For Your Listening Pleasure

“The Ordinary of the Mass” The Mass (Latin: Missa), is a choral composition that sets portions of the Eucharistic liturgy (principally that of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism) to music. Most Masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, but some are written in spoken languages - in English for the Church of England for instance. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast231

“Aria, Aria” This “duet” Listener Guide proposes not only some tender moments between flirtatious protagonists, but also some duets for two guys and two gals, but I promise, nothing sinister! In this montage, I tried to program works in French, German and Italian… Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast185

“Carlo Bergonzi (1924 - 2014)” Carlo Bergonzi’s singing showcased an innate sense of how to mould an immaculate line projected on a long breath, an exemplary clarity of diction, and an authoritative use of the particular style called for in interpreting a role. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast172

"Sean Bianco Presents Great Voices from the Past (Part 2)" These podcasts are taken from Capital Radio's Friday Night at the Opera/At the Opera dubbed “Opera Potpourri”. Sean discusses and shares recordings of some of the great singers of the early mid-20th century. Details on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/OperaPotpourri21Apr2012Protti [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Sean Bianco Presents Great Voices from the Past (Part 1)" These podcasts are taken from Capital Radio's Friday Night at the Opera/At the Opera dubbed “Opera Potpourri”. Sean discusses and shares recordings of the Nimbus “Viva Voce” series dedicated to vintage acoustic and electrical recordings of some of the great singers of the early 20rth century. All of the recordings featured today are from before 1939 (the “youngest” being from 1938, I believe). Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/03OperaPotpourri110401 [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Art Song at the Gardner" Art song puts together all the basic ingredients of a great musical experience – it requires great music and musicians of course, but also great texts, great lyrics. The experience is incomplete if the words don’t match the sincerity and beauty of the music. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/02SchumannLiederkreisOp.24Mark [First time on our podcasting channel]

This week’s montage features Beethoven in transcriptions and arrangements by himself, Mahler, Liszt and Richard Kapp (with some help from Chick Corea) Read our commentary on October 25 @ https://itywltmt.blogspot.com/, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast325Playlist

"Christophe Rousset Plays J.S. Bach" This week’s montage features harpsichordist Christophe Rousset in concerti for one and two keyboards by J. S. Bach. This montage of keyboard concertos revisits four concertos often heard as violin concertos – including the pair of double concertos – and allows us to appreciate them in this alternate setting. Details at our archove pagr @ https://archive.org/details/pcast285

"A Montage of Second... Concertos" My #2 Obsession features four second concertos, for three different instruments: the horn, the violin and the piano. Works by Richard Strauss, Szymanowski, Liszt and Saint-Saëns. More info in our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/Pcast092

"Piano and Orchestra" A short sampling of works for piano and orchestra in one movement - not quite concertos, but in the concertante form. Works by Albeniz, Chopin, Turina, Faure and Liszt. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast307

"Beethoven & Korngold Violin Concertos" The works on this listener guide have this in common: they are both concertos by Austrian composers, and both are in the key of D Major: works by Beethoven and and Erich Korngold. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast155

"Bruch and Mendelssohn Violin Comcertos" The Bruch Violin Concerto is one of the top ten violin concertos of all time. The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is one of his most loved works. The great 19th century violinist, Joachim had it about right when he remarked,'The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest without any reservation comes from Beethoven. That by Brahms in its seriousness contends with Beethoven. Max Bruch wrote the richest and most bewitching. But the most intimate, the heart's jewel, is by Mendelssohn.' Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/04JosefSukViolinConcertoOp64 [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

"Grieg and Schumann" When it comes to piano concertos, no two composers wrote more compatible concertos than Grieg and Schumann. Both are in A minor, both are in three movements, and both are ecstatically lyric, tenderly romantic, and amazingly virtuosic. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/GriegSchumann

[Project 366 Listener Guide #36] The term “concertino” is proposed as a “diminutive” term and some of the works programmed in this listener guide assembles “short” concertante works. As you would expect, “short:” is a subjective term … Read our fresh take on October 18 @ http://itywltmt.blogspot.com, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast228-Playlist (ITYWLTMT Podcast #228 - 19 Aug 2016)

"Concertos Without a Soloist" In many ways, the pieces considered here follow more or less the formula of the concerto grosso, where the melodic interplay occurs between the orchestra and a detachment of players within the orchestra (known as the concertino). This formula is exemplified by the selected concerti by Vivaldi and Corelli, both masters of the genre in their era. The other two pieces retained are 20th Century compositions, which find their inspiration from the old baroque formula. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast190