Playlist #831: 2008-03-17

March 18th, 2008 · < Renée >
Osvaldo Golijov: Oración lucimí
Matt Haimovitz vc (Oxingale 800658200728, Goulash!)
Ned Rorem: Cello concerto
Wen-Sinn Yang vc / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / José Serebrier cond (Naxos 8.559315)
Zoltán Kodály: Cello sonata, op. 4
Elemér Lavotha vc / Kerstin Aberg pf (BIS-CD-172)

Bob Dylan: All along the watchtower
Tom Landa and the Paperboys (Red House Records 154, A nod to Bob)

“Parsifal” at the Bastille

March 18th, 2008 · < Q >

Parsifal

a stage-consecrating festival play in three acts

Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner

Paris Opera at Bastille
Performance of 17 March 2008

Musical Direction: Hartmut Hänchen
Mise en Scène: Krzysztof “Buy-a vowel” Warlikowski
Sets and Costumes: Malgorzata Szczesniak
Lighting: Felice Ross
Video: Denis Gueguin

Director: Miron Hakenbeck
Choral Director: Winfried Maczewski

A New Production

Gurnemanz: Franz Joseph Selig
Kundry: Waltraud Meier
Amfortas: Alexander Marco-Buhrmester
Parsifal: Stig Anderson (for Christopher Ventris)
Titurel: Victor von Halem
Orchestra and Choruses of the Paris Opera

an account by KEN QUANDT

Like the Grail, this is an opera that only feeds the watcher who delights in the good. As such it should be less popular than it is, but the music is so beautiful it will never disappear from the repertoire. Thus, it presents a challenge to music lovers and opera lovers: Find the good.
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Playlist #830: 2008-03-10

March 11th, 2008 · < Renée >
Arthur Honegger: Danse de la chevre (Dance of the goat)
Laurel Zucker fl (Cantilena Records, Inflorescence - music for solo flute)

Arthur Honegger: Horace victorieux - symphonie mimeé pour orchestre
Michel Plasson cond / Orchestre du Capitole de Toulose (Deutsche Grammophone D135384)
Alfred Schnittke: String quartet no. 3 (1983)
Kronos Quartet (David Harrington vn, John Sherba vn / Hank Dutt va / Joan Jeanrenaud vc) (Nonesuch 79500-2)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude and fugue no. 5 in D major BWV 874, from The well-tempered clavier, book 2
Angela Hewitt pf (Hyperion CDS4429/4)
Laurel Zucker: Homage to Jimi Hendrix
Laurel Zucker fl (Cantilena Records, Inflorescence - music for solo flute

Playlist #829: 2008-03-03

March 9th, 2008 · < mtheo & renée >
Maurice Ravel: À la manière de Borodine / In the style of Borodine
Soyeon Lee pf (Concert Artists Guild)
Maurice Ravel: À la manière de Chabrier / In the style of Chabrier
Soyeon Lee pf (Concert Artists Guild)
David Diamond: Elegy in memory of Maurice Ravel
Orchestra of St. Luke’s / John Adams cond (Nonesuch 979249-2)
Somei Satoh: Homa
String Ensemble Endless / Kyoko Sato sop / Toshiyuki Uzuka cond (New Albion 056)
John Zorn: Spillane: (excerpt)
John Zorn asx cl / Albert Collins voc egtr / John Lurie, Ohta Hiromi voc / David Hofstra tba db / Wayne Horvitz pf kbds / Bill Frisell, Robert Quine egtr / Bobby Previte dms perc / Ronald Shannon Jackson dms / Christian Marclay ttbls / The Kronos Quartet (David Harrington, John Sherba vn / Hank Dutt vla / Joan Jeanrenaud vc) (Elektra/Nonesuch
79172)
Somei Satoh: Toward the Night
String Ensemble Endless / Toshiyuki Uzuka cond (New Albion 056)

Playlist #827: 2008-02-18

February 18th, 2008 · < Renée >
Claudio Monteverdi: Si dolce è l’tormento / The sweetness and the torment
Janet Baker sop / Raymond Leppard hpd / Joy Hall vc (BBC Music Magazine Vol. IV, No. 7 - 38D)
Maurice Ravel: Piano trio
Trio Fontenay (Wolf Harden pf / Michael Mücke vn / Niklas Schmidt vc) (Teldec D 134411)
Paul Hindemith: Kammermusik no. 2 for piano and orchestra, Op. 36 #1
Sviatoslav Richter pf / Moscow Conservatory Orchestra / Yuri Nikolayevski cond (Yedang Classical Treasures 10040)
Charles Gounod: Sérénade
Janet Baker sop / Raymond Leppard pf (BBC Music Magazine V. IV, No. 7 - 38D)

Playlist #823: 2008-01-21

January 21st, 2008 · < Renée >
Bèla Bartòk: Piano concerto no. 2
Sviatoslav Richter pf / USSR State Symphony Orchestra / Evgeny Svetlanov cond (Yedang Classical Treasures CT-10040)
Elvis Costello: Il sogno / The dream (excerpt)
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas cond (Deutsche Grammophon B0003284-02)
Elvis Costello: High fidelity
Elvis Costello and the Attractions (Columbia C2K46897, Girls, girls, girls: the songs of Elvis Costello)

Q Review: “Pelleas et Melisande” at Covent Garden

June 23rd, 2007 · < Q >

Pelléas et Mélisande

an opera in five acts

Music by Claude Debussy
Libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck

Royal Opera House at Covent Garden
Performance of 21 May 2007

Conductor: Simon Rattle
Director: Stanislas Nordey
Set Designer: Emmanuel Clolus
Costume Designer: Raoul Fernandez
Lighting: Philippe Berthomé

A co-production with the Salzburg Easter Festival

Mélisande: Angelika Kirchschlager
Golaud: Gerald Finley
Arkel: Robert Lloyd
Pelléas: Simon Keenlyside

an account by KEN QUANDT

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Delays, delays . . .

May 21st, 2007 · < mtheo >

Sorry about the backed-up playlists and podcasts, folks. We’re working on clearing the backlog and hope to be back up to date soon. They don’t call me the Phineas Gage of Bay Area classical radio for nothing.

Meanwhile, for those keeping score at home, it’s the third Monday of the month, meaning it’s Renée’s solo show tonight. Tune in for what is usually the most coherent broadcast of the month . . . .

Playlist #785: 2007-04-30

April 30th, 2007 · < Renée >
Claude Debussy: Sonata for cello and piano, L. 135 (1915)
Mstislav Rostropovich vc / Benjamin Britten pf (Polygram 460974)
Benjamin Britten: Sonata in C, op. 65 (1961)
David Starkweather vc / Evgeny Rivkin pf (Oasis 574127)
Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes: Four sea interludes
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Leonard Bernstein cond (Deutsche Grammophon 431768-2)
Henryk Górecki: Symphony no. 3, op. 36 (1976)
Dawn Upshaw S / London Sinfonietta / David Zinman cond (Elektra Nonesuch 9 79282-2)

– Podcast available after May 7 –

Playlist #784: 2007-04-23

April 23rd, 2007 · < mtheo >
Edgard Varèse: Offrandes / Offerings: Chanson de là-haut / Song from on high; La croix du sud / The southern cross (1921)
Phyllis Bryn-Julson S / Orchestre National de France | French National Orchestra / Kent Nagano cond (Erato Musifrance 4509-92137-2)
Modest Musorgski: Картинки с выставки / Pictures from an exhibition: №4, Bydło / Cattle; №5, Балет невылупившихся птенцов / Ballet of the unhatched chicks (1874)
Sergei Prokofiev pf via Duo-Art roll 6591, rec. 1923 (Fonè 90 F 15 CD)
Sergei Prokofiev: Токката / Toccata, op. 11 (1912)
Sergei Prokofiev pf via Duo-Art roll 6391, rec. 1921 (Fonè 90 F 15 CD)
Aleksandr Skriabin: Prelude, op. 45 no. 3 (1905); Winged poem, op. 51 no. 3 (1906)
Sergei Prokofiev pf via Duo-Art roll 6512, rec. 1922 (Fonè 90 F 15 CD)
Sergei Prokofiev: Легенда / Legend, op. 12, no. 6 (ca. 1913)
Sviatoslav Richter pf (Philips 438 627-2)
Sergei Prokofiev: Четыре пьесы для фортепиано: №1, Танец; №4, Вальс / Four pieces for piano, Op. 32: no. 1, Dance; no. 4, Waltz (1918)
Sviatoslav Richter pf (Philips 438 627-2)
Sergei Prokofiev: Fantasia improvised on themes from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Шехерезада / Scheherezade, op. 35 (1888 / 1926)
Sergei Prokofiev pf via Duo-Art roll 7001, rec. 1926 (Fonè 90 F 15 CD)
Anon.: Robaidh dona gòrach / Silly naughty Robbie (18th c.)
Laura Risk fiddle / Jacqueline Schwab pf (Dorian DOR-90264)
Franz Schubert: Der Wanderer / The wanderer, D. 489 (1816)
Hans Hotter BBar / Michael Raucheisen pf (Grammofono 2000 AB 78690)
Franz Schubert: Geheimes / Secret, D. 719 (1821)
Hans Hotter BBar / Michael Raucheisen pf (Grammofono 2000 AB 78690)