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An hour of “non-threatening” Classical music with information about the music,composers and performers (some of it true), plus weather and road reports and Public Service Announcements.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! (Which I completely forgot when putting together this show.) On today’s show, two orchestral pieces by Debussy; Napoleon Coste’s Introduction & Rondo for guitar (a prototype for the “Can-Can”); four movements from Mozart’s “Gran Partita” for 12 woodwinds & double bass.
An oboe concerto by baroque composer Alessandro Marcello; the scherzo from Beethoven’s magnificent “Archduke” Trio; the finale from Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred Symphony” (based on a verse drama by Lord Byron); for an encore, the great German tenor Franz Volker sings an aria from Ralph Benatzky’s operetta “The Three Musketeers”.
On today’s show: 2 of Mozart’s cheery “Church Sonatas” for organ and small instrumental ensemble; Pablo de Sarasate’s fantasy on themes from the opera “Martha” (by Friedrich von Flotow); Nachtmusik (night music) II from Mahler’s 7th Symphony; to conclude, Debussy’s strange and attractive March Ecossaise.
On today’s show: to begin, a sonata by Welsh harpist and composer John Parry; the first movement of a string quartet by the teen-aged Franz Schubert; the 2nd and 3rd movements of Jan Sibelius’ 3rd symphony; one of Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy preludes to finish.
To begin, a concerto for 2 guitars by Vivaldi. The lovely Nocturne from Alexander Borodin’s 2nd string quartet. The second movement of Saint-Saens’ big, fun and noisy Symphony #3. Astor Piazzolla’s haunting “Midnight in Buenos Aires” to conclude.
On today’s show, a fantasia for solo violin by Georg Philipp Telemann (a contemporary of Bach), a rousing overture by Verdi, a “pocket concerto” featuring the brilliant piano-writing of Henri Herz and, turning in a completely different direction, Clarence “Pinetop” Smith’s “Pinetop Boogie Woogie” to end the show.
Snooze Button podcasts are back on-line! Today, 2 Greek Dances by Nikos Skalkottas, Ravel’s “Introduction & Allegro” for this, that and the other thing (listen to the show and I’ll explain), a symphony by the teen-aged Mozart and the glorious voice of tenor Fritz Wunderlich in an aria by Franz Lehar from his operetta “The Land of Smiles”.
Piano Wednesday!
Music by Sibelius, Beethoven, Liszt and Rameau. A knockout performance of Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasia by Georges Cziffra.
Today’s Restorative Justice Music: 2nd movement of Beethoven Piano Concerto #3 played by Glenn Gould. Hear Beethoven stop time!
My apologies dear listeners. Human error made Snooze Button #836 (Sept. 30/2010) a debacle which is unfit for human consumption.
More of the pianism of Monique Haas in music by Schumann. Sibelius’ “Rakastava” for strings, timpani and triangle. Rarely heard ballet music from Verdi’s French opera “Jerusalem”. To finish, a “Burleske” by Max Reger for piano four-hands based on the German folksong “Ach, du lieber Augustin”.
This week, “Snooze Button” recognizes “National Victims of Crime Awareness Week” in Canada (Apr 18 - 24). Today’s show: Glenn Gould starts things off with the 2nd and 3rd movements of Beethoven’s Sonata # 8 in C minor; the 2nd movement of Shostakovich’s 6th Symphony; to conclude the last 3 movements of Ernest Chausson’s “Concert” for solo violin, piano and string quartet.
Vocal music bookends today’s show. Two songs (“An die Musik” and “Seligkeit”) by Schubert to begin; the 2nd movement of Haydn’s Symphony #104; Sergei Lyapunov’s tuneful 1st piano concerto; Fritz Wunderlich sings an aria from Johann Strauss II’s operetta “A Night in Venice” to end the show.
Today’s show moves backward chronologically. Er…I mean the music moves backward - you won’t get an hour younger by listening to the show. Two songs for men’s chorus by Schubert; a symphony by Sammartini; Bach’s Sonata #2 - originally for solo violin but here played on viola; 2 anonymous dances from the Renaissance period. In the context of the Bach selection, I theorize about why the viola “can’t get no respect” and share a few of the hundreds of viola jokes that exist somewhere out there.
Today’s show features a concerto by Baroque composer Johann David Heinichen, the lyrical second movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18 #3, Liszt’s 1st Piano Concerto played by Janina Fialkowska, and a couple of “encores” for brass ensemble.
Greetings dear listeners! It’s been a while since I posted a show here on the website but I’m going to try to get back to doing it regularly. Today is a “Piano Wednesday” featuring music that all has a Spanish connection. Music by Scarlatti, Granados and Gottschalk. Pianists featured are Horowitz, Angela Hewitt, Douglas Riva and Cecile Licad. Enjoy.
The theme of today’s show is “Music from places that are warmer than Lillooet is right now”. To begin, 2 pieces from Manuel De Falla’s ballet “El Amor Brujo”; Canadian violinist Scott St. John and guitarist Simon Wynberg play Paganini’s “Variations on Barucaba”; Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Symphony #2, subtitled “A Montevideo” (written while he was in Uruguay; more Gottschalk to conclude his glittering and infectious “Grande Tarantelle” for piano and orchestra.
Piano Wedneesday! All Liszt! “Hymne du Matin” to begin, illustrating the composer’s religious side; “Valse-Impromptu” - Liszt the charmer; “Patineurs” - a scherzo based on an ice-skating scene from Meyerbeer’s opera “Le Prophete” shows Liszt’s skill and originality as a transcriber; to finish, the lively gypsy rhythms of Hungarian Rhapsody #8. Today’s show is dedicated to the memory of my friend John Parker.
The final two movements from Camille Saint-Saens’ late sonata for clarinet and piano to begin; music by Lars-Erik Larsson written for a production of “A Winter’s Tale”; the Shakespeare connection continues with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s colourful and frequently humorous suite of music for “Much Ado About Nothing”; Saint-Saens returns to close the program - his “Etude en forme de Valse”.
Two Mozart selections to begin - the slow movement from his G minor Quartet for piano and strings and the finale from Symphony #28; Richard Strauss’ medley of waltzes from his operatic masterpiece “Der Rosenkavalier”; two movements from Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy 1st piano sonata to conclude.
This week Snooze Button recognizes Restorative Justice Week!
Piano Wednesday! Two of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues to begin; Glenn Gould plays the 2nd and 3rd movements of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5; Frederic Rzewski’s setting of “Down by the Riverside” played by the amazing Marc-Andre Hamelin.
This week Snooze Button recognizes Restorative Justice Week!
A pair of opera choruses by Verdi to begin, including the much-beloved “Va, pensiero” from “Nabucco”; the Adagio movement from Beethoven’s first published work, a piano trio; Rimsky-Korsakov’s lively “Capriccio Espagnol”; Rimsky-Korsakov’s even MORE lively “Flight of the Bumblebee in a virtuoso piano transcription by Rachmaninoff.
Piano Tuesday! (I took off Nov. 11, so piano day is moved up one day this week.) A Pavane and Galliard by William Byrd to begin; “Claire de lune au large” by little-known French composer Gustave Samazeuilh; Piano Concerto #7 by the equally obscure Henri Herz; two of Ernesto Lecuona’s “Danzas Afro-Cubanas” to wrap things up.
Two movements from a symphony by the very obscure Wenzel Pichl; one of Rossini’s sonatas for strings in an arrangement for woodwind quartet; a rare example of music written by committee - “Hexameron” - variations for piano on a theme by Vincenzo Bellini; the variations are by Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, Herz, Chopin and Czerny.
Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda sings arias by Mozart and Lehar; after some technical flubs on my part, Isaac Stern plays Ravel’s “Tzigane”; the final 3 movements of Haydn’s “Drumroll” Symphony (#103) played by Symphony Nova Scotia; three of Shostakovich’s Preludes, op. 34 to conclude.
Two guitar pieces by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce; the 1st movement of Haydn’s Symphony #103 with a spoken introduction by conductor Georg Tintner (the remainder of the symphony will follow on Thursday, Nov. 5 edition of “Snooze Button”); the final 3 movements of Chopin’s late Sonata for Cello and Piano; three pieces by American composer Leroy Anderson including one of his hits - “The Syncopated Clock”.
To begin, an arrangement of the Appalachian spiritual “Wayfaring Stranger” for percussion and piano; the finale of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata #3, recorded by Fritz Kreisler in 1935 with Franz Rupp at the piano; the Overture to Rameau’s opera-ballet “La Naissance d’Osiris”; Sir Arnold Bax’s colourful tone poem “November Woods”; Beethoven’s obsessively cheerful “Rondo a Capriccio” to conclude.
THE Halloween Show. Grieg’s March of the Trolls to start followed by Tomita’s synthesizer version of Debussy’s “The Sunken Cathedral”; the Witches’ Ballet from Verdi’s opera “MacBeth”; Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” with some re-orchestration by Leopold Stokowski; two selections of John Williams’ music for “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.
Two movements from Mauro Giulani’s “Grand Duo Concertant” for flute and guitar (during the introduction of which, your host experiences a linguistic crisis); Halloween celebrations continue with Dvorak’s symphonic tone poem “The Noon Witch”; the late, lamented CBC Vancouver Orchestra play Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #4; Billy Mayerl and Austin Croom-Johnson play Mayerl’s “Bats in the Belfry” as a piano-harpsichord duet.
Piano Wednesday! Halloween offerings continue with two spooky pieces (Schumann and Liszt) played by Sviatoslav Richter; a hellishly difficult etude by Charles-Valentin Alkan played by Marc-Andre Hamelin; an incandescent recording of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Paganini with pianist Earl Wild and conductor Jascha Horenstein; Prokofieff’s “Suggestion Diabolique”.
Two songs by Richard Strauss to begin, sung by French baritone Gerard Souzay; today’s Halloween offering - the concluding sections of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in Maurice Ravel’s orchestration; the lyrical 2nd movement from Brahms’ Quartet #2 for Piano and Strings; a movement from Leo Weiner’s Hungarian Folk Dance Suite.
Two pieces by Brazilian composer and guitarist Marco Pereira (b. 1956); this week’s Halloween offerings begin with Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” Sonata; the finale from Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C Major (variously known as Symphony # 7, 8 and 9!); the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra plays “Mambo” from “West Side Story”.
Two charming and skillful examples of “British Light Music” to begin; the 1st movement from Mozart’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major played by Canada’s Gryphon Trio; 3 movements from William Grant Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony (#1); Cecile Chaminade’s “Air de Ballet” to conclude.
Piano Wednesday! Two pieces from Francois Couperin’s “Onzieme Ordre” for harpsichord; Sir Arnold Bax’s evocative “What the Minstrel Told Us”; Glenn Gould plays the 2nd and 3rd movements of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #4; three of Charles-Valentin Alkan’s “Esquisses”.
“Classical Suite” for harp by Lynne Palmer (b. 1918); two movements of Moritz Moszkowski’s “From Foreign Lands” (originally for piano duet, but heard here in the composer’s orchestration); violin concerto #5 from Pietro Locatelli’s “L’arte del Violino”; Chopin’s “2/4” Waltz in A-flat played by Agustin Anievas.
Two Schubert songs to begin with tenor Philip Langridge and soprano Elly Ameling; the brilliant overture to Carl Maria von Weber’s opera “Euryanthe”; Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #6 played by the late great CBC Vancouver Orchestra with conductor Mario Bernardi.
Piano Wednesday! Two movements of a neo-baroque suite by Gustav Samazeuilh; the Toccata from Charles-Marie Widor’s organ Symphony #5; Piano Concerto #1 by Ignaz Moscheles; “syncopated music” by British composer Billy Mayerl - “The Ace of Hearts” from his “Four Aces Suite”.
Bonus Piano Friday! All Beethoven! In this pre-Thanksgiving show, I’m giving thanks for Beethoven and the piano. The ever-popular “Fur Elise” to begin (or should that be “Therese”: listen to learn more); one of the op. 33 Bagatelles; Sonata #24 in F# Major - one of Beethoven’s own favourites; the concluding three movements of the “Pastorale” symphony in Franz Liszt’s arrangement for piano solo; to conclude Alfred Brendel plays the “Five Variations on ‘Rule Brittania’”.
Two popular Italian songs arranged for cello and guitar; the first movement of Kurt Atterberg’s unfortunately-nicknamed “Dollar Symphony”; the final two movements of Rachmaninoff’s “Sonata for piano and cello” [sic]; part of a bassoon concerto by Vivaldi to conclude.
Piano Wednesday! Glenn Gould plays 2 pieces by William Byrd; dances from Manuel de Falla’s “The Three-cornered Hat” played by Alicia de Larrocha; Murray Perahia plays Bach’s keyboard concerto in G minor (based on the celebrated A minor violin concerto); Debussy’s “Valse: La plus que lente”.
Two of Vardapet Komitas’ Armenian dances; a tribute to the late, great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha with a sonata by Mozart (K. 332 in F Major) and one movement from Albeniz’ Iberia; the 2nd movement of Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole” played by Isaac Stern.
Two arias (Bizet and Mozart) sung by Canadian tenor Mark Dubois; #5 of the “Bachianas Brasileiras” by Heitor Villa-Lobos; the Adagio movement from Schubert’s great C Major string quintet; Francis Poulenc at his most “cartoonish” in the finale from his sonata for clarinet and piano.
Piano Wednesday! A Nocturne and Barcarolle by Faure to begin; two of the months (August and September) from Tchaikovsky’s mis-named “The Seasons”; the first movement of Friedrich Kiel’s rarely heard Piano Concerto in B-flat Major; 3 of Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy Concert Etudes to finish.
Some gentle harp music to begin; Jules Massenet’s “Scenes Napolitaines”; the 2nd and 3rd movements of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s lush Violin Concerto (in an award-winning recording by Canadian James Ehnes with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey; the venerable American pianist Earl Wild plays two of his “7 Virtuoso Etudes on songs by Gershwin”.
Two musical responses (Brahms and Henselt) to the thought “If I were a bird…”; the string sextet from Richard Strauss’ late opera “Capriccio”; 3 movements of Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet; the great American soprano Eileen Farrell sings “Somebody Loves Me”.
