group of personalities called the "Davidsbundler", to fight the Philistines, and even wrote this set of intensely personal dances to celebrate this "Band of David". We hear it played by Yaron Kohlberg.
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Schumann, Robert: Davidsbundlertänze, Op. 6.
Yaron Kohlberg, piano
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More info:
http://www.yaronkohlberg.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on April 14th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

Classical Performance Podcast: The Moet Trio plays Dvorak

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST

Dvorak sat down to compose his third Piano Trio just a few weeks after his mother passed away in 1882. In some of the passages you can hear how distraught he must have been at the time, but you also hear his amazing gift for melody.
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Dvorak: Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65
The Moet Trio
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The Moet Trio is:
Yuri Namkung, violin; Yves Dharamraj, cello; Michael Mizrahi, piano

More info:
http://moettrio.com/

Recorded in a live broadcast at WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on March 4th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org