I am being a little deliberately opaque with the title of this episode. There is a certain logic to letting people know what they are going to get. But not today. Because I am hoping that for a good selection of listeners out there the date of 22nd December 1808 is pretty much meaningless. And that what follows will be a bit of a surprise. What happened? Well I guess a lot happened but for our purposes there was a concert. A thirty-eight year old composer, with the help of some aristocratic patrons had booked a big theatre to showcase some of the new music he had been working on. And he was the composer, a performer, the conductor and the promoter. Now the concert turned out to be somewhere between a disappointing night out and an unparalleled disaster… depending on which sources you follow. And you might be wondering why am I featuring an event which, in a city filled with glittering musical events at that time… even as the Napoleonic Wars raged on, was essentially a failure. Might be something to do with the music.
--------
1:27:25
--------
1:27:25
South America… Chôros, Tangos and a little bit of Opera.
‘Unfairly neglected’ is a bit of a cliché and pretty subjective but I do think it could describe a mass of great music that a lot of us (us Anglos at least) are missing out on… music from South America. Before I put this episode together I only knew about half the pieces I am going to play. The rest are as new for me as I suspect they might be for you. Which is, I hope, more of a positive than a negative. I don’t think I can even get away with describing this episode as ‘scratching the surface’… not just because it seems to be ‘cliché day’ here at Mending Wall Studios… but because an hour and a bit is not a lot of time for the music of an entire continent. Still, it’s perhaps worth starting somewhere. Please enjoy music from… Astor Piazzola, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Osvaldo Golijov, Alberto Ginastera and Camargo Guarnieri.
--------
1:13:38
--------
1:13:38
Sunday Night Special 2… Bruckner’s 7th Symphony
The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the demon of insomnia hits the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This week… Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conducted by Georg Tintner.
--------
1:11:21
--------
1:11:21
Opera. An Introduction
I get it that for some people opera is just noise that they are not ever going to enjoy but if there are listeners out there with a bit of curiousity and an inquiring mind… and that is how I would describe anyone listening to this podcast… then I urge you to have a listen to this episode. Why? Well because if you enjoy any music with singing… then you can enjoy opera. And the selection I have made for this episode is based on one simple criteria… pure pleasure. I think you might enjoy ten pieces of opera… from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Georg Friedrich Handel, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppi Verdi, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini and John Adams.
--------
1:08:58
--------
1:08:58
Tchaikovsky. Deep Emotion Of A Russian Soul – Part Two
The second of a two episode special. His music uniquely blended Western European compositional techniques with distinctly Russian melodic and harmonic elements, creating a style that was both internationally appealing and unmistakably Russian. Remarkably successful in his own lifetime and responsible for so much music that remains popular to this day he is still perhaps not quite given his due. In these two episodes Sleeping Beauties, Memories of Beloved Places, Teasing Peasants, Violins, Pianos and Cannons argue his case.
Five hundred years of incredible music. No expertise is necessary. All you need are ears. If you’ve ever been even slightly curious about classical music then this is the podcast for you.
Australia