This week on Exploring Music, we’ll listen to families making music through the generations, each with their own stories to share.
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This week on Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin, we’ll explore English music, from folk music in the country pubs to the pageantry of Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden.
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“I have always thought that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day,” Van Gogh once wrote.
This week on Exploring Music, we’ll be sampling nocturnal music from Mozart to Thelonious Monk.
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Happy Holidays from Exploring Music!
This week on Exploring Music, we’ll explore the six cantatas performed in Leipzig’s St. Thomas and St. Nicholas Churches in December 1734 that make up J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
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This week on Exploring Music, we’ll be tracing the life of Ludwig van Beethoven through his String Quartets in celebration of his 240th Birthday.
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Beethoven was the pupil of Franz Joseph Haydn starting at the age of 21. As Haydn was a master of the string quartet form, Beethoven waited until he was 30 years old before publishing his first string quartets, named Opus 18.
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The sixth and last of his Op. 18 String Quartets, String Quartet Op. 18, No. 6 in Bb major is the most unorthodox and adventurous for 1801, the year it was published.
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In 1802, Beethoven began to lose his hearing, and in a letter to his brother expresses his feelings of despair. At the same time, however, he begins to find his own voice as a composer.
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In 1806, Beethoven published the “Razumovsky” Quartets in which Beethoven weaves Russian themes into the music. We’ll listen to Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59, No. 2.
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In 1825, Beethoven was overcome by an illness so severe that for a short while he was unable to compose. When he recovered, he composed the String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, “Heiliger dankgesange.”
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To bring our week to a close, we’ll listen to the final two movements of Beethoven’s final quartet, String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135.
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This week on Exploring Music, we’ll be listening to the wonderful music of two great Scandinavian composers: Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius. Join us!
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This week on Exploring Music, we continue our series on the Symphony with a focus on the Symphonies of French composers.
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Bill begins our week of French Symphonies in Paris.
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The Italian city of Rome was a place of fascination for two French composers. We’ll hear part of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony in F Major, “Urbs Roma,” and Georges Bizet’s “Roma” Symphony in C.
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Bill explores the beginning of Édouard Lalo’s First Symphony in G minor.
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This story will make you think twice the next time you hop on your bike. Bill tells us about Ernest Chausson, and we’ll listen to his Symphony No. 1.
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The French composer Paul Dukas is most well known for composing the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” made famous by Walt Disney with the help of Mickey Mouse. Here, Bill introduces us to Dukas’ Symphony in C Major.
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This week’s topic is “Families of Instruments.” Join us as Bill studies the instruments that make up the modern Western orchestra.
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Bill begins the study of instrument families with the woodwinds, going into detail on the mechanism of expression for the various members of the family.
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A branch of the orchestra that is close to Bill’s heart is the brass section. In this episode, we get a taste of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, as performed by modern Jazz and Classical star, Wynton Marsalis.
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Only recently have composers given the percussion family a fair shake. Bill plays pieces by Hindemith, Schwantner, and this Toccata for Percussion by Carlos Chávez.
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The fourth family Bill covers is the string section and we hear the unique Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 for soprano and 8 cellos by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
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In the final episode of our exploration into the families of instruments, Bill reunites the family as he plays some tuneful works by Bartók, Ravel and more.
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In our Triple Play week, Bill mentioned Adam Gopnik’s article that captures the essence of the Bill Evans Trio and the timelessness of its Village Vanguard recording. Here it is in its entirety:
This week on Exploring Music:
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Bill explores the development of the fortepiano and its influence on the compositions of Joseph Haydn. We’ll also listen to Haydn’s Trio in E minor for Violin, Cello, and Fortepiano performed by the Kalichstein – Laredo – Robinson Trio.
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Tuesday’s show is dedicated entirely to Beethoven’s trio compositions. In contrast to the grim tone of much of Beethoven’s work, this piece bubbles with optimism and ebullient sense of humor. Emanuel Ax, Richard Stoltzman, and Yo-Yo Ma perform Beethoven’s Trio in B flat Major, Op. 11 for Piano, Clarinet, and Cello.
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In 1914, Ravel was in the process of composing his Piano Trio in A minor. Bill tells us about Ravel’s struggles with writer’s block.
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We are introduced to a special guest composer with a piece called Three Sketches for Three Winds composed for and performed by the Mariah Wind Trio.
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To complete our week of trios, Bill explores Appalachian Waltz by Mark O’Connor, Mozart’s Trio in Eb Major, K. 563, and I Loves You Porgy performed by the Bill Evans Trio, their last recorded performance with Scott LaFaro on bass.
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