For Your Listening Pleasure

"Gundula Janowitz Sings Schubert Lieder" Schubert's body of work includes over 600 songs for voice and piano. That number alone is vastly impressive - many composers fail to reach that number of compositions in their entire output, let alone in a single genre. But it isn't just the quantity that's remarkable: Schubert consistently, and frequently, wrote songs of such beauty and quality that composers such as Schumann, Wolf and Brahms all credited him with reinventing, invigorating and bringing greater seriousness to a previously dilletante musical form. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/GundulaJanowitzFranzSchubert15Lieder [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

"Franz Schubert Piano Duets" The occasional pairing of Austrian pianists Paul Badura-Skoda and Jörg Demus has resulted on a number of recordings in the 50’s and as late as a few years ago, notably of Schubert and Mozart’s works for piano 4-hands. Both pianists (who died in 2019) are recognized as being specialists of late classical to late romantic/early contemporary repertoires, having collaborated as performers and as authors (co-authoring analyses of the Beethoven sonatas, for example). Accomplished soloists in their own right, their unique insight in the late classical composers makes their Schubert stand out. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/SchubertPicesPourPianoQuatreMains [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

"In the name of BACH" For Family Day, a quick peek at the Bach family tree allows us to pick out most of the composers on today’s line-up - Johann Bernhard, Wilhelm Friedemann, CPE, JC and… PDQ. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast239

"Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)" We showcase piano trios by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Hummel is known to many as the man who succeeded Haydn at the court of Prince Esterházy. In 1804, Hummel became Konzertmeister to Prince Esterházy's establishment at Eisenstadt. Although he had taken over many of the duties of Kapellmeister because Haydn's health did not permit him to perform them himself, he continued to be known simply as the Concertmeister out of respect to Haydn, receiving the title of Kapellmeister, or music director, to the Eisenstadt court only after the older composer died in May 1809. He remained in the service of Prince Esterházy for seven years altogether before being dismissed in May 1811 for apparently neglecting his duties. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast258

"Classical Showcase" The Classical era, which we could simplistically assign to the Eighteenth century, certainly spills over to the 1800s. Also, “late baroque” music can be thought of as “early Classical”. The inclusion of Georg Christoph Wagenseil, William Boyce and Charles Avison who all were active in the first quarter of the 1700s in today’s montage is indicative of this fact. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast251

[Project 366 Listener Guide #325] For Valentine’s day, here are a number of love songs from the classical and popular repertoire. Read our fresh take on February 14 @ https://itywltmt.blogspot.com, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast303-Playlist (ITYWLTMT Montage #303 - 8 Feb 2019)

"Brandenburgs Nos. 4-6" Angela Hewitt and Herbert von Karajan provide their perspectives on the Brandenburg Concertos. HIP or not, I thought it would be at least interesting to indulge in some “not so HIP” Bach, and Brandenburg 6 by Karajan and his Berlin Philharmonic sounded like something worth exploring. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/BrandenburgPerspectivesPart1

"Brandenburgs no, 1-3" The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Wendy Carlos provide their perspectives on the Brandenburg Concertos. Carlos is a unique combination of music prodigy and technological guru, earning degrees in Music, Physics and Composition from Brown and Columbia Universities. She is, quite frankly, a pioneer in electronic music, and studio recording artistry. Remaining in New York after graduation, Carlos was introduced to Dr. Robert Moog and became one of his earliest customers, providing advice and technical assistance for his further development of the Moog synthesizer. Carlos convinced Moog to add touch sensitivity to the synthesizer keyboard for greater dynamics and musicality, among other improvements. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/BrandenburgPerspectivesPart2

"Edwin Fischer (1886 -1960)" Edwin Fischer was the first pianist to make a complete recording of Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier which he commenced in 1933. Perhaps the best adumbration of Fischer’s musical outlook is his recording of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue recorded in 1931. The Fantasy sounds more like an improvisation with Fischer not fearing to double notes and use extremes of dynamic, his pianissimo being almost hypnotic as it draws the listener in. He makes this Fantasy into an improvisational poem, at times creating moments of aching beauty. He brings the same qualities to Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s Chorale Ich ruf’zu dir. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast266

"J.S. Bach: The Violin Concertos" A special focus on Bach’s violin concertos, as we feature a 1982 recording by Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande. Bach’s violin concertos are quite few – there are the three recognized concertos (BWV 1041, 1042 and 1043), a “triple concerto” (for violin, flute and harpsichord), and a host of reconstructed or fragmentary works. Our montage dips into both the “straight up” and the “reconstructed” concertos. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/Pcast125

"Alban Berg (1885-1935)" As in most Viennese middle-class homes, music was regularly played in his parents’ house, in keeping with the general musical atmosphere of the day. Encouraged by his father and older brother, Alban Berg began to compose music without benefit of formal instruction. In September 1904 he met Arnold Schoenberg, who was quick to recognize Berg’s talent and accepted the young man as a nonpaying pupil. The musical precepts and the human example provided by Schoenberg shaped Berg’s artistic personality as they worked together for the next six years. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast281

"Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Book I, nos 13-24)" Composed about 20 years apart, the two sets of 24 preludes and Fugues that constitute the two books of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier didn’t start off as one huge collection of 48 works – in fact, the set of “24 Preludes and Fugues” composed in 1742 were not issued as a “sequel” to the original WTC of 1722. Book I exploits the concept that many more composers (from Chopin to moist recently François Dompierre) have followed, that of creating a set of works written in every major and minor key. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/04BWV849 [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

"Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Book I, nos 1-12)" Composed about 20 years apart, the two sets of 24 preludes and Fugues that constitute the two books of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier didn’t start off as one huge collection of 48 works – in fact, the set of “24 Preludes and Fugues” composed in 1742 were not issued as a “sequel” to the original WTC of 1722. Book I exploits the concept that many more composers (from Chopin to moist recently François Dompierre) have followed, that of creating a set of works written in every major and minor key. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/04BWV849 [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

A numerological play on our podcast sequence number – 333 – gives us the opportunity to feature two symphonies from teo different eras Read our commentary on February 7 @ https://itywltmt.blogspot.com/, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast333-Playlist

“J.S. Bach ‘en España’ ” Organist Michael Reckling, who frequented the Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation of Marbella was impressed with the location’s acoustics, and he took upon himself to engage Monsignor Rodrigo Bocanegra (at that time pastor of the Church) in 1970 to support this initiative. The ambitious project would yield the first large tracker organ and one of the most important instruments built in Spain in the 20th Century: the Organo Del Sol Mayor. The fine construction was carried out between 1971 and 1975 by the master organ builders Gabriel Blancafort and Joan Capella from Collbató, at their workshop near Barcelona. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/108ToccataAndFugueInFMajorBWV540 [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]