WGBH - Orchestral RSS

Discovery Ensemble Plays Haydn

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:00 PM +0000

Courtney Lewis conducts Discovery Ensemble in the "Oxford" Symphony by Haydn, with host Cathy Fuller.

On-demand at Classical New England

The Passion, Ancient and Modern

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:23 PM +0000

The Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Modern Orchestra Project explore the story of the Passion through both the greatest of composers and the music of our time.

The Passion, or the story of the capture and execution of Jesus, is the heart of belief for Christians. For non-Christians, the Passion can be a powerful story of great emotional weight, especially when told through great works of art and music.

Handel and Haydn Society Artistic Director Harry Chrisophers (photo by Stu Rosner)

New England audiences have an opportunity to hear three of those musical interpretations in concerts given by Boston's Handel and Haydn Society and by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. H&H gave the first complete performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1879, and as part of the crescendo towards the ensemble's 200th anniversary, Artistic Director Harry Christophers leads H&H in this pinnacle of Bach's sacred works on March 30 and April 1. Classical New England broadcasts the April 1 performance live from Symphony Hall.

BMOP Founder and Artistic Director Gil Rose (photo by Liz Linder)

On April 6, Boston Modern Orchestra Project performs a concert entitled "Dual Passions" with Artistic Director Gil Rose, conductor Andrew Clark, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. The concert begins with the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winning composition, the little match girl passion, by David Lang, with the second half devoted to Arvo Pärt's Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem, a setting of the Passion according to St. John written in 1982.

I talked with both Harry Christophers and Gil Rose about the Passion and the particular ways these three composers bring this transformative story to musical life:

Here is an extended interview about David Lang's the little match girl passion and Arvo Pärt's Passio Domini with conductor Gil Rose:

For more with Harry Christophers and Bach's St. Matthew Passion, hear a two-part series of The Bach Hour:

The St. Matthew Passion on The Bach Hour, Part One

The St. Matthew Passion on The Bach Hour, Part Two

More about these concerts can be found by visiting the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Maazel's Ring Without Words, in Concert at Carnegie

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 08:30 AM +0000

The Vienna Philharmonic visits New York City's Carnegie Hall with conductor Lorin Maazel, with a program that includes Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor and music from Wagner's The Ring. Hear the concert on Saturday, Mar. 10, at 7pm on Classical New England.

Pianists Ya-Fei Chuang and Robert Levin

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:27 PM +0000

The wife and husband team talk with host Cathy Fuller about Mozart's music and their performances with Boston Baroque.
On-demand at Classical New England

Lincoln Portrait: The Twists and Turns of an American Classic

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:17 PM +0000

Bob Seay of WGBH News and James David Jacobs of Classical New England consider the odd history and captivating power of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait.

To hear a performance of Lincoln Portrait with the United States Marine Band, conductor Col. Michael J. Colburn, and narrator Brian Stokes Mitchell, click on "Listen" above.

Abraham Lincoln, by Alexander Gardner [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Written in 1942, Lincoln Portrait, by Aaron Copland, is a rare musical tribute to an American President. It played an inspirational role when it was written, during the dark, early days of World War II.

But it continued to inspire over the decades, with countless notable narrators giving voice to the words by Abraham Lincoln that Copland chose for his tribute.

Those words, though, were chosen from within a surprising cultural context, as Bob Seay explains:

If Lincoln's words express the highest ideals of American democracy, Copland's music expresses the diversity of sources that have combined to create an American music and culture, as James David Jacobs writes:

Aaron Copland (source: AP)

It’s hard in 2012 to appreciate just how original Copland’s Lincoln Portrait was in 1942. There had been other works that combined spoken text with orchestra, but the combination of serious public statement and serious artistic statement, with ceremony, history, and politics coexisting with music, was, and remains, rare.

The music Copland wrote isn’t mere backdrop for the words, the narrator not even speaking until the piece is about half over. That music tells a story, a story of both an individual life and of a nation. It’s also a story of diverse musical influences, reflecting the diverse musical strands that have come together to create an American music.

The beginning of the work is typical Copland, with woodwinds uttering soft three-note mottoes in intervals of fourths and fifths. That serenity, however, is answered by unsettling chords. It’s not unlike Ives’s The Unanswered Question and its dialogue between a stark, angular statement and its muddled response.

Hear Fred Calland's 1980 interview with Aaron Copland, from NPR.

Comforting, familiar harmonies make a return, culminating in a moment of repose. But then, without any real transition, we’re plunged into a jaunty fantasia of American folk melodies. It’s important to remember that the syncopated rhythms and pentatonic intervals of songs like “Camptown Races” are indebted in no small part to the music of African-Americans, which already in the 19th century was forming the basis of American popular music.

There are also subtle references to the music of Native Americans, engaged in what could be considered Lincoln’s other, less celebrated civil war. The dance-like tone of this section can be considered a sort of analogue to the scherzo in Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, representing both the joys and adventures of the individual heroic figure and the energy and the spirit of the nation and its people.

The strands come together, and the music reverts to the unsettled atmosphere of the work’s beginning. Then, just as we’ve almost forgotten about the speaker, he or she begins to speak.

It’s too important, Copland seems to be saying, to hide behind the cloak of artistic license, of interpretation and ambiguity. No, the meaning of this music must be spelled out, and when we hear the words of Lincoln we know why.

Copland has done us a service by providing a frame in which we can ponder these words, which turn out to be as relevant to today’s struggles as they were in the 1860s. The questions posed by the cultural conflicts illustrated in the differing strands of music are still being asked today.

Lincoln and Copland seem to have some things in common. Both pulled off radical, even revolutionary accomplishments while being regarded as accessible and populist. Both took the ideas of acknowledged radicals and made them palatable for a general audience. Both took their roles in the mainstream as serious, important missions, aimed at bringing wildly divergent philosophical camps together. And both were criticized by those selfsame radicals and branded as sellouts or traitors.

Beyond all that, they occupy similar places in our culture: the historical significance of each has been subject to regular cycles of reassessment, a process that began during each man’s own lifetime. Lincoln Portrait gives us the chance to consider them together, with all the resonance each man’s life and work have for us today.

- James David Jacobs

Serkin Performs Stravinsky

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:25 AM +0000

Peter Serkin is the soloist in Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds, and Stéphane Denève conducts Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.
On-demand at Classical New England

Caf� Europa

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:22 PM +0000

Take a lunch break with performances from the great concert halls of Europe.

Weekdays at noon on Classical New England

Erich Leinsdorf: Looking Back

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:09 AM +0000

Producer Brian Bell considers the career and impact of a legendary BSO conductor.
On-demand at Classical New England

In Concert: Lang Lang and the New York Philharmonic

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:40 AM +0000

(image of Lang Lang by Detlef Schneider, courtesy of the artist)

One of China's most prominent musicians and the New York Philharmonic celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Join Classical New England this evening at 8pm.

Pianist Lang Lang has come to represent the surging growth of classical music in China. A hero to millions of his countrymen, he performed last night at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic and conductor Long Yu, artistic director and chief conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, music director of the Shanghai and Guanzhou Symphony Orchestras, and artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival. They were joined by New York Philharmonic Principal Oboist Liang Wang, bamboo flute soloist Junqiao Tang, and the Quintessenso Mongolian Children's Choir.

On the program:

Li Huanzhi: Spring Festival Overture
Bao Yuankai: China Air Suite
Traditional, orch. Zou Ye: Mongolian Folk Song Suite
Chen Qigang: Extase for oboe and orchestra
Zhou Chenglong: Raise the Red Lantern
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major

Meet New York Philharmonic Principal Oboist Liang Wang:

Salonen Conducts Schoenberg's Vision

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:39 PM +0000

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the L.A. Philharmonic paint a vibrant Bach Prelude and Fugue, and Masaaki Suzuki conducts the Cantata No. 73 (translation).
On-demand at Classical New England

Boston Symphony Orchestra's Rachel Childers

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:15 AM +0000

The new Second Horn player in the BSO talks with Callie Crossley about being the first female brass player in the orchestra's history.
On-demand at Classical New England

Jonathan Biss Plays Beethoven

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:04 AM +0000

Biss is the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, and Jirí Belohlávek conducts Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 and John Harbison's Symphony No. 5, featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Gerald Finley.
On-demand at Classical New England

Morlot Conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:29 PM +0000

French conductor Ludovic Morlot was an assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 2004 until 2007, after which he was appointed Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. He's in Boston to conduct concerts with the BSO, which you can hear live and on-demand at BSO Radio on Classical New England.

In May, Morlot conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a concert you can hear at 3pm this afternoon on Classical New England (on the radio and by listening to our live stream: look under "Radio" at the top of this page). The program includes

Dutilleux - Symphony No. 2 "Le double"

Jolivet - Concertino for Trumpet
Christopher Martin, trumpet

Tomasi - Trumpet Concerto
Christopher Martin, trumpet

Roussel - Bacchus et Ariadne: Suite No. 2

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1
Simon Trpceski, piano

Here is a short preview of the Jolivet Concertino:

(photo of Ludovic Morlot by Sussie Ahlburg)

2012 Tanglewood Season Announcement

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:41 PM +0000

The Boston Symphony Orchestra will announce its 2012 Tanglewood schedule on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 1pm. 2012 is the 75th anniversary season of Tanglewood, and the BSO will offer details on celebretory concerts and initiatives, along with the full roster of guest conductors and soloists, and concert programs. Stream the event live below, beginning at 1pm.

(photo of Lion Gate at Tanglewood by Stu Rosner, courtesy BSO)

Gardiner Conducts Beethoven at Carnegie Hall

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:42 PM +0000

John Eliot Gardiner (photo by Chris Christodoulou)

Join us for a concert from Carnegie Hall, with conductor John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Thursday night at 7pm on Classical New England

When British early music conductor John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique storm Carnegie Hall this week, they'll be equipped with the musical equivalent of muskets and pitchforks — valveless horns, wooden flutes and gut-stringed violins — to present three works by Beethoven.

The grandly named orchestra, based in London, was founded in 1989 to push the boundaries of "authentic" performance practice closer to the present. Historical performance practice began in the 1950s as an effort to perform music of the pre-Baroque era closer to the way it was originally heard. Gardiner expanded his activities in the movement by recognizing that instruments from the Romantic era were distinctly different from the ones that are standard today. What's more, he has said his aim is nothing more than textual purity through consultation with the composers' manuscripts — in this case, Beethoven.

In some quarters, a divide opened up between the traditionalists and the period-instrument school. The latter's members were somewhat condescendingly referred to as sandal-wearing "vegetarians" for their stripped-down approach. Their sound was criticized as being bloodless and dry. Musicologist Richard Taruskin argued, with insight and bile, that it's impossible to recreate what concerts actually sounded like 200 years ago, and period-instrument practitioners merely reflect modernist assumptions about how all music should sound.

Hear two distictly different approaches the finale from Beethoven's 7th Symphony:

Otto Klemperer, conductor, with the Philharmonia Orchestra:

John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique:

Gardiner may not have been the first to record Beethoven's symphonies on original instruments, but when his complete set came out in 1994, listeners could hear an immediate difference. Instead of the clunky pace and weighty sonorities found in modern, 100-member-plus symphony orchestras, Gardiner delivered brisk tempos, light textures and a sharper, vibrato-free sound.

Gradually, the old divisions between modern and authentic styles have increasingly blurred as both camps drew from each other's innovations. Gardiner continues to lead his period-instrument groups (which include the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists), but he has also conducted traditional orchestras. As Martin Kettle wrote in The Guardian recently, "Gardiner is part of the establishment now. The traditional orchestras have embraced his nouvelle cuisine approach." Kettle noted that Gardiner was himself in the audience during conductor Riccardo Chailly's recent Beethoven cycle with the (modern) Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra "to hear how the old iconoclasm is becoming the new normal."

Yes, some audiences will take sides — whether for the massive string sections and beefed-up choruses of the modern orchestra, or the gutsy sound and unsentimental interpretation of the "vegetarians." Which do you prefer? Listen to wo examples on this page — by John Eliot Gardiner and Otto Klemperer — and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Then join us on Thursday evening for a full concert of Beethoven's music.

On this All Beethoven program:

Egmont Overture

Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 7

Bach's Tapestry of Sound

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:04 PM +0000

J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 109 uses the interlacing of sound to create a picture of belief in a performance conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
On-demand at Classical New England

The First Mahler's First

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:01 PM +0000

Conductor Hugh Wolff and the New England Conservatory Philharmonia perform the original version of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, not heard since 1889.
On-demand at Classical New England

Apollo's Fire

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:05 PM +0000

One of this country's most dynamic and exciting early music ensembles comes from Cleveland, where Jeanette Sorrell founded Apollo's Fire in 1992. Now, 17 commercial recordings later, the ensemble visits Boston for a Nov. 5 concert presented by Boston Early Music Festival, with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. The program includes music by Handel and Vivaldi, and you can hear a preview tonight at 7pm on Drive Time Live with Classical New England's Cathy Fuller.

On the program:

Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Violins in A minor
Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor
Handel - Chaconne
Praetorius - Chaconne from Terpsichore
Vivaldi/arr. Sorrell - Concerto grosso "La Folia" (Madness)

Video preview:

Boston Philharmonic Performs Bruckner and Debussy in Concert

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:13 AM +0000

Benjamin Zander leads the Boston Philharmonic in the Symphony No. 8 by Anton Bruckner and Claude Debussy's La Mer.
Today at 3pm on Classical New England

Haydn and Wagner at the BSO

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:23 AM +0000

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducts Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 100, the "Military," and excerpts from Wagner's Die Meistersinger, with bass James Morris and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Saturday at 7pm on Classical New England