Letter V Classical Radio this week

Feb. 1
noon-3 p.m. EST
1700-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Mozart: “The Magic Flute” Overture
Zürich Opera Orchestra/
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(Teldec)

Shostakovich:
Piano Concerto No. 1
Boris Gitburg, piano
Rhys Owens, trumpet
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/
Vasily Petrenko
(Naxos)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major
Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig/Riccardo Chailly
(Decca)

J.S. Bach:
“Brandenburg” Concerto
No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048
Akademie für
alte Musik Berlin
(Harmonia Mundi)

George Onslow:
Quartet in C minor,
Op. 8, No. 1
Ruggieri Quartet
(Aparte)

Ginastera: Concerto for string orchestra
Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson
(Channel Classics)

Hubert Parry:
Symphonic Variations
in E minor
Royal Scottish
National Orchestra/
Andrew Penny
(Naxos)

Past Masters:
Brahms:
Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Berlin Philharmonic/Karl Böhm
(recorded 1959)
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Anne Akiko Meyers reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, performing on Jan. 28 in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program at Virginia Commonwealth University:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_318e62a5-2f09-5619-91c2-11e433dd2f49.html

A symphony for his birthday

Philip Glass, marking his 80th birthday on Jan. 31 with the premiere of his Symphony No. 11 by Dennis Russell Davies and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz at New York’s Carnegie Hall, finds that his music is “always recognizably me. Not because I don’t try not to be me: I do try, and I fail all the time. The best thing for me is when I play a new piece and someone says, ‘Oh, it doesn’t sound like you.’ That, to me, is success,” the composer tells William Robin in an interview for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/arts/interview-philip-glass-celebrates-his-80th-birthday-with-an-11th-symphony.html

Glass, Maki Namekawa, Aaron Diehl, Timo Andres and eighth blackbird’s Lisa Kaplan will play his complete set of piano etudes at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.

Details: http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/modlin-arts-presents/philip-glass.html

NY Phil faces 'staggering' turnover

Matthew VanBesien, president of the New York Philharmonic, is resigning to take over direction of the University Musical Society, the principal performance presenter at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

VanBesien’s departure follows recent resignations by the philharmonic’s chief fund-raiser and head of artistic planning.

Alan Gilbert, the philharmonic’s current music director, ends his tenure at the end of this season, and his successor, Jaap van Zweden, will not formally assume the music director’s position until the 2018-19 season.

Vacancies in these top positions add to already uncertain prospects for the institution. The orchestra, which has run deficits for 15 years, already was facing several years of performing outside its home venue, David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center, while the space undergoes an extensive, $500 million-plus renovation. Because of complications in the redesign, the projected reopening date has been pushed back to fall 2022.

Management turnover at the philharmonic “is staggering, which threatens to make the planning process more chaotic, and give potential donors pause,” The New York Times’ Michael Cooper reports:

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-president-to-step-down.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Serge Koussevitzky is remembered in this country as the longtime conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, founder of Tanglewood, the music camp and festival in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, and a leading advocate of living composers. His promotion of modern music pre-dated his American years. In Paris, Koussevitzky made his Grands Concerts symphoniques a showcase of the new and different. Staged from 1921 to 1929, these concerts introduced an extraordinary number of works, many of which have become staples of the symphonic repertory. They also featured early music, much of it little-known at the time. In this program, we’ll revisit Koussevitzky’s Paris concerts, including their most famous premiere, Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” commissioned by Koussevitzky and first performed under his direction on Oct. 19, 1922.

Jan. 25
noon-3 p.m. EST
1700-2000 UTC/GMT
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Scriabin: “The Poem of Ecstasy”
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/
Pierre Boulez
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Germaine Tailleferre: Concertino for harp and orchestra
Nicanor Zabaleta, harp
French National
Radio Orchestra/
Jean Martinon
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Debussy:
Danse (“Tarantelle Styrienne”)
(orchestration by
Maurice Ravel)
Ulster Orchestra/
Yan Pascal Tortelier
(Chandos)
 
Past Masters:
J.S. Bach: “Italian Concerto”
in F major, BWV 971
Wanda Landowska,
harpsichord
(recorded 1938)
(EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Stravinsky:
Octet for wind instruments
Boston Symphony
Chamber Players
(recorded 1974)
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Prokofiev:
Violin Concerto No. 1
in D major
Julia Fischer, violin
Russian National Orchestra/
Yakov Kreizberg
(Pentatone Classics)

Past Masters:
Honegger: “Pacific 231”
Suisse Romande Orchestra/
Ernest Ansermet
(recorded 1963)
(Decca)

Bloch:
Concerto grosso No. 1
Israel Chamber Orchestra/
Yoav Talmi
(Chandos)

Past Masters:
Mussorgsky:
“Pictures at an Exhibition”
(orchestration by
Maurice Ravel)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/
Fritz Reiner
(recorded 1957)
(RCA Victor)

Richmond Symphony reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony’s Jan. 22 Metro Collection concert at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_792aec91-4fdd-5f14-9bad-d29bae192b0e.html

Jeremy Denk reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of pianist Jeremy Denk, presenting his “Medieval to Modern” recital program on Jan. 21 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_aa24422c-e3ca-5976-8f9f-216b174120ea.html