J. S. Bach had many children, but it was his three sons that carried on their father's legacy into the Classical era. Bill McGlaughlin explores the Bach family of musicians during the week of May 25th.
Week of May 4, 2020 - Stormy Weather We don’t know why there’s no sun up in the sky, but we do know that this week of exploring stormy music will delight us all. We’ll see double rainbows with Antonio Carlos Jobim, hear Debussy's "Footsteps in the Snow” and "Gardens in the Rain," and listen to settings of Shakespeare’s "Tempest", also we’ll hear Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, Richard Wagner, and Percy Grainger each at sea. We’ll take a mule ride into the Grand Canyon with Ferde Grofé and hear about the weather from Handel, Beethoven, Hovhaness, and Harold Arlen. Antonio Vivaldi will show us all the seasons, and we’ll ride a storm with Jim Morrison and The Doors.
Week of May 11, 2020 - Maestros, Part I The first in a multiple-part series featuring legendary conductors who shaped American music-making in the mid-20th century. With Europe in turmoil, opportunities abounded in the Americas, and many great conductors arrived from abroad and stayed to build orchestras, from the ground up, with their unique voices. This week’s conductors are Serge Koussevitzky, Eugene Ormandy, Fritz Reiner, Pierre Monteux, and George Szell. From Boston to San Francisco you can still hear the influence of these five conductors in all of the orchestras that they directed, and their stories are still loved by musicians young and old.
Week of May 18, 2020 - Maestros, Part II The second week in a series highlighting a marvelous group of conductors who came from Europe from the 1930s to the 1970s, and transformed the American musical culture. We will listen to the conducting of Anton Dorárti, Dmitry Mitropoulos, Bruno Walter, Maurice Abravanel, William Steinberg, Charles Münch, Erik Leinsdorf, and even the lad from Lawrence, Massachusetts, Leonard Bernstein. All of them had big personalities with a deep understanding of symphony orchestras.
Week of May 25, 2020 - From This Mighty River: Music of the Children of JS Bach Music flowed from the Bach family in a seemingly never-ending torrent for generations, and three sons of Johann Sebastian are no exception. This week will feature the music of Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Christian Bach as they continue their father’s legacy into the Classical era. Exploring Music will follow CPE Bach as he travels to England where he meets and enjoys playing keyboard games with the young Wolfgang Mozart.
