Letter V Classical Radio this week

Anticipating the June 28 centenary of the assassinations in Sarajevo of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, sparking the diplomatic crisis that led to the First World War, music evoking the conflict whose aftershocks we still feel . . .

June 26
noon-4 p.m. EDT
1600-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Holst: “The Planets” – “Mars, the Bringer of War”
Philharmonia Orchestra/John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon)

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 – 1st movement
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/
Michael Tilson Thomas
(SFS Media)

Granados: “Goyescas” – “Love and Death”
Jean-François Heisser, piano (Apex)

George Butterworth:
“A Shropshire Lad”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Grant Llewellyn (Argo)

Ives: “Orchestral Set” No. 2 – “From Hanover Square North, at the End of a Tragic Day, the Voices of the People Again Arose”
The Cleveland Chorus; Cleveland Orchestra/
Christoph von Dohnányi (London)

Past Masters:
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (“Inextinguishable”)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Jean Martinon (RCA Victor)
(recorded 1966)

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 3 (“Pastoral”) – 2nd movement
New Philharmonia Orchestra/Adrian Boult (EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Debussy: Violin Sonata
Arthur Grumiaux, violin; István Hadju, piano (Eloquence)
(recorded 1962)

Stravinsky: “L’histoire du soldat” (“A Soldier’s Tale”)
John Gielgud, narrator; Tom Courtenay, the Soldier; Ron Moody, the Devil
Boston Symphony Chamber Players (Eloquence)

Ravel: “Le Tombeau de Couperin”
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Charles Dutoit (Penguin Classics)

Past Masters:
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor
Beatrice Harrison, cello
New Symphony Orchestra/Edward Elgar
(EMI Classics)
(recorded 1928)

Shostakovich: “October”
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Deutsche Grammophon)