Week of April 7, 2025 - Symphony, Part I In the beginning, there were Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, or so we thought. That is until we uncovered a whole world of instrumental music so varied, so wonderful, and so woefully unknown, Bill decided to take time in that glorious place. Starting with a sinfonia by Biaggio Marini from 1618, we slowly make our way through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and finish at the brink of the Romantic era with the second symphony by Beethoven.
Week of April 14, 2025 - Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) Recently, Bill was staying at a beautiful little home in an oak forest in Massachusetts, near the Connecticut River. There had been tremendous thunderstorms through the night, but when he awoke on that Sunday morning, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. He thought what we need in the world is more days of peace and joy. So, this is a whole week with music about peace and we borrow the title, Dona Nobis Pacem, from the Latin Mass. We hope that you find some peace in our selections including works by William Byrd, Edvard Grieg, and we will hear Ella Fitzgerald sing one of her favorite songs, “Angel Eyes.”
Week of April 21, 2025 - Robert Schumann (1810-1856) A musical biography of the torrid life of one of Germany’s early romantics. Married to composer/pianist Clara Wieck and a friend to Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, and Joseph Joachim, Schumann was at the very heart of the German Romantic intellectual movement in the mid-nineteenth century. He was a composer, pianist, and music critic. This week we will listen to Maurizio Pollini play Davidsbündlertänze, Op 6, Murray Perahia perform his Piano Concerto in A minor, and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell play his Symphony No. 3, known as the "Rhenish."
Week of April 28, 2025 - Baltic Music Many of us know and love the work of Jean Sibelius, Finland's greatest musical export, but the countries around the Gulf of Finland have given us a wealth of composers, some better known than others. This week’s theme is music from this land of lakes and islands — isolated, self-contained, and full of beauty. Composers like Erkki Melartin, Leevi Madetoja, Heino Eller, and Arvo Pärt, working in the long shadow of Sibelius, created violin concertos, symphonies, tone poems, choral works, and chamber works. So, what is it that fascinates us about this distant northern region? Perhaps we will sum it up best with a fantastic piece by Uuno Klami called Aurora Borealis.
