« September 2007 | Main | November 2007 »
This video is an introduction to a recording of the complete Bach cello suites transcribed and performed by harpist Victoria Drake. Selections from the new recording air tonight around 9:20.
Learn and hear more at welltempered.com.
What's not to love? Energy, dedication, integrity, elan. Anne-Marie McDermott performs Beethoven with The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Saturday morning, around 11:30, Ted Weiner will air from her recording of Bach's English Suite No. 2. This video shows her describing her process preparing for the recording:
Here's video of rising star, pianist Martin Helmchen, performing the second movement from his new recording of the very concerto (Mozart's No. 24) you heard in The Mozart Cafe this afternoon on WDAV:
More video of Martin Helmchen is available at the Pentatone Classics website.
Stringfever, a different sort of quartet. Four musicians, one (electric) instrument:
A NASA astronaut will be taking some music with her into space next month. And no, it's not on an iPod. Stephanie Wilson, a lifelong fan of the Boston Symphony, approached music director James Levine about the idea of taking something symbolic into orbit, and wound up the recipient of a page from the conducting score of Beethoven's 9th, signed by Levine and the musicians of the BSO. Read the full story.
Here's a sneak preview of tenor Gaston Rivero who plays Romeo in Opera Carolina's production of Gounod's Romeo and Juliette October 18, 20 and 21:
L’Amour, L’Amour! Ah! Lève-toi soleil!
From Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod
Recorded at the Cardiff Singer of The World 2005
O mio rimorso! Oh infamia!
From Act II - La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
Gaston Rivero, Alfredo (2006)
From the BBC Proms broadcast of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, a wonderful, humorous interview with conductor Gustavo Dudamel about working with the orchestra and his own musical career.
by Kim Hodgson
WDAV listener and Sparks Society member Debra Camper-Brazis checked in recently with some passionate words about Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, sometimes referred to as the best guitarist you never heard of. A number of clips featuring his work are on YouTube. This one features Emmanuel trying to play Classical Gas (anyone remember that one?) but he keeps getting distracted by other pieces, including a number of classical snippets. (Challenge: identify as many classical works as you can in this clip.) Emmanuel was also interviewed by NPR’s LeAnn Hanson about a year ago, and you can listen to that interview here. After hearing him play, I was astounded to learn that he doesn’t read music.
A question, Dear Listener: if you were to hear a performance by Mr. Emmanuel on WDAV – carefully selected, of course, for qualities which match those that classical listeners seem to be seeking – would you be (a) thrilled, (b) pleasantly surprised, (c) horrified, (d) disgusted, or (e) indifferent? Or perhaps you might couch your reaction in very different terms. If you have a moment, let us know.
Behold: Two years of fundraising gone to splinters.
Bought at auction this Boesendorfer , "the Rolls Royce of pianos", was being delivered to the home of Penny Aide, founder of The Two Moors Festival in England, when it slipped, slid down an embankment and landed upside down. (It's reported that the delivery men "literally tore their hair in anguish".) Steinway stepped in with a loaner, but now Boesendorfer has donated a brand new, hand-built Imperial Grand, valued at $174,000, to the festival. Read the full story here.