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Weekend of October 31, 2009
Steve Reich comments on listener comments
Earlier this month, we broadcast a performance of "New York Counterpoint," a 1985 minimalist classic by Steve Reich, with parts for 11 clarinets. Performance Today listeners responded in droves: some absolutely loved it, others...not so much. This weekend, Fred has PT listener comments about New York Counterpoint...and composer Steve Reich comments on the comments. Fred talks with Reich, who describes the piece and explains what he had in mind. (And...Reich says he doesn't compose "minimalist music," he simply composes "music.") Of course, we'll hear it again! Richie Hawley in concert in Santa Barbara, California plays "New York Counterpoint."
Today's Playlist
hour 1
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Fugue from Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 541
Organist Christopher Herrick
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quartet for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Cello in A, K. 298
The American Chamber Players
Sanibel Music Festival, Sanibel Island, Florida
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Steve Reich
"New York Counterpoint"
Clarinetist Richie Hawley
Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, California
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Johannes Brahms
"Variations on a Theme by Haydn," Op. 56
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with conductor Simon Rattle
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
hour 2
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Johann Sebastian Bach and Gabriela Montero
Improvisations on Themes by Johann Sebastian Bach
Pianist Gabriela Montero
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David Greenberg
"Bigorelliach"
The Seattle Baroque Orchestra with conductor and fiddler David Greenberg
Benaroya Hall, Seattle
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Alberto Ginastera
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22
Pianist Gabriela Montero
Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Johannes Brahms
Excerpts from Sinfonia in B
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra with conductor Joseph Swensen
Royce Hall, Los Angeles
Music and Silence
Posted at 9:25 PM on August 31, 2009 (5 Comments)
Robert Fripp: "Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."
Aldous Huxley: "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
Marcel Marceau: "Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music."
Leopold Stokowski (to an audience not providing enough silence): "A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. We provide the music, and you provide the silence."
Former pianist, now anonymous monk: "Silence is my music now."
Edith Sitwell: "My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence."
Music theorist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis: "The same acoustic silence, embedded in two different excerpts, can be perceived dramatically differently."
John Cage, on reaction to his 'silent' piece 4'33": "They missed the point. There's no such thing as silence. What they thought was silence, because they didn't know how to listen, was full of accidental sounds. You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the second, raindrops began patterning the roof, and during the third the people themselves made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out."
Quoted by Richard Kostelanetz in his 2003 book, "Conversing with John Cage."
Call 1-866-943-4450
In-studio with Lang Lang, David Chan and Hai-Ye NiPianist Lang Lang is a superstar soloist among classical musicians, but that hectic schedule often keeps him from performing chamber music. Until now. Listen to Lang Lang's in-studio chamber performance two other musical powerhouses: concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra David Chan and principal cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra Hai-Ye Ni.
Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio
New Classical Tracks with Julie AmacherJulie Amacher provides an in-depth exploration of a new classical music. This week, Gustavo Dudamel's "Discoveries".
Dudamel Discoveries 11/19/2009
Download mp3 (right click and save)
Lost Gem 11/12/2009
Download mp3 (right click and save)
Star Power 11/05/2009
Download mp3 (right click and save)
For information about purchasing a CD of the Oslo Chamber Choir please contact the Oslo Chamber Choir.In studio with the Oslo Chamber Choir
The Oslo Chamber Choir joins host Fred Child in the studio during their American tour. The choir performs some lively traditional Norwegian folk songs as well some haunting arrangements of classical songs by Anton Bruckner, Edvard Grieg and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Those songs have a lingering melancholy which,the choir's conductor, Hakon Daniel Nystedt jokes "is our speciality."
PART I: Grieg and A Wedding March
PART II: Sheep herding songs and Rachmaninoff
Steve ReichPT listeners responded in droves to "New York Counterpoint," a modern classic by Steve Reich. We often read listener emails on the air, but this time we've shared them with the composer, too. Steve Reich joins Fred to comment on our listener comments, share his thoughts about the piece, and reflect on his own evolution as a composer.
Listen to the interview
Fleck-Meyer-Hussain Trio in MiamiBela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain are musical legends in their own right: on the banjo, on the double bass and on the tabla drum. They come from very different traditions, but these musicians have found some fascinating musical common ground as a trio. Fred Child joined them onstage for a live interview and performance in Miami, Florida. Their visit was hosted by Classical South Florida and made possible by the Rhythm Foundation.
Onstage in Miami
Thomas Hampson chose America's heartland - specifically Minnesota's bluff country - to kick off his Song of America tour. He gave a spectacular recital from three centuries of song at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival in Winona.
Download the concert for free.
I'll Be Seeing YouIn 2002 composer Paul Moravec wrote a piece inspired by a 1945 photograph of his parents. At the time, the young couple was not yet married and Vince, his father, was on leave from the Navy. They didn't know if they would ever see each other again. Moravec took a few notes from their favorite song, "I'll Be Seeing You", and created a new song inspired by that photograph.
Listen to Vince and Jan: 1945 by Paul Moravec
Pierre-Laurent Aimard makes work fun. The pianist joins host Fred Child in the studio to talk about and perform etudes by Claude Debussy. Etudes are studies for the piano, but Aimard reveals their artistic and thoughtful character.
Listen to Aimard's performance
Download Radio Radiance, a podcast collaboration between YPC, WNYC New York Public Radio and American Public Media. In each audio file you'll hear a performance of a new work by the the Young People's Chorus and conductor Francisco J. Núñez, plus an interview with the composer. (To download, right click then save the audio file.)
Crosstown M42 by Rob Kapilow and Fred Newman
Picaflor Esmeralda by Gabriela Lena Frank
Things by Meredith Monk
Liement Me Deport by Eve Beglarian
The Piano Puzzler® with Bruce Adolphe is now available for download and as a podcast.
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Performance Today is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts - which believes that a great nation deserves great art - and also by The Huss Foundation, the Mardag Foundation, the Katherine B. Andersen Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, the Phyllis S. Poehler / Walter E. Stremel Trust, and Emily Anne & Gedney Tuttle, and the Friends of Performance Today: Cy and Paula DeCosse, Connie and Dan Kunin.
Broadcast of work by living American composers on Performance Today is supported, in part, by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
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