For Your Listening Pleasure

"Octets and Nonets" Where does ensemble music stop being “chamber” music? There isn’t a straight-forward answer to that question, but suffice it to say that we rarely see chamber works that involve more than 10 players… So this partly explains our focus on groups of eight (octets) and nine players (nonets), as these are probably the most muscular configurations we will find that “stop short” of being viewed as orchestral or ensemble play. Works by Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, Gouvy and Gounod. Details on our archives page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast223

"HB Vladimir Horowitz [*1903]" Vladimir Horowitz held a singular place in twentieth-century music. He was both an international celebrity and serious artist whose performances and recordings were anxiously anticipated and widely discussed. His recordings of Brahms's Second Concerto (1940) and Tchaikovsky's First Concerto (1941) are among the most influential piano recordings ever produced and they helped to propel his career into the 1940s and beyond. Details on our archive page https://archive.org/details/051.AllegroNonTroppoEMoltoMae [First time on our podcasting channel]

“FP of Porqy and Bess [1935]” Porgy and Bess has been the subject of many so-called “concept albums”, both from jazz legends dating from the same year, 1958: Miles Davis’ East-Coast Studio effort and one by the duo of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong from the West Coast. This week, we have two “visions” of Gershwin’s only Grand Opera – a "Symphonic Portrait” and the Fitzgerald/Armstrong “Concept Album”.

“Jewish Inspirations” We often talk of musical traditions in the context of national music, or national schools. We also sometimes talk of music as either sacred or secular. I’m not quite sure where to place music of Hebraic or Jewish inspiration in those contexts – are we talking about a tradition, or a form of religious music? None of the pieces I selected to mark the Jewish feast of Rosh Hashana are in my view religious in nature, but they do share the common distinctive sound, at times “schmaltzy” we associate with the Jewish musical tradition.

"Music from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston" A listener guide showcasing three performances from the ISGM, which have a common theme: musical democracy in the form of “large” chamber works. By large, I mean something requiring more than four players.The works I chose present the challenge of democracy in music in two distinct ways – are these works featuring five or six independent performers each having their moment in the Sun so to speak, or are they ensemble pieces, where the individual artists forego their individual play in favour of that of the group as a whole. You decide! [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]

[Project 366 – Listener Guide #21] One of the earliest and most influential works for this combination of instruments is Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581, written for the clarinetist Anton Stadler in 1789. Although a few compositions for this ensemble were produced over the following years, it was not until Johannes Brahms composed his Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 for Richard Mühlfeld that the clarinet quintet began to receive considerable attention from composers. Also included, clarinet quintets by Weber and Coleridege-Taylor. Read our fresh take on September 27 @ http://itywltmt.blogspot.com, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast213-Playlist (ITYWLTMT Podcast #213 - 15 Jan, 2016)

“Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805)” Luigi Boccherini, the classical era composer and cellist known for his courtly and galante style, was born in Italy into a musical family. In 1761 Boccherini went to Madrid, entering in 1770 the employ of Infante Luis Antonio, younger brother of King Charles III of Spain. Later patrons included the French ambassador to Spain, Lucien Bonaparte, as well as King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, himself an amateur cellist, flautist, and avid supporter of the arts. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), a "cello quintet" scored for a string quartet with a second cello as the fifth instrument.

“Quartets” For whatever reason, when we think of quartets, we immediately think of string quartets. This configuration has been extremely popular, from the days of Joseph Haydn all the way to contemporary times. This montage features quartets for all sorts of instrument combinations, Works by Borodin, Dvorak, Aldo Forte and Robert Schumann.

"The Aeolian String Quartet Plays Haydn - Part 2" Violinist Johann Tost led the second violins of Haydn's orchestra at Esterháza from 1783 until his departure for Paris in 1788. In Paris, Tost sold some of Haydn’s compositions, and Haydn in gratitude dedicated the Op. 64 set to Tost. Part 2 shares the last three quartets from this set. {First time on our podcasting channel]

"The Aeolian String Quartet Plays Haydn - Part 1" Violinist Johann Tost led the second violins of Haydn's orchestra at Esterháza from 1783 until his departure for Paris in 1788. In Paris, Tost sold some of Haydn’s compositions, and Haydn in gratitude dedicated the Op. 64 set to Tost. Part 1 shares the first three quartets from this set. [First Time on our podcasting channel]

"Elena Kuschnerova Plays Tchaikovsky" To mark the Fall Equinox, Tchaikovsky's set of twelve “characteristic scenes” dubbed “The Seasons” which, if you ask me, should be more aptly titled “the Months of the Year”. More at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/28MeditationEnReMajeurOp.72 [First Time on our podcasting channel]

"Oscar Peterson (1925-2007)" Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson grew up in Montreal’s Little Burgundy, a predominantly black neighbourhood where he found himself surrounded by the jazz culture that flourished in the early 20th century. His father, Daniel Peterson, an amateur trumpeter and pianist, was one of his first music teachers. As a child, Peterson studied with Hungarian-born pianist Paul de Marky, a student of István Thomán, who was himself a pupil of Franz Liszt. At the age of nine Peterson played piano with control that impressed professional musicians. More on our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast252

[Project 366 - Listener Guide #15] This montage explores three Russian trios that have a common link; the tradition among Russian composers to write an elegiac trio in memory of a departed friend.Trios by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff. Read our revisited commentary on September 20 @ http://itywltmt.blogspot.com, details @ https://archive.org/details/pcast147-Playlist (ITYWLTMT Podcast #147 - originally broadcast on 14 Mar 2014)

"Leopold Wlach Plays Brahms" In January 1891 Johannes Brahms made a trip to Meiningen for an arts festival and was captivated by performances of the Weber Clarinet Concerto No. 1 and the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. The solo clarinetist was Richard Mühlfeld, and Brahms began a fond friendship with the man whose playing he so admired. The beautiful tone of the instrument inspired him to begin composing again less than a year after he retired. The fruits of their friendship were four remarkable additions to the still modest clarinet repertoire of that time - three of them featured here. More at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/09ClarinetTrioInAMinorOp.114 [First time on our podcasting channel]

"Beethoven Sonatas (horn, violin & cello)" When I think of sonatas for, say, the violin with piano accompaniment, the image that I have in my mind is, like a “singer”, the solo instrument is allowed to shine, sometimes relinquishing the spotlight to the accompanying piano, but sometimes taking center stage. A sonata is not unlike a song or lieder cycle – the movements aren’t so disparate that you can’t recognize that they form an homogeneous group of short pieces. More at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/pcast202