For Your Listening Pleasure

"Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet" In the early- and mid- twentieth century, the three major Tchaikovsky ballets were viewed as the three greatest full-length Russian ballets. Not surprisingly, they were also more popular by wide margins than all other works in the genre. By the latter quarter of the century, however, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet had entered the trio's select company and remains exceedingly popular today. It]is one of Prokofiev's supreme masterpieces and, via the three suites extracted from it, among his most often-played music. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/07RomeoAndJulietOp.64SuiteII [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty Suites" In 1882 Tchaikovsky considered creating a suite from the music to Swan Lake, but it was only seven years after his death that such a suite was finally published as "op. 20a", and it is unknown who made the selection of numbers. Tchaikovsky first considered the idea of creating a concert suite from The Sleeping Beauty in February 1890, shortly after the ballet's première. In the event he was unable to settle on a selection of numbers, and in 1899 a suite of five numbers from the ballet compiled by an unknown person was published as "Op. 66a". Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/01SwanLakeSuiteOp.20A [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Remembrance Day" Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day) is a memorial day observed in Europe and the Commonwealth countries to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty since World War I. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918; hostilities formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/RemembranceDay_71

"Sjakespearean Inspirations" This Listener Guide explores compositions by Berlioz, Ibert, Estacio and Korngold that were inspired or accompany works of William Shakespeare on stage and screen. More details at our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast233

"Sibelius Takes the Stage" This Listener Guide explores three stage works set to music by Jean Sibelius, including his incidental music for Adolf Paul ‘s historical play King Christian II (Kuningas Kristian II). The original play deals with the love of King Christian II, ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, for a Dutch girl, Dyvecke, a commoner. Sibelius composed seven movements in 1898 and the following summer, he composed three more movements, Nocturne, Serenade and Ballad. The ballad is a dramatic piece about the 1520 bloodbath which the king ordered in Stockholm. This movement shows already traits of the later First Symphony. Sibelius derived from the incidental music a suite of five movements, first performed in December 1898. More details at our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast234

"Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms" Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that “it is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing.” The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/Stravinsky.StravinskySymphonyOfPsalmsEtc. [First time on our podcasting channel]

Our ongoing survey of piano sonatas continues with a bonus all-Beethoven post featuring German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus. Read our commentary on November 8 @ https://itywltmt.blogspot.com/, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast326-Playlist

"Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten (Part 2)" Haydn was led to write The Seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio The Creation, which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe. The libretto for The Seasons was prepared for Haydn, just as with The Creation, by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an Austrian nobleman who had also exercised an important influence on the career of Mozart. Van Swieten's libretto was based on extracts from the long English poem "The Seasons" by James Thomson (1700–1748), which had been published in 1730. Detail at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/haydn_jahreszeiten_ff_25_ih_etc [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten (Part 1)" Haydn was led to write The Seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio The Creation, which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe. The libretto for The Seasons was prepared for Haydn, just as with The Creation, by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an Austrian nobleman who had also exercised an important influence on the career of Mozart. Van Swieten's libretto was based on extracts from the long English poem "The Seasons" by James Thomson (1700–1748), which had been published in 1730. Detail at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/haydn_jahreszeiten_ff_06_se_etc [First time on our podcasting channel]

|Orff: Carmina Burana" Carmina Burana - as is the case for any work that is sung is a cantata, though we typically reserve the term cantata to imply a specific meaning. In fact, it contrasts somewhat with an oratorio - an oratorio is like an opera, but it's a concert piece, without the acting and such, and its content is often sacred. A cantata is similar to an oratorio, but it is used directly as part of a church service. J.S. Bach wrote both sacred and secular cantatas, and in his use a cantata is merely a short oratorio. More details at our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast230

"Gloria!" The Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest, and Peace to His people on Earth…) is one of the standard sections of the Ordinary of the Mass, but being such an important prayer in its own right, it has settings that are both within and outside the standard masses. Indeed, our montage looks at two very specific settings, one by Francis Poulenc, and the other by Antonio Vivaldi. More details at our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast148

“Times of the day” As we “fall backwards” we turn to Papa Haydn. Prince Esterházy spent some time in Naples as a diplomat and developed an Italian taste in music. His collection of Italian music included Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’. It has been suggested that the Prince mentioned to Haydn that he should compose a similar set of pieces inspired by the different times of the day, and thus this trio of works, first performed in May or June of 1761. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast236

“Felix Mendelssohn: Lobgesang” Mendelssohn’s Second symphony ('Lobgesang' or 'Hymn of Praise') was commissioned by the city of Leipzig to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing in 1840, and has elements of the symphony, cantata and oratorio. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast181

[Project 366 – Listener Guide #293] Music about Death does not need to bring you down! For our All Saints Day podcast, I chose a series of works that have in common the sometimes sad theme of death, but in ways that aren’t always morbid… Read our fresh take on November 1st @ http://itywltmt.blogspot.ca, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast129-Playlist (ITYWLTMT Podcast # 129 - 1 Nov 2013)

“Hallowe'en” For Hallowe'en, we should take this opportunity to consider some musical selections that are "appropriate" for the circumstances. Works from Bach to Mussorgsky with Gounod and Beethoven among many! Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast210