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
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John Williams
"End Credits, from Munich"
Various artists with conductor John Williams
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Robert Schumann
"Phantasiestucke," Op. 73
Clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Derek Han
Music@Menlo Festival, Palo Alto, California
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"The Piano Puzzler"
This week's contestant is Ken Gallant from Little Rock, Arkansas
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Francis Poulenc
Four songs from "Chanson Francaises," Op. 130
The King's Singers
The BBC Proms, London, England
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John Adams
"The Chairman Dances"
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales with conductor Kristjan Jarvi
The BBC Proms, London, England
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Carl Maria von Weber
"Romanza Siciliana"
D.C. Hall's New Concert and Quadrille Band
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Bela Kovacs
Homages to Bach and de Falla, from "Two Hommages"
Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester
Occidental Community Church, Occidental, California
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Arthur Honneger
Hommage a Maurice Ravel
Pianist Gilles Vonsattel
Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
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Franz Schubert
Impromptu No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 90, D. 899
Pianist Ingrid Fliter
Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara
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Francis Poulenc
Improvisations
Pianist Francis Poulenc
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Two movements from "The Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Glenn Gould
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Two movements from "Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul, Minnesota
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Johann Sebastian Bach
One movement from "The Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Glenn Gould
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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