This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday and Sunday, 11-12 October 2025
Hello, Weekend! Here’s your soundtrack.
This weekend:
Join us at 1pm ET for Saturday On Point, our weekly spotlight on classical music for dancers on the stage.
This week’s featured ballet is Javotte by Camille Saint-Saëns.
At 6pm ET, Haydn Jones has your requests and special dedications on the Saturday Evening Request Program.
Find the playlist here
Make requests and dedications for next week here
Begin your sacred Sunday mornings at 7:30am ET with Sing For Joy from St. Olaf College, followed at 8am ET by James Steelmon and Great Sacred Music, this week featuring recordings of the Ensemble Art Choral; St. Olaf Choir; and the Stuttgart RSO and Chorus with Die Letzten Dinge (The Last Judgement) by Louis Spohr.
And at 6pm ET, Preview! highlights the new and recent releases in the world of classical music. This week’s show features 2025 recordings of Capricornus Consort Basel performing Georg Philipp Telemann’s Sonata for Five in F and Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B flat, Op. 18, performed by the Ariel Quartet.
On these dates in the history of classical music:
Viktor Tretyakov, date unknown. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A very Happy Birthday to Russian violinist and conductor Victor Tretyakov, born October 11, 1946, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Tretyakov was a precocious musician early in his childhood and started playing violin when he was seven years old. He was nine when he began his formal music studies in the junior division of the Moscow Conservatory Music College; he continued at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatoire. In 1966, Tretyakov took first prize in the Third International Tchaikovsky Competition and became a fixture in international concert tours throughout Europe and the U.S. He was named a People’s Artist of the USSR in 1987; is a laureate of the Shostakovich Prize; received the Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR; and was awarded the Order of Service to the Fatherland in 2001. He has performed and recorded with most of the world’s major orchestras and teaches at the Moscow State Conservatory.
Sylvius Leopold Weiss in a copper engraving by Bartolomeo Follin (1765), after a painting by Balthasar Denner (1730-40). (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
German lutenist and composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss was born October 12, 1686 (possibly 1687, sources differ), near Breslau. Weiss became one of the most well-known and prolific composers for the lute in the history of music and was something of a lute superstar in his day. He was a court musician for noble houses in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden until his death; was a longtime friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach; and he wrote hundreds of compositions for lute.
Friday, 10 October 2025
Listeners, it’s All-Request Friday and we are playing your requests and special dedications all day. (We’ll do it again tomorrow evening on the Saturday Evening Request Program).
I’d like to see what’s on the playlist!
May I make a request for next week’s shows? (Of course you may.)
On this date in the history of classical music:
Gerónimo Giménez, date unknown. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Spanish violinist, conductor, and composer Gerónimo Giménez in Seville in 1854. Giménez grew up in Cádiz and began his musical education as a prodigy with lessons under his father and experience as a choirboy. By the time he was 12, Giménez was among the first violins of the orchestra of the Cádiz Teatro Principal. At 17, he became director of a zarzuela and opera company. In 1874, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris and became a prize-winning student in violin and composition. He settled in Madrid after graduating and was appointed director of the Teatro Apolo de Madrid and the Teatro de la Zarzuela; he was also a conductor of the Sociedad de Conciertos de Madrid and introduced many audiences in Madrid to symphonic music. As a composer, Giménez dedicated himself to the art form of the zarzuela (a Spanish form of stage dramas that alternate between spoken and sung scenes), many of which were adapted into operas by other composers. In addition, Giménez also wrote three cadenzas for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
Thursday, 9 October 2025
A good day to you all and a very merry Friday Eve!
Join us to celebrate with some wonderful music.
We’ll also celebrate with Dr. Jay Pierson at 7pm ET and Thursday Night Opera House, featuring the 1966 recording of the second opera in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle: Die Walküre. Twin siblings Siegmund (James King) and Sieglinde (Regine Crespin) meet and fall in love without realizing that they are related, an act that angers the gods. Sir Georg Solti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
On this day in classical music history:
Einojuhani Rautavaara, c. 1950s. (Photographer unknown – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, born in Helsinki in 1928, and among the most notable composers of the 20th century. His father was an opera singer and cantor who encouraged the young Rautavaara to pursue music; he began with casual piano lessons until the death of his parents when he was 10, when he began formal piano studies. Rautavaara studied piano and musicology at the University of Helsinki and composition at the Sibelius Academy. He began to receive international attention as a composer in 1954 with A Requiem in Our Time; as a result, Jean Sibelius recommended Rautavaara for a scholarship to the Juilliard School. Rautavaara later said that his time in New York City was perhaps his most important experience and that he learned more about life than about music. He returned to Helsinki to graduate from the Sibelius Academy; had further studies in Switzerland and Germany; served as archivist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; and taught at the Sibelius Academy fairly continuously from 1957 (when he graduated) until 1990. Rautavaara received the Finnish State Prize for Music in 1985; after heart surgery in 2004, the Finnish government named him an arts professor and paid him to compose. Among Rautavaara’s prolific compositions are symphonies, concerti, choral works, sonatas, chamber music, and operas.
Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Wednesday: We can do it!
Great classical music helps.
On this date in the history of classical music:
Kurt Redel, year unknown. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of German flutist and conductor Kurt Redel in Breslau, Silesia (now Wrocław, Poland), in 1918. Redel studied flute, violin, piano, composition, orchestration, music history, and conducting at the Conservatoire of Breslau. When he was 21 (and had already won the Vienna and Geneva International Music Competitions), Redel was appointed professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1939, he became a member of the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra; he joined the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 1941; and then taught at the North West German Music Academy from 1946 to 1953. That year, Redel founded the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and began extensive touring and recording with the group. He founded and directed the Lourdes Easter Festival and was a guest conductor for orchestras throughout Europe.
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
On this date in classical music history:
Roman Padlewski, from his grave in Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw. (Photo by Mateusz Opasiński – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Today is the birthdate of Polish pianist, violinist, composer, conductor, musicologist, and Polish Army Second Lieutenant Roman Padlewski in Moscow in 1915. Padlewski studied violin and composition at the State Conservatory of Music in Poznań, then musicology at the University of Poznań. While a student, he became well-known in the city’s musical circles as a composer and performing violinist and pianist; for leading the Karol Szemanowski Choir; and for his articles about music in the local press. In 1937, Padlewski graduated from the Volhynian Artillery School and during the German occupation of Poland, he was a member of the Secret Union of Musicians who gave concerts in rebellion of the occupying forces. He joined his fellow soldiers in battle against Nazi Germany in 1939; was taken prisoner; escaped and returned to Warsaw in 1943, where he continued his music studies (adding organ) and was killed in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. He was awarded the Cross of Valor and the Order of Virtuti Militari for his military service. During the war, many of Padlewski’s compositions were destroyed (including some chamber works and a concerto for violin), but among the surviving works are Three Songs to Words by Artur Maria Swinarski (1933), a violin sonata, his String Quartet No. 2, two motets for choir, and his Stabat Mater.
Monday, 6 October 2025
It’s a new week, Listeners!
The Classical Station is doing what we do best: Providing great classical music, all the time, everywhere. Thank you for supporting that endeavor since 1978.
Join Vince Tillona at 7pm ET for Drop the Needle and the warmth of vinyl. This week’s show highlights recordings of George Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid.
At 8pm ET, Monday Night at the Symphony features recordings of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leif Segerstam, Christopher Hogwood, Thomas Dausgaard, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. See you at the symphony!
On Tuesday, tune into Classical Café with George Leef for this week’s Legendary Performer:
English violinist and conductor Iona Brown.
On Wednesday (between 11am and noon ET), George will give away tickets to see NC Opera’s production of Jules Massenet’s Cinderella.
Tune in to win!
On this date in classical music history:
Catedral de Valladolid, c. 2023. (Photo by Fernando Pascullo – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Spanish Baroque composer Miguel Gómez Camargo in 1618 in Ávila. Gómez Camargo began his musical life as a singer at the Cathedral of Ávila before moving to Segovia in 1630 to study composition at the Catedral de Segovia. He was appointed chapel master of the Collegiate Church of San Antolín de Medina del Campo in 1638; at El Burgo de Osma in 1648; at Catedral de León in 1651; and he became a teacher at the Catedral de Valladolid in 1654, where he remained until his death in 1690 and founded the College of Musical Children. Gómez Camargo’s compositions include masses, psalms, hymns, and carols.