“Concerts From the Library of Congress” Announces New Radio Series
The Library of Congress and CD Syndications in April will launch a new edition of the Library’s classical-music radio series, slated for broadcast nationwide.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Library of Congress and CD Syndications in April will launch a new edition of the Library’s classical-music radio series, slated for broadcast nationwide. The host for the series is Bill McGlaughlin ( "Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin," "Saint Paul Sunday Morning" ), winner of the prestigious Dushkin and Peabody awards. Offered free of charge to public radio stations, the 13 one-hour programs present recent highlights from the Library’s stellar concerts.
Listeners will hear a lineup of top artists and ensembles, recorded in the Library’s intimate, acoustically superb Coolidge Auditorium. The roster includes Germany’s distinguished Freiburg Barockorchester, pianist Jonathan Biss, The English Concert conducted by Harry Bicket, violinists Daniel Hope and Pamela Frank, Concerto Köln, the Takács Quartet, cellists Jean-Guihen Queyras and Pieter Wispelwey, and the crack 22-player International Contemporary Ensemble, conducted by John Adams.
Guest hosts joining Bill McGlaughlin include Chloe Veltman, arts editor at Colorado Public Radio; Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen; and experts from the Library’s Music Division: concert producers Nicholas Alexander Brown and David Plylar and Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, curator of the Library’s Musical Instruments Collection.
In the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Classical WETA 90.9 will air the series beginning Saturday, April 4 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. In the Philadelphia area, it will be carried over WRTI-FM and in Cleveland, on WCLV-FM. In 2015 the series will be broadcast by more than 120 stations nationwide; check local listings for station information.
The new series celebrates the Library’s 90th anniversary as a concert presenter, and its unprecedented 90-year history as a national broadcaster of classical music.
"Our concerts have been broadcast since the very first event in our Coolidge Auditorium, on Oct. 28, 1925," said Susan H. Vita, chief of the Library’s Music Division. "In this landmark season it’s great to be able to highlight our history as producers of the nation’s oldest classical-music series."
"The Library of Congress is a national icon, but here in Washington it is also a local cultural gem," said Jim Allison, Classical WETA program director. "The Library’s concert series at Coolidge Auditorium is artistically superb and historically significant, and both of these elements are combined wonderfully in the national radio series. We look forward to highlighting further the local significance of the Library’s concerts, collections and music specialists through Classical Conversations interviews on Classical WETA and special broadcasts on our online station, Viva LaVoce, related to the Library’s ‘Songs of America’ initiative."
The ‘Concerts from the Library of Congress’ series is co-produced by the Library's Music Division and CD Syndications, a leading producer of classical-music programming for the national market. Headed by Victor Muenzer, the company is known for such innovative programs as "Indianapolis On-The-Air" and "Center Stage from Wolf Trap," produced in association with WETA-FM. The Grammy-winning Muenzer, founder of two record labels and a production company, has produced more than 70 recordings.
Further information is available on the Library’s radio page. For distribution information and sample programs, please contact Victor Muenzer, CD Syndications, at cdsyndications.com ( external link ).
Concerts from the Library of Congress 2014-2015 Radio Series
Thirteen one-hour programs, hosted by Bill McGlaughlin with special guest hosts Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, Nicholas Alexander Brown, David Plylar, Chloe Veltman and Sidney Wolfe
1. FRANZ SCHUBERT: DEATH AND THE MAIDEN For Schubert lovers in particular: Marian Anderson’s majestic voice evokes the melancholy aura of Franz Schubert’s famous lied, introducing the Borromeo Quartet’s powerful performance of his "Death and the Maiden" with its beautifully embroidered variations. The memorable Beaux Arts Trio’s Romantic "Notturno" rounds out the hour.
SCHUBERT: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 ( "Death and the Maiden" ) Borromeo String Quartet
SCHUBERT: Notturno in E-flat major for piano trio, op. 148, D. 897 Beaux Arts Trio ( archival )
2. THE ENGLISH CONCERT AND THE RED PRIEST HARRY BICKET, conductor Superb performances of music from Venice’s Red Priest, Antonio Vivaldi, from a very top-drawer period-instrument ensemble. Listeners will hear a stunning violin concerto performance by early music star Rachel Podger, and a flashback to an earlier century: an intimate John Dowland setting sung by mezzo Alice Coote—whose voice has been compared to "burnished copper" —and lutenist William Carter.
VIVALDI: Trio Sonata in D minor, op. 1 no. 12, RV 63 ( "La Folia" ) VIVALDI: Concerto for violin, strings and basso continuo in C minor, RV 401 Jonathan Manson, cello
DOWLAND: "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano & William Carter, lute
VIVALDI: Concerto for violin, strings and continuo in D major, RV 208 ( "Il Grosso Mogul" ) Rachel Podger, violin
At the end of the hour: a "Songs of America" sampler interview on a 1980 Library performance by British tenor Peter Pears, the longtime partner of Benjamin Britten, with Chloe Veltman and Nick Brown.
3. FALLA, RAVEL, DEBUSSY AND SCHUBERT An hour of chamber favorites bookended by British violinist Daniel Hope, with the centerpiece a work rarely heard on the radio: Franz Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for piano, four hands.
FALLA: "Canciones Populares Españolas," arr. Pawel Kochanski Daniel Hope, violin Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
SCHUBERT: Fantasie in F minor, op. 103, for piano, four hands Genova & Dimitrov, piano duo
DEBUSSY: Cello Sonata Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello Alexandre Tharaud, piano
RAVEL: "Kaddish," from Deux mélodies hébraïques, arr. Daniel Hope
At the end of the hour: a "Songs of America" snapshot of a Library recital by famed Wagnerian heldentenor Set Svanholm, from Chloe Veltman and Anne McLean.
4. LEGENDARY SINGERS AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS with Chloe Veltman, guest host Arts journalist and broadcaster Chloe Veltman ( editor of Colorado Public Radio’s Arts Bureau, and host and producer of Voicebox ) joins Bill McGlaughlin in rediscovering a few of the famous singers who have appeared on the Coolidge stage, from 1940 to the present. Voice aficionados will encounter some performances only aired once in a generation.
Dorothy Maynor, soprano, with Arpad Sandor, piano "Depuis le jour," from Gustave Charpentier’s opera, "Louise" "Ride On, Jesus," trad.; arr. R. Nathaniel Dett
Roland Hayes, tenor, with Reginald Boardman, piano "Xango," Hector Villa-Lobos
Set Svanholm, tenor, with Arne Sunnegårdh, piano "Erlkönig," Franz Schubert
Samuel Barber, accompanying himself at the piano "O Waly, Waly," trad.
Leontyne Price, with Samuel Barber, piano Selections from Hermit Songs, Samuel Barber
Leonard Warren, baritone Excerpt from "The Lamentation of Saul," Norman Dello Joio
Thomas Hampson, baritone with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Selections from George Crumb’s song cycle "American Songbook"
5. CONCERTO KÖLN—BACH AND TELEMANN Featuring performances from our BachFest marathon: Skip Sempé plays a Bach Sarabande on Wanda Landowska’s splendid Pleyel harpsichord; and Germany’s stunning Concerto Köln, perhaps one of the world’s top period-instrument ensembles, performs the Bach C-major Suite for Orchestra and a Telemann concerto that finishes with a gypsy-style dance—with vigorous stomps from the players—as finale.
J.S. BACH: Sarabande in D, BWV 1012, transcription, sarabande from the 6th cello suite Skip Sempé, harpsichord
SAMMARTINI: Sinfonie in A major J.S. BACH: Suite for orchestra in C major, BWV 1066
TELEMANN: Concerto in E minor for recorder, flute, strings and basso continuo Martin Sandhoff, flute, Cordula Brewer, recorder
6. PAMELA FRANK AND FRIENDS: BRAHMS AND DVOŘÁK with David Plylar, guest host Violinist Pamela Frank convenes a group of good friends for a performance of Johannes’ Brahms’ Sextet in G major, introduced with a treasure from the Library’s huge Brahms archive: his manuscript for a piano four-hands version, sampled by Bill McGlaughlin and guest host David Plylar. The performers are Pamela Frank and Alexander Simionescu, violins; Dimitri Murrath and Nokuthula Ngwenyama, violas; Peter Wiley and Edward Arron, cellos.
BRAHMS: Sextet no. 2 in G major, op. 36
DVOŘÁK: "Miniatures," op. 75a, for two violins and viola Pamela Frank, Alexander Simionescu, Dimitri Murrath
At the end of the hour: A "Songs of America" sampler spotlighting a 1940 recital by African-American soprano Dorothy Maynor, with Chloe Veltman and Anne McLean.
7. QUARTET DANCES with Sidney Wolfe, guest host Memorable string-quartet performances in this hour, introduced by Bill and guest host Sidney Wolfe, a Library concertgoer for almost half a century. You’ll hear the Cuarteto Casals in Boccherini’s "Fandango" quartet—with castanets; the Takács Quartet’s Bartók collaboration with Hungary’s Muzsikás ensemble and a wistful, lyrical performance of the teenage Sergei Rachmaninoff’s quartet no. 1.
BOCCHERINI: Quintet in D major, G.448 ( "Fandango" ) FALLA: Dance of the Miller, from "The Three-Cornered Hat" Cuarteto Casals with Manuel Barrueco, guitar
BARTÓK: Romanian Folk Dances, arr. Arthur Willner Takács Quartet with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikás
8. POULENC and BRITTEN at the LIBRARY with Nicholas Alexander Brown, guest host Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Poulenc’s Sonata for flute and piano and Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 1 became well-known very quickly and have remained in the forefront of the chamber repertoire. This program offers special vintage moments featuring Britten as performer, along with his lifelong partner, tenor Peter Pears.
POULENC: Sonata for flute and piano ( Coolidge Foundation commission ) Daniel Pailthorpe, flute & Julian Milford, piano ( members of the London Conchord Ensemble )
BRITTEN: String Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 25 ( Coolidge Foundation commission ) Takács Quartet ( Coolidge Foundation commission )
THE ASH GROVE, trad.; arr. Britten Peter Pears, tenor, Benjamin Britten, piano
9. FREIBURGER BAROCKORCHESTER Beautiful recordings from a blockbuster evening that included all six of the Brandenburg concerti, from Germany’s stellar Freiburg Baroque. In this hour you’ll hear three of the six: the G major concerto with three featured groups of soloists, 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos; the fifth Brandenburg, with Sebastien Wienand as harpsichord soloist; and the 4th concerto, with Freiburg co-director Gottfried von der Goltz as violin soloist, and Isabell Lehmann and Marie Deller playing solo recorders.
J.S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 Brandenburg Concerto no. 4 in G major BWV 1049, for solo violin and two recorders
10. FROM THE INSTRUMENT VAULTS: GEMS BY STRADIVARI and GUARNERI DEL GESÙ with Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, musical instruments curator, Library of Congress Hear the sumptuous sounds of our incomparable Cremonese instruments in this showcase for Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù. Miranda Cuckson plays pieces by Fritz Kreisler on his own Guarneri violin, a masterly example of the violinmaker’s art. The Parker Quartet plays our Strads in a Dvořák viola quintet with Kikue Ikeda, a longtime member of the distinguished Tokyo Quartet. From the archives: Debussy on the Strads, from the Budapest Quartet, performing with master harpist Marcel Grandjany.
KREISLER: Selected pieces, including "Caprice Viennois" and "Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani" Miranda Cuckson, violin & Blair McMillen, piano
DVOŘÁK: String Sextet in E-flat major, op. 97 Parker Quartet with Kikuei Ikeda, viola
DEBUSSY: "Danse Sacrée et Danse Profane" Budapest String Quartet with Marcel Grandjany, harp ( archival )
11. TRANSFIGURED SONGS: LISZT PARAPHRASES AND TRANSCRIPTIONS with David Plylar, guest host A look at Franz Liszt’s brilliant re-imaginings of songs by Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt himself, and opera arias by Verdi and Wagner.
SCHUBERT/LISZT: "Ave Maria" Valerie Tryon, piano
BEETHOVEN/LISZT: "Adelaide" Egon Petri, piano
LISZT: "Im Rhein, am schönen Strome," S. 272 Matthew Polenzani tenor, Julius Drake, piano "Im Rhein, am schönen Strome," transcribed by the composer Valerie Tryon, piano "Im Rhein, am schönen Strome" Angelika Kirchschlager, Julius Drake
VERDI/LISZT: "Rigoletto de Verdi: paraphrase de concert," S. 434
WAGNER/LISZT: "Isoldens Liebestod"—Schlusszene aus Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, ( S. 447 ) Valerie Tryon, piano
12. STRAVINSKY AND SCHOENBERG: SHADOWS OF THE GREAT WAR with Nicholas Alexander Brown, guest host An exhilarating concert from the Library’s Adams mini-festival in spring 2013. Composer John Adams conducts the 24 expert instrumentalists of the International Contemporary Ensemble in two works that foreshadow the tremendous cultural upheavals and societal shifts of the First World War.
13. ELIAS STRING QUARTET Jonathan Biss joins the Elias, one of Britain’s noteworthy young ensembles and winner of the BBC New Generation Award, for the Dvořák A minor piano quintet. Pieter Wispelwey plays the Ligeti solo cello sonata written between 1948 and 1953. To end the program, and this season’s radio series: "Lament for Mulroy." It’s a haunting encore written by Elias Quartet violinist Donald Grant; like the ghost of a thought you can’t reach, it stays in the mind’s ear.
DVOŘÁK: Quintet in A minor, op. 81, for piano and strings Elias String Quartet with Jonathan Biss, piano
LIGETI: Sonata for cello solo Pieter Wispelwey, cello
GRANT: "Lament for Mulroy"
The Library’s unparalleled music holdings include manuscripts, scores, sound recordings, books, libretti, music-related periodicals and microforms, copyright deposits and musical instruments. Manuscripts of note include those of European masters such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms and those of American masters such as Fine, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein and Charles Mingus. For more information on the Library’s Concert Series, visit its website or phone the Concert Line at ( 202 ) 707-5502.
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