Letter V Classical Radio this week

Aug. 31
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Chopin: Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 61
(“Polonaise-Fantasie”)
Ivan Moravec, piano
(Philips)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: “Symphonic Variations
on an African Air”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/
Grant Llewellyn
(Argo)

Stravinsky:
“Suite Italienne”
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Péter Nagy, piano
(ECM)

Brahms: Piano Quintet
in F minor, Op. 34
Stefan Vladar, piano
Artis Quartet
(Sony Classical)

Barber: “Knoxville,
Summer of 1915”
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Orchestra of St. Luke’s/
David Zinman
(Nonesuch)

Frank Martin: “Trio on Popular Irish Melodies”
Lincoln Trio
(Çedille)

Mendelssohn:
Double Concerto in D minor
Kristian Bezuidenhout, fortepiano
Gottfried von der Goltz,
violin & director
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
(Harmonia Mundi)

Past Masters:
Scarlatti: Sonata in A minor, K. 54
Vladimir Horowitz, piano
(recorded 1964)
(Sony Classical)

Lee joins Cleveland Orchestra

Jessica Lee, who as a child and teen-age prodigy performed extensively in Richmond in the 1990s, will join the Cleveland Orchestra as assistant concertmaster, effective Aug. 29.

Lee, who left Richmond to study at the Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia and
the Juilliard School in New York, was last heard here in a memorable performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending,” with Mark Russell Smith conducting the Richmond Symphony, a few days after the mass killings at Virginia Tech in April 2007.

She has played with Musicians from Marlboro, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Johannes String Quartet, ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra) and other ensembles, as well as performing in solo recitals.

Lee recently released her first solo recording, including works by Beethoven, Prokofiev and Janáček, on the Azica label.

Richmond Chamber Players reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Chamber Players’ program of Bartók and Dohnányi at Bon Air Presbyterian Church:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_aabd6e72-9260-5eb5-ac65-af27a9e1206f.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

With the beginning of the fall season at WDCE, the show moves to Wednesdays, in the same hours.
(I’ll post each week’s program on Mondays.)

For openers, a sampler of Czech music, mixing works by familiar names – Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček – with discoveries, among them the Piano Sonata “Quasi una fantasia” of the early 19th-century virtuoso Jan Václav Vořišek and the “Missa votiva” of Jan Dismas Zelenka, a court musician in early 18th-century Dresden who was much admired by his Leipzig neighbor, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Aug. 24
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Janáček: “The Cunning Little Vixen” Suite
(arrangement by Václav Talich & Charles Mackerras)
Czech Philharmonic/Charles Mackerras
(Supraphon)

Jan Václav Vořišek: Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 20 (“Quasi una fantasia”)
Nikolai Demidenko, piano
(AGPL)

Martinů: Oboe Concerto
Heinz Holliger, oboe
Academy of St. Martin
in the Fields/
Neville Marriner
(Brilliant Classics)

Jan Dismas Zelenka:
“Missa votiva”
Joanne Lunn, soprano
Daniel Taylor, alto
Johannes Kaleschke, tenor
Thomas E. Bauer, bass
Stuttgart Chamber Choir
Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra/Frieder Bernius
(Carus)

Smetana: “Libuše” Overture
Cleveland Orchestra/
Christoph von Dohnányi
(Decca)

Past Masters:
Dvořák: Piano Quintet
in A major, Op. 81
Pavel Štěpán, piano
Smetana Quartet
(recorded 1966)
(Testament)

Long Beach Symphony taps Preu

Eckart Preu, a former associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony (2001-04) and current music director of the Spokane (WA) Symphony and Stamford (CT) Symphony, has been named music director of the Long Beach Symphony in California.

The German-born Preu, a onetime boy chorister in the venerable Dresdner Kreuzchor, was chosen from a field of nine finalists. While continuing to lead the Spokane Symphony, he will take over his new orchestra in the 2017-18 season, the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Richard Guzman reports:

http://www.presstelegram.com/arts-and-entertainment/20160819/long-beach-symphony-selects-new-music-director

Fisk & friends reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of pianist David Fisk and a string ensemble, playing Brahms and Dvořák in the August Musicales series at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_a48aa02f-2221-5506-88a3-28bd629d9d8e.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

The show previews its fall season with music from a circle of friends, and friendly rivals, in late 18th-century and early 19th-century Vienna. Some became household names; others are all but forgotten. Together, they were the figures who put the classical in classical music.

Aug. 18
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Antonio Salieri: “L’Angiolina” Overture
London Mozart Players/Matthias Bamert
(Chandos)

Mozart: Piano Quartet
in G minor, K. 478
Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano
Elizabeth Wilcock, violin
Jan Schlapp, viola
Timothy Mason, cello
(DG Archiv)

Franz Anton Hoffmeister: Viola Concerto in D major
Nils Mönkemeyer, viola
Dresdner Kapellsolisten/Helmut Branny
(Sony Classical)

Haydn: “Missa in anguistiis” (“Nelson Mass”)
Mary Wilson, soprano
Abigail Fischer,
mezzo-soprano
Keith Jameson, tenor
Kevin Deas,
bass-baritone
Boston Baroque/
Martin Pearlman
(Linn)

Beethoven: Sonata
in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2
(“The Tempest”)
Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano
(BIS)

Anton Eberl: Symphony
in E flat major
Concerto Köln/
Werner Ehrhardt
(Teldec)

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf: Oboe Concerto in G major
Heinz Holliger, oboe
Camerata Bern/
Thomas Füri
(DG Archiv)

Johann Baptist Vaňhal: Symphony in C major
(“Il Comista”)
Concerto Köln
(Teldec)