Ethel Smyth Serenade in D

Ethel Smyth Serenade in D

I've mentioned Ethel Smyth a few times in the past on this show. This is partly because of her music, and partly because she remains one of the most interesting people who ever lived. She was a composer of course, but she was also a conductor and an author, as well as a political activist. Specifically, she was a suffragette, fiercely advocating for the rights of women to vote in her home country of the UK. As a composer Smyth wrote dozens of works, all of which are starting to become better known as performers and administrators look to bring more music by female composers onto concert stages around the world. Smyth did not have it easy, constantly fighting for her place, battling conductors, other composers, and even her own father, all for the right to be a composer. Today, after I introduce you to a bit more of Smyth's amazing biography, we're going to focus on her first orchestral work, her Serenade in D Major. This is a piece that certainly doesn't sound like a first orchestral piece, and it is full of all of the qualities that make Smyth's music so enjoyable to listen to - lush warmth, humor, raucous intensity, and the quiet passion that runs through the music of so many great British composers. Smyth's Serenade in D is starting to be performed more, and I'm really proud to be using my own recording of the piece for the show today, which I made with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in 2021. It is only the second professional recording of the piece, and the recording has just been released on Claves Records. So today, we're going to go through this wonderful piece and also spend some more time in the wild and unpredictable world of Dame Ethel Smyth. Join us!

Jaksot(283)

Steve Reich: Different Trains

Steve Reich: Different Trains

Steve Reich, the great American contemporary composer, provided this program note about his work Different Trains: "The idea for the piece came from my childhood. When I was one year old my parents se...

17 Huhti 202552min

Best of Frenemies: Debussy and Ravel

Best of Frenemies: Debussy and Ravel

Debussy and Ravel are often described as the prototypical musical impressionists. It is often said that the two composers are the closest equivalents to the artistic world of Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, D...

3 Huhti 202552min

Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1

Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1

It's hard to overstate the depth of the connection between Dmitri Shostakovich and the legendary cellist Mstistlav Rostropovich. Shostakovich and Rostropovich were extremely close friends, and Shostak...

20 Maalis 202550min

Ravel, Ravel, Ravel, w/Boris Giltburg and G. Henle Verlag!

Ravel, Ravel, Ravel, w/Boris Giltburg and G. Henle Verlag!

Magician, Swiss Watchmaker, Aloof, Elegant, Precise, Soulful, Childlike, Naive, Warm: these are all words that have been used to describe Maurice Ravel, a man of elegant contradictions. But perhaps th...

6 Maalis 202559min

Amy Beach, "Gaelic" Symphony

Amy Beach, "Gaelic" Symphony

Amy Beach is a name that might not be familiar to you. She was born in 1867 and died in 1944, and her life was one of the most fascinating and varied in musical history. She was a child prodigy, becam...

6 Maalis 20251h

Sticky Notes en Français! Shostakovich Symphonie No. 13 (Bonus Episode)

Sticky Notes en Français! Shostakovich Symphonie No. 13 (Bonus Episode)

Voici un épisode bonus spécial de Sticky Notes en français, en avant-première de mes concerts avec l'Orchestre National de Lille, présentant la 13e symphonie de Shostakovich. Si vous souhaitez écouter...

27 Helmi 20251h 10min

Smetana: Ma Vlast

Smetana: Ma Vlast

Nationalism, patriotism, cultural identity, a sense of home; these are concepts and ideas whose popularity have ebbed and flowed throughout history. Nationalism has been seen as a natural expression o...

6 Helmi 20251h 5min

Berg Violin Concerto

Berg Violin Concerto

In the early 1930s, at the height of the atonal and twelve tone movement in music, the American violinist Louis Krasner commissioned a concerto from the Viennese Composer Alban Berg. Berg declined at ...

23 Tammi 202548min

Suosittua kategoriassa Viihde

anni-jaajo
tuplakaak
grekovit
hei-baby-3
terveisia-perheesta
the-harlin-show
dear-shirly
antin-palautepalvelu
bella-table
antin-elokuvakerho
nonsensepodi
dear-shirly-ja-arttu
verhon-takaa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
get-jassud
hollywood-love-stories-2
tahtitehdas
tervo-halme
everypodi
terkuin-jenna