Week of January 2, 2023 - Unfinished Symphonies Schubert wasn't the only composer who passed from this earth with an incomplete symphony on his shelf. Elgar, Mahler, Bruckner, and other symphonists left fantastic but tantalizingly unfinished material that Bill will feature. Varied and unusual stories explain why each one of these works remained unfinished on its shelf and buried deep in the back of our composers’ minds.
Week of January 9, 2023 - A Modest Survey of Ballet Music, Part 1 Put on your dancing shoes and join us for two weeks of ballet music. Starting in the 16th century to meet Catherine de' Medici, and we continue to a golden age of ballet in Paris. Then we meet the Russian ballets, and finally, we will return to Paris for Ballets Russe in the years just before WWI. Our survey covers four hundred years of ballet strictly minding to the principles of Classical form with turnouts and arabesques all choreographed to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Tchaikovsky, and Gluck. Ballet changed in Paris on the evening of May 29, 1913, when Nijinsky danced from his pelvis to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Here we leave you plopped on the doorstep of Modern dance — that is music for another day.
Week of January 16, 2023 - A Modest Survey of Ballet Music, Part 2 Put back on your dancing shoes for our second week of ballet music. This week we will hear the Russian ballets and return to Paris for what now is considered a full-out riot when Ballets Russe choreographed movements to express the music they heard from Igor Stravinsky. New music, and new dance techniques in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. While listening to this music, sit down with your computer and research Ballets Russe in Paris. Its cultural history created a complete renaissance, if not a revolution, much like Catherine de' Medici did for dance 400 years before at the beginning of our survey.
Week of January 23, 2023 - Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) One of the most influential (and underrated) Czech composers, Leoš Janáček created a deeply original style of composition that infused his operas, string quartets, and symphonic music with Moravian and Slavic folk influences. We start this week listening to his charming intimate Nursery Rhymes, “White Goat Gathers Pears,” and “Beetroot Was Getting Married,” performed by The Netherlands Wind Ensemble. Each hour of the week continues with a wonderful sample of Janáček’s works handpicked by Bill McGlaughlin.
Week of January 30, 2023 - A Visit with Richard Stoltzman Descending into Richard’s daylight basement is stepping into over fifty years of clarinet history. Music scores, posters, photos, thousands of clarinet reeds, and over 175 of his recordings fill tables and shelves. With sweet overtones and a twinkle in his eye, he describes standing on stage, pointing the bell of his clarinet towards the audience, and drawing them into the music of Messiaen, Takemitsu, and Copland. His welcoming sense of community has introduced us to new players, and new interpretations of less understood works, plus he has commissioned music by everybody. Listen to stories about his parents, Benny Goodman, Rudolf Serkin, his teachers and friends, and you quickly understand his dedication to a lifetime spent getting it right. This week with Richard will make your jaw drop!
