This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday August 31 and Sunday September 1, 2024
Welcome to the weekend, Listeners!
Keep it tuned to (or ask your smartspeaker to play) The Classical Station.
We are honored to provide the soundtrack to your lives, whatever the day, wherever you are.
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The Saturday Evening Request Program starts at 6pm ET and has a great lineup (as usual), thanks to you!
Want to request something for next Saturday’s program or for All-Request Friday? Do it here.
Did you make a request? Check the playlist to see what time we’ll broadcast your favorites.
James Burton, BSO Choral Director and Conductor with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
This week’s Great Sacred Music celebrates the Labor Day holiday with performances by Barbara Harbach, Jessye Norman, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and works by Percy Grainger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ferdinando Bertoni, and more. The featured work is Antonio Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus. Join Mick Anderson for Great Sacred Music’s Labor Day celebration on Sunday at 8am ET, following Sing for Joy.
Glenn Miller, oktavist.
And on Preview!, Rob Kennedy speaks with oktavist Glen Miller about the PaTRAM Institute‘s recent recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil. You’ll also hear some of pianist Andrey Gugnin’s latest recording: Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite, Ballade & Lyric Pieces; a selection from the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra’s recent recording of orchestral works by Édouard Lalo; and music of Johann Schenck from the album L’Echo du Danube, with violists da gamba Sofia Diniz and Torben Klaes, and harpsichordist Fernando Miguel Jaloto.
Join us Sunday at 6pm ET for all the new goodies.
On these dates in the history of classical music:
Amilcare Ponchielli, c. 1866-1886. (Photo by Icilio Calzolari, restored by Adam Cuerden – Archivio Storico Ricordi, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Italian composer and educator Amilcare Ponchielli was born August 31, 1834, in Paderno Fasolaro near Cremona (now Paderno Ponchielli), then in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. When he was nine years old, Ponchielli won a music scholarship to the Milan Conservatory and wrote his first symphony over that year. He spent much of his career as a bandmaster and wrote and arranged more than 200 compositions for winds. But opera was his first love and where he found his greatest success as a composer, though none of his operas was as popular or as well-known as La Gioconda, written in 1876 and containing the famous ballet, Dance of the Hours. Ponchielli was appointed maestro di cappella of the Bergamo Cathedral in 1881; later that year, he was appointed professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory, where his students included Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, and Umberto Giordano.
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, c. 1910. (Photograph by Sanders, Missouri History Museum, Photographs and Prints Collections. St. Louis Philharmonic Society Collection. n40863)
September 1 is the anniversary of the founding of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1880) AND the birthday of one of its longest-serving and most beloved conductors, Leonard Slatkin (1979-1996).
The SLSO is the second-oldest orchestra in the U.S., founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society. The next year, the SLCS merged with the St. Louis Musical Union to create the St. Louis Choral-Symphony Society, finally becoming the St. Louis Symphony Society in 1907 and hiring musicians for a regular season of 20 weeks.
Leonard Slatkin, c. 2024. (Photo by Cindy McTee – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
And American conductor, composer, educator, and writer Leonard Slatkin was born in 1944 in Los Angeles, California. His father was violinist Felix Slatkin, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet; his mother, Eleanor Aller, was the quartet’s cellist. Slatkin attended the Juilliard School and studied conducting under Jean Morel, then with Walter Susskind at the Aspen Music Festival and School. His debut was in 1966 as artistic director and conductor of the New York Youth Symphony, then as assistant conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 1977, he was appointed music director of the New Orleans Symphony; he led the San Francisco Symphony in the late 1970s and early 1980s; then returned as music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1979 and nurtured the SLSO into one of the most acclaimed orchestras in the country. He has also served as director of the Blossom Festival of the Cleveland Orchestra (1990-1999); music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. (1996-2008); principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1997-2000); chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2000), where he was the second non-British person to conduct the Last Night of the Proms; principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2004); principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London (2005); and music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (2008–2020), where he is now Music Director Laureate. Slatkin is also a winner of multiple Grammy Awards; a National Medal of Arts recipient; and a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He also holds the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton. Whew.
Friday, August 30, 2024
It’s All-Request Friday, so we’re playing your favorites ALL. DAY. LONG.
Want to know when your request will be played? Check out the playlists here.
Want to make a request for next week? You can do that here.
Courtesy of the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute
Did you know that The Classical Station has an instrument donation program? It’s part of the WCPE Education Fund.
We partner with national non-profit hungry for music to make donated instruments available to students in music education programs and non-profit organizations in North Carolina. In addition to grants that support music lessons, concerts, and scholarships, our instrument donation program can help students to realize their dreams of studying music.
You can help (and receive a tax receipt for your donation) by donating gently used instruments in working condition, or with minor repairs needed. We are especially interested in trumpets, flutes, clarinets, French horns, trombones, violins, violas, cellos, and saxophones, as well as other classical instruments for band or orchestra.
For more information about donating instruments, please contact Tanja Greaves at 919-556-5178.
On this date in the history of classical music:
Piet Kee behind the organ in the Grote of St. Bavokerk, c. 1981. (Photo by Cees de Boer – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Dutch organist and composer Pieter (Piet) Kee in Zaandam in 1927. Kee studied first with his father (internationally-renowned recital organist Cornelius Kee), then entered the Amsterdam Conservatory for studies in piano, organ, and composition (he also played violin and clarinet). Kee won first prize at the annual Haarlem International Improvisation Competition in 1953, 1954, and 1955, and then spent a long career teaching, touring, composing, and recording. He taught at the Music Lyceum and Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam (1954-1988) and at the Haarlem International Summer Academy for Organists, and was a frequent jury member at festival competitions. He was the city organist of Haarlem from 1956-1989 and organist at St. Laurens church in Alkmaar from 1952-1986. He traveled and performed all over Europe, America, Asia, and Australia, and made many recordings, including several that received awards; in 1988, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Kee’s compositions include works for solo organ and organ with other instruments (like his Haarlem Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, 2005); for choir and soloists; for carillon; and for wind instruments.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Hello, Listeners! Happy Friday Eve to all of you.
This week on Thursday Night Opera House:
A 1978 recording of James Levine conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Boys’ Chorus, and legendary soloists in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Otello (Placido Domingo) returns to Cypress to see his wife Desdemona (Renata Scotto), but his ensign Iago (Sherrill Milnes) plots treachery that leads to tragedy. Join Dr. Jay Pierson at 7pm ET for the drama!
On this date in the history of classical music:
Georges Longy (center) with faculty at the Longy School of Music, c.1920s. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
French oboist, conductor, music educator, and composer Georges Longy was born in Abbeville in 1868. He trained at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Premier Prix in 1886. Longy played with various orchestras around Europe before he was recruited as principal oboist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1898; he held that position until he retired in 1925. While in Boston, Longy became conductor of the Boston Orchestral Club (1899), and founded the Georges Longy Club (1900), an all-wind ensemble which was a novelty at the time and gave Boston audiences more exposure to contemporary repertoire, especially from French composers. He also directed the MacDowell Club (1915-1919) and the Cecilia Society (1916, now known as The Boston Cecilia), and founded the Boston Musical Society (1919). His best known legacy is the Longy School (now known as the Longy School of Music of Bard College), which he opened in 1915 and based on the methods and curricula of the Paris Conservatoire, especially emphasizing individual attention for each student. Longy retired from performance, composition, and education in 1925 and turned the directorship of the school over to his daughter, Renée Longy-Miquelle. Longy returned to France in 1926 and turned to farming and raising rabbits, cattle, and poultry, activities he enjoyed until his death just a few years later (1930).
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Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Hello, All!
Thank you for listening and for supporting great classical music on The Classical Station! Wondering what you’ll be hearing later today, tonight, and tomorrow? Access our playlists here.
On this date in classical music history:
Lohengrin (or Swan King) by Walter Crane, c. 1895. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the anniversary of the first performance of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin in 1850 in Weimar, Germany. Wagner’s close friend and supporter Franz Liszt chose the date in honor of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s birthdate (1749), and conducted the orchestra and singers at the Staatskapelle Weimar. Accounts at the time criticized lead tenor Karl Beck’s performance, but otherwise praised the opera and the performance.
Lohengrin is part of the Knight of the Swan legend, descended from ancient Greek myths, Christendom of the Early Middle Ages, and pagan beliefs that all incorporate the “forbidden question” literary device. The mysterious Grail Knight Lohengrin (son of Grail King Parzival) is sent to the duchess of Brabant (Elsa) to offer his protection; in return, she must never ask him his name, where he’s from, or who his people are. If she does, he’ll have to leave her; conspirators work against Lohengrin by attempting to undermine Elsa’s faith in him. Wagner based his version on two medieval epic poems: Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach and Lohengrin by Garin le Loherain.
Wagner couldn’t attend the first performance; he was in exile in Zurich, Switzerland, over the (still unclear) role that he played in the German revolutions of 1848-1849; he managed to escape before being arrested. He conducted performances of excerpts from Lohengrin with various orchestras, but he never saw a full performance of the opera until 1861 in Vienna.
Have a wonderful day!
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Hello, Listeners!
Do you want to dedicate a special piece of music to a special someone?
Is there something we played that you just HAVE to hear again?
Make a request for All-Request Friday and the Saturday Evening Request Program here. Every week, we look forward to playing your choices, so help us build more excellent playlists.
On this date in the history of classical music, we celebrate the birthdate of two English composers who were also both violists: Eric Coates and Rebecca Helferich Clarke, both born August 27, 1886.
Eric Coates, c. 1925. (Publicity photo by Faber Music – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Eric Coates was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, to parents who were reluctant to let him study music. Nevertheless, Coates attended the Royal Academy of Music (studying composition under Frederick Corder and viola under Lionel Tertis) and played in string quartets, theatre orchestras, and then symphony orchestras conducted by Thomas Beecham and Henry Wood. He stopped playing the viola in 1919 after developing neuritis in his left hand and focused entirely on composing and conducting. Coates wrote orchestral music, songs, and a little chamber music, and was often called the “uncrowned king of light music.”
Rebecca Clarke with her viola, c. 1919. (Photo by Hopkins Studio, Denver, CO – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
And Rebecca Helferich Clarke was born in Harrow, and became an internationally-renowned viola virtuoso and one of the first women (along with violinist Jessie Grimson) among professional orchestral musicians in London. Clarke studied violin at the Royal College of Music and was one of the few female composition students under Charles Villiers Stanford. It was Stanford who convinced her to exchange the violin for the viola and she became a student, like Eric Coates, of Lionel Tertis. Clarke played with the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Henry Wood (along with Coates) from 1912-1916; moved to the U.S. to continue performing; embarked on a world tour in the early 1920s; then performed mostly in London with various ensembles and orchestras. She returned to the U.S. frequently and after World War II broke out, she wasn’t able to return to England. She married composer James Friskin (a fellow student at the Royal College) in 1944 and continued composing and performing, though sporadically. Clarke wrote songs and choral works, chamber pieces, and music for solo piano, but only a fraction of her compositions were published.
Have a wonderful day listening to The Classical Station!
Monday, August 26, 2024
Good day, Listeners!
We hope you are ready for a new week accompanied by all the great music on The Classical Station.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois, c. 1907. (Photograph by Geo. R. Lawrence Company – Courtesy of Library of Congress)
This week, Monday Night at the Symphony features the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (founded in 1891) with music by Johann Strauss Jr., Sergei Prokofiev, and Anton Bruckner, and conducted by Fritz Reiner, Riccardo Muti, and Daniel Barenboim. Join us for the concert at 8pm ET.
On this date in classical music history:
Manuscript of Mendelssohn’s Oratorio Elijah, used by the organist H. J. Gauntlet at the work’s first performance at the Birmingham Festival in 1846 and held by the Library of Birmingham. (Photographer unknown – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Today is the anniversary of the first performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah in 1846, with Mendelssohn himself conducting the performance at Birmingham Town Hall as part of the Birmingham Festival in England. The Festival commissioned the work, which Mendelssohn modeled after the oratorios of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel; Mendelssohn and librettist Julius Schubring wrote text combining the biblical story of Elijah (from the Book of Kings) with the Book of Psalms.
And today is the birthday of two musicians in the worlds of classical music and brass instruments; both were born in 1960.
Monique Buzzarté at the Garden of Memory concert in Oakland, California, c. 2012. (Photograph by Allan J. Cronin – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
American composer, trombonist, and music activist Monique Buzzarté was born in San Pedro, California. Buzzarté has devoted much of her life and career to finding and commissioning compositions for brass by women composers, through her New Music from Women: Trombone project, established in 1983. In the late 1990s, Buzzarté was integral to an international protest against gender discrimination in the Vienna Philharmonic, on behalf of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). As a result of those protests, the orchestra admitted its first female member, harpist Anna Lelkes; Lelkes had been playing with the orchestra for more than 20 years at that point, but was denied membership because of her gender.
Branford Marsalis at the World Youth Peace Summit event in West Hartford, Connecticut, c. 2011. (Photograph by Darlene Susco – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
And American saxophonist and educator Branford Marsalis was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Marsalis attended Southern University, studying under jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste, who encouraged Marsalis to transfer to Berklee College of Music. His first major classical appearances began in 2008 when he toured the U.S. with members of the Philharmonia Brasileira, performing works by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos arranged for solo saxophone and orchestra. Marsalis and members of his quartet performed and recorded with the North Carolina Symphony in 2009; he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2010; and in 2012-13, he was Creative Director for the Cincinnati Symphony’s Ascent series. He has won multiple awards; holds teaching positions at Michigan State, San Francisco State, and North Carolina Central Universities; and conducts workshops throughout the U.S. and all over the world.
Thank you for your support of The Classical Station! See you tonight at the symphony.