What’s On Preview! | June 27, 2021

American violinist Randall Goosby is a student and protegé of Itzhak Perlman. On his debut CD, Roots on the Decca label, he explores music written by black composers or inspired by black culture. He opens Preview! this week with a recently discovered work by Florence Price, Adoration for violin and piano.

The Saito Kinen Orchestra is not your usual orchestra, at least in terms of when it performs concerts. The orchestra is assembled annually for the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, which is held every August and September in Matsumoto city, Nagano, Japan. Distinguished conductor Seiji Ozawa leads the orchestra in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Lenore Overture No. 3. on a CD entitled Beethoven 7/Leonore 3/Saito Kinen Orchestra on the Decca Classics label.

Bulgarian violinist Liya Petrova has been performing since she was six years old. This evening she plays a work which scholars now attribute to Mozart, his Violin Concerto No. 7 in D, K. 271a. It was probably completed in 1777 but was not actually published until 1907. The Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Jean-Jacques Kantorow accompanies Liya.

The Kanneh-Mason family is a remarkable group of musicians. While her brother Sheku the cellist is perhaps best known, his sister Isata is rapidly gaining recognition as the brilliant pianist she is. She plays Amy Beach’s By the Still Waters from her new album on the Decca label, Summertime.

“Richard Danielpour is an outstanding composer for any time.” ​ New York Daily News
“There can be no denying Danielpour’s gift…” The Washington Post

We’ve interviewed many composers over the years. But very few are as engaging and outwardly passionate about their craft as Richard Danielpour. This evening he and pianist Simone Dinnerstein speak with Elizabeth Elliott about the new CD An American Mosaic. Following our conversation, Simone plays An Elegy for our Time from that album.

If you are a fan of Renaissance Fare here on The Classical Station, you are going to love hearing Boston-based Blue Heron sing an anonymous 14th-century chanson, Io son un pellegrin. This is one of the tracks from the ensemble’s CD which has the intriguing title A 14th-century Salmagundi. A salmagundi is a mixture or assortment of things. Scott Metcalfe is both Blue Heron’s director and an accomplished musicologist. You can listen to our conversation with him about this album on our Conversations With Conductors page.

Russian-born and Israeli-raised guitarist Yuri Liberzon is one of the classical guitar world’s top players. You will be astonished at his fleet fingerwork in this recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001. We also have a conversation Yuri and Elizabeth Elliott had about his new CD 3 Violin Sonatas on the Laudable label.

Violinist Randall Goosby returns to play another piece from his CD Roots. This is Antonín Dvořák’s Sonatina in G. Like many of Dvořák’s works composed during his sojourn in America, this piece was inspired by indigenous melodies and African-American spirituals.

Silver medalist and Krystian Zimerman prize-winner at the 17th Frederic Chopin Piano Competition, Charles Richard-Hamelin plays Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4.

Serenade for Life was one of the last compositions Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote. Violinist Hilary Hahn plays it for us accompanied by the Radio France Philharmonic conducted by Mikko Franck. Elizabeth Elliott chatted with Hilary earlier this year about her recording Paris on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Hungarian-born Sir András Schiff is world-renowned for his playing, teaching, and conducting. I have always admired his interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Keyboard which I featured many times on Peaceful Reflections. This evening he plays Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor on a historic piano built about 1859 by the Julius Blüthner Company in Leipzig. He’s accompanied by the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment.

Rob Kennedy
June 27, 2021