October 12, 2009. Three Trios.

We haven’t featured a trio in a long time, so we decided to present three of them. The Flatiron Trio named themselves after the architectural landmark of their neighborhood in New York City. It’s a truly international ensemble: an Israeli (Nurit Pacht, violin), a Canadian (Jeremy Findlay, cello) and a Russian (Elena Braslavsky, piano), happily making music in New York. We’ll hear them perform Shostakovich’s Trio No. 1, written when the composer was just 17.

The Brooklyn-based Janus Trio is quite unusual: it brings together a flute (Amanda Baker), viola (Beth Meyers) and a harp (Nuiko Wadden). They like to perform modern music, so Debussy (whose Sonata for flute, viola and harp we’ll hear) is almost as far back as they’ll go.

The Lincoln Trio (Desirée Ruhstrat, violin, David Cunliffe, cello and Marta Aznavoorian, piano) is one of Chicago’s most celebrated chamber ensembles.  We’ll hear them play Astor Piazzolla’s Otoño Porteño (Autumn), from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. To listen, click here.

October 5, 2009

Camille Saint-Saëns, who was born on October 9, 1935, wrote a lot of rather forgettable music. But he will be remembered for his masterpieces, such as The Carnival of the Animals, the Organ Symphony, and, of course, the Introduction and Rondo Cappricioso. That’s how we’ll begin our playlist, which we created to celebrate the birthday of this wonderful French composer and organist: the Introduction and Rondo Cappricioso is played by Lindsay Deutsch and accompanied by Kuang-Hao Huang. The Havanaise, arranged for flute and played by Kristin Paxinos (with Shelley Trissel at the piano), follows. The famous Swan is then heard in a very unusual arrangement for the saxophone; it’s beautifully played by Otis Murphy. We conclude with the Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by the pianist James Dick with the Texas Festival Orchestra (Pascal Verrot, conductor). To listen, click here.

September 28, 2009

It so happened that we haven’t featured the voice in quite some time. We’d like to make up for this by presenting the soprano Tina Beverly. Ms. Beverly has an agile voice and superb musicality. In this selection, she sings arias from Bach’s Cantata No. 205 and Mozart’s opera Il re pastore. She then brings us two songs by Edvard Grieg: Solveig’s song and With a water-lily. Debussy’s Claire de lune, from Quatre chansons de jeunesse, follows. The last piece in this selection is Glitter and be Gay, from Leonard Bernstien’s opera Candid. William Billingham is the pianist; the violin part in the Bach and the Mozart is performed by Alison Zlotow. To listen, click here.

September 21, 2009

This week 103 years ago Dmitry Shostakovich, a great composer and a tragic figure in the world of classical music, was born. We’ll mark this event with the following selection. First, we’ll hear the Piano Quintet in g minor, opus 57 played by the pianist James Dick and the Eusia String Quartet. To change the mood, we’ll follow with The Pursuit, from the film score to the 1941 movie, The Adventures of Korzinkina (Shostakovich wrote many film scores in his life, both to earn money and to prove that he can write “music for the masses”). This little piece is performed by DUO, a collaboration of the pianists Stephanie Ho and Saar Ahuvia. We’ll conclude with the Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 99 in an old (1969) but wonderful performance by Albert Markov and the Moscow State Orchestra under the baton of Yuri Aranovich. To listen, please click here.

September 14, 2009

Monica Lee started playing the piano at the age of four. She went on to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Saint Louis Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician in Japan, Russia, Canada, and throughout the United States. Monica currently resides in San Francisco, where she maintains a full studio.

We present what could’ve been a delightful recital: Mozart’s Piano Sonata No.9 in D Major, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca by Liszt, two Preludes by Sergei Rachmaninov (Op.23, No.6 and Op.32, No.10), and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 6. To listen, click here.

September 7, 2009

This week we celebrate the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, who was born in a small town near Prague on September 8, 1841. We start with Humoresque, played here in a transcription for viola and guitar with Brett Deubner, the violist. Next is the Piano Quintet played by Quintessence. Then Jonita Lattimore sings the American-inspired Lord, A New Song I would Fashion. She’s accompanied by Eric Weimer. We conclude with the String Quartet in E-flat Major, performed by the Pacifica Quartet and Michael Tree. To listen to the playlist, click here. And please don’t forget to sign in to listen to the complete performances.