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August 13, 2008

Is interpretation a form of improvisation?

Point/counterpoint: Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg says you don't have to change the notes to improvise -- interpretation is a form of improv. Pianist Robert Levin disagrees. We'll consider the question by comparing VERY different versions of the Bach Goldberg Variations: Glenn Gould vs. Simone Dinnerstein. AND... some composers have written pieces intended to sound like improv, but... you have to play the notes they wrote. Schubert "Impromptus," and Poulenc "Improvisations."

Today's Playlist



hour 1

  • John Williams
    "End Credits, from Munich"
    Various artists with conductor John Williams
  • Robert Schumann
    "Phantasiestucke," Op. 73
    Clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Derek Han
    Music@Menlo Festival, Palo Alto, California
  • "The Piano Puzzler"
    This week's contestant is Ken Gallant from Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Francis Poulenc
    Four songs from "Chanson Francaises," Op. 130
    The King's Singers
    The BBC Proms, London, England
  • John Adams
    "The Chairman Dances"
    The BBC National Orchestra of Wales with conductor Kristjan Jarvi
    The BBC Proms, London, England

hour 2

  • Carl Maria von Weber
    "Romanza Siciliana"
    D.C. Hall's New Concert and Quadrille Band
  • Bela Kovacs
    Homages to Bach and de Falla, from "Two Hommages"
    Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester
    Occidental Community Church, Occidental, California
  • Arthur Honneger
    Hommage a Maurice Ravel
    Pianist Gilles Vonsattel
    Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
  • Franz Schubert
    Impromptu No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 90, D. 899
    Pianist Ingrid Fliter
    Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara
  • Francis Poulenc
    Improvisations
    Pianist Francis Poulenc
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
    Two movements from "The Goldberg Variations"
    Pianist Glenn Gould
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
    Two movements from "Goldberg Variations"
    Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
    Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
    One movement from "The Goldberg Variations"
    Pianist Glenn Gould
  • Carl Maria von Weber
    Overture to "Der Freischutz"
    The Dresden Philharmonic with conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos
    Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, Florida
Program Archive



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