Sibelius Symphony No. 2
In 1901, in the throes of the Finnish Independence movement, Jean Sibelius composed his legendary 2nd Symphony. Sibelius' close colleague, the conductor Robert Kajanus, said that the symphony "strikes...
5 Aug 202155min
Dvorak Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
Within three months of his arrival in New York, Antonin Dvorak was enamored with the sound of American music. Quickly he put forth what was at the time a controversial idea: "In the Negro melodies of ...
29 Juli 202158min
Havergal Brian, "Gothic Symphony"
Havergal Brian's ambitious Gothic Symphony has been called many things - massive, ambitious, barbaric, incompetent, insane, moving, brilliant, awful, torture, and much more. It is almost never perform...
22 Juli 20211h 9min
Bruckner Symphony No. 7
With the rise of Wagner, the symphony seemed to be left for dead. But one composer in particular, Anton Bruckner, decided to take the plunge back into the symphonic genre, though he did it with a mark...
16 Juli 202158min
A Conversation with Gabriela Lena Frank, Composer
Gabriela Lena Frank is currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Philadelphia Orchestra and was included in the Washington Post's list of the 35 most significant women composers in h...
8 Juli 202134min
Shostakovich Symphony #13: "Babi Yar"
In 1961, a poem appeared by the young poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, entitled Babi Yar. The first line of this poem is: "There are no monuments over Babi Yar." In September of 1941 at least 33,771 Jews wer...
1 Juli 20211h 3min
The Story of "Blind" Tom Wiggins, w/ Deirdre O'Connell
Never heard of Tom Wiggins? You're in for a treat with this episode! Tom Wiggins was a fantastic 19th century pianist and composer who was ruthlessly exploited by his owner/guardian on account of his ...
24 Juni 202140min
Bach Chaconne for Solo Violin
The Bach Chaconne is one of the great masterpieces of Western Classical Music, and today we're going to be diving straight into this monumental work. We'll talk about the legends behind its compositio...
17 Juni 202152min
