4/7 Spain à la Russe This week, we’ll test the premise of Mikhail Glinka’s statement, “A nation creates music – the composer only arranges it” with works by Russian composers inspired by Spain and its melodies. On this week’s program, we travel some 2200 miles east from Madrid to Moscow, to hear how Russian composers, including Glinka, sought to capture through music the essence of Spain.
4/14 Music from the Spanish Empire This week's program focuses on the cross-pollination of musical ideas from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries between Spain and two of its former colonies: Cuba, a Spanish possession for almost 400 years, and the Philippines, a viceroyalty from the mid 16th to early 19th centuries. Habaneras, malagueñas. guajiras, valses, and danzas are performed live in concert by the Manilan-born American pianist Charisse Baldoria.
4/21 Catalonia's Sant Jordi Whether you know April 23rd as la Diada de Sant Jordi, el día de la rosa, or el día del llibre, (St. George's Day, The Day of the Rose, or World Book Day,) The Spanish Hour celebrates the Catalan national holiday with Catalan classics from the Renaissance through the 20th century. This week's program focuses on three Spanish composers from the Catalan region. We'll hear sacred music from the Renaissance by Joan Cererols, piano miniatures reminiscent of Schumann's Album for the Young by Enrique Granados disciple Josep Martí i Cristià, and a piano trio by Granados himself, written when he was 27.
4/28 In Memoriam: Guernica On April 26, 1937, Axis forces, with Francisco Franco's knowledge and consent, obliterated the quiet Basque town of Guernica, killing 1,654 civilians, mostly women and children. We'll commemorate the anniversary of this tragic event with Galician-born composer Octavio Vázquez's Guernica (Piano Trio Number 1).
