Thursday, March 29

The first hour of the program shades from original choral works by Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis . . . to 20th century string music by Ralph Vaughan Williams based on a Tallis tune . . . and on to a Tallis-free chamber piece also by Vaughan Williams, scored unusually for piano, violin, viola, cello and - here's the kicker - double bass.

Concerts: Friday the Macon Symphony presents its spring pops program Pianists at Play, and the UGA Performing Arts Center offers Hungarian flutist Dora Seres in recital. Saturday the Albany Chorale sings Rutter, while the Rome Symphony celebrates its 85th anniversary. And the Savannah Music Festival heads into its final weekend of classical concerts.

11 AM

• Tallis: Salvator mundi, salva nos; Loquebantur variis linguis. The Sixteen, Christopher (Chandos 0513)
• Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. Sym Orch of the Curtis Institute, Previn (EMI 55371)
• Vaughan Williams: Piano Quintet in C minor. Nash Ensemble (Hyperion 67381/2)

12 N

• Wagner: Lohengrin, Act 1 Prelude. Berlin Phil, Karajan (EMI 76896)
• Handel: Semele: "Where'er you walk." Padmore, English Concert, Manze (Harmonia Mundi, due out in June)
• Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299. Galassi, Kaiser, Freiburg Baroque Orch, Goltz (Harmonia Mundi 901897)
• Rodrigo: Sones en la Giralda (Fantasia Sevillana). Wentink, Asturias Sym, Valdes (Naxos 8.555843)
  

1 PM

• Schubert: Piano Trio in E-flat, D. 897, "Nocturne." Haefliger, members of Takacs Quartet (London 452 854)
• Schubert: Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished." Vienna Phil, Kleiber (DG 449 745)
• Granados: El Amor e la Muerte, from Goyescas. Martin Jones (Nimbus 55595/8)
  

Wednesday, March 28

Alan Cooke hosts today's Midday Music.

Tuesday, March 27

So many Georgia concerts to tie in with!

11 AM

• Puccini: Turandot: "Nessun dorma." Cincinnati Pops, Kunzel (Telarc 80260)
• Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 537. Schiff (London 440 309)
• Korngold: Violin Concerto. Juillet, Berlin Radio Sym, Mauceri (London 452 481)

12 N

• Bach: St. John Passion, Part 1. Collegium Vocale Gent, Padmore, Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi 901748.49)
• Dohnanyi: Sextet, Op. 37: Mvts 3-4. Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Naxos 8.557153)
• D'Rivera: Aires Tropicales: excerpts. Imani Winds (Koch 7599)

1 PM

• Tchaikovsky: Serenade Melancolique. Fischer, Russian National Orch, Kreizberg (PentaTone 5186 095)
• Alfvén: Symphony No. 3. Stockholm Phil, Järvi (BIS 455)
  

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus present Bach's St. John Passion this week, twice. Friday the Macon Symphony presents Pianists at Play (including local and guest keyboard notables), while in Lookout Mountain the Imani Winds hit the stage. Violinist Jun Iwasaki was recently named leader of the International Sejong Soloists, and he performs Korngold's Violin Concerto with the Rome Symphony Saturday. Also Saturday, the Albany Chorale performs John Rutter's Requiem, and Opera Verdi Europa's concert version of Turandot comes to UGA. And have I mentioned Savannah? For recitals by English tenor Mark Padmore, American bass Morris Robinson, Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian (of Two Towers soundtrack fame), a piano quintet/sextet program and more: Savannah Music Festival.

Monday, March 26

Multiple musicians go at it at the Savannah Music Festival tonight: the Beethoven Septet is on, twice. On Thursday, Teatro Lirico d'Europa brings Bizet's Carmen to Columbus's RiverCenter. Friday the Imani Winds play in Lookout Mountain, Ga. (Covenant College); they'll perform the Concerto for Wind Quintet by Imani Winds flutist Valerie Coleman, which I'm airing in our noon hour.

Another piece I'm highlighting simply showed up on a new recording and sounded good. It's the Second Symphony, from 1939, by Dane Leif Kayser. I like this quotation from Kayser at around that time:

There are reviewers who have reproached me with the criticism that my music is based on traditions - and they are absolutely right. ... I could take my First Symphony apart phrase by phrase and say: "You have that from Bach...now it is Cesar Franck who is joining in the conversation...and here it is Carl Nielsen who has influenced you." I willingly concede my debt to all the composers who have written the music that has given my 21 years content and perspective. ... It is the love of music that has made me a composer - or at any rate an industrious music copyist. Is there really anything odd abuot the fact that I write down what the heart is full of? You could as well go out in the field and forbid a young lark to sing trills that sound like the ones the old larks have sung before.

Here now, today's playlist:

11 AM

• Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Sonatina for recorder and guitar. Petri, Hannibal (OUR 8.226800)
• Beethoven: Septet in E-flat, Op. 20. Nash Ensemble (ASV 4002)

12 N

• Grieg: Slatter, Suite for Orchestra, Op. 72. Royal Scottish National Orch, Engeset (Naxos 8.557854)
• VColeman: Concerto for Wind Quintet. Imani Winds (Koch 7599)
• Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Stephen Hough, Dallas Sym, Litton (Hyperion 67501/2)
• Bizet: Carmen: Chorus and Scene "Les voici, voice le quadrille." Atlanta Sym Orch & Chorus, Shaw (Telarc 80333)

1 PM

• Vierdanck, J.: Capriccios, Canzonas and Sonatas (1641): Nos. 25 and 19. Parnassi Musici (CPO 777 205)
• Kayser, L.: Symphony No. 2 (1939). Aalborg Sym Orch, Coro Misto, Aeschbacher (DaCapo 8.224708)

Friday, March 23

It's Friday requests on Midday Music, hosted by Alan Cooke from our Augusta station. But by the way, when you're itching to hear a particular classical piece, there's no need to wait till a Friday. Send requests anytime to middaymusic@gpb.org. When possible I'll work them in through the week.

A few guidelines:

• Variety is good. Not the same piece (or for that matter the same requesters) as last week, please.
• Accessibility is good too. Nothing that will scare off all listeners but you.
• Length counts. No complete Mahler or Bruckner symphonies.
• And finally, if you ask to hear specific performers I'll do my best, but please know that our library is not exhaustive.

Thursday, March 22

Sometimes I'm so eager to share newly arrived CDs with you, they end up airing before their formal release dates. That happened with several of today's selections, from a fresh and tasty shipment of March releases from the imported CPO label. In case you try to track those discs down and they don't show up yet: they're on their way!

11 AM

• Röntgen: Suite "Aus Jotunheim": 4th mvt. Rehinland-Pfalz State Phil, Porcelijn (CPO 777 119)
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, "Appassionata." Angela Hewitt (Hyperion 67518)
• Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp minor. Philippe Entremont (Sony 61699)
• Davidoff: Cello Concerto No. 1 in B minor. Yang, Latvian National Sym, Mikkelsen (CPO 777 263)
• DiCapua: Maria Mari. Alessi and friends (Naxos 8.570232)

12 N

• Sondheim: A Little Night Music: Night Waltz & Send in the Clowns. Boston Pops, Williams (Philips 2606)
• Villa-Lobos: New York Skyline Melody. Radio Sym Orch Stuttgart, St. Clair (CPO 999 785)
• Elgar: Froissart Overture. New Zealand Sym, Judd (Naxos 8.557577)
• Brahms: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E-flat. Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta (ACA Digital 20033)

1 PM

• Chopin: Fantasy-Impromptu in C-sharp minor. Olga Kern (Harmonia Mundi 907402)
• Schubert: String Quartet No. 12 in C minor, "Quartettsatz." Emerson String Quartet (DG 289 459 151)
• Vanhal: Symphony in G major. Toronto Camerata, Mallon (Naxos 8.557483)
• Kokai: Quartettini for clarinet and strings. Walter Boeykens Ensemble (Harmonia Mundi 901419)

Upcoming performances I alluded to: Olga Kern's sold-out appearance with the National Philharmonic of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov at Emory University in Atlanta. David Finckel and Wu Han's concerts in Athens Friday and Savannah Sunday (with different rep!) . And Philippe Entremont's gig Friday, also at the Savannah Music Festival.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, requests, etc. - please write. It's middaymusic@gpb.org.

Wednesday, March 21

It's Bach's birthday (he's a fit 322). Today is also the start of spring and, in related news, the Persian New Year. The Humoresque/Humorestless pair is just in there for fun.

11 AM

• Bach: Cantata No. 34, "O Ewiges Feuer, O Urpsprung der Liebe." Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, soloists, Gardiner (SDG 121)
• Thuille: Sextet for Piano and Winds. Otaki, Warsaw Wind Quintet (independent)
• Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina: Dance of the Persian Slaves. Minnesota Orch, Oue (Reference 71)
• Schumann/Liszt: Fruhlingsnacht. Frederic Chiu (Harmonia Mundi 3957054)

12 N

• Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Bournemouth Sym, Alsop (Naxos 559031)
• Bach: Keyboard Partita No. 3 in A minor. Cedric Tiberghien (Harmonia Mundi 901869)
• Guedron: "When the faithless one"; "Although cruel suffering." Boston Camerata, Cohen (Erato 3984-21656)
• Copland: Appalachian Spring. Nashville Chamber Orch, Gambill (Naxos 559069)

1 PM

• Dvorak: Humoresque, Op. 101/7. Vengerov, Virtuosi, Papian (EMI 57164)
• Confrey: Humorestless. Richard Dowling (Klavier 11164)
• Purcell: Distressed Innocence or The Princess of Persia: Overture; Hornpipe. Chatham Baroque (Dorian 90309)
• Danielpour: In the Arms of the Beloved, double concerto inspired by Rumi. Laredo, Robinson, Iris Chamber Orch, Stern (Arabesque 6767)
• Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. Concerto Italiano, Alessandrini (Naive 30412)

A blogger's dilemma: To provide exhaustive recording details? Or keep info to a compact minimum? I'll keep toying with the formats. Write middaymusic@gpb.org and let me know what would be most useful to you.

As for concerts: The Vega String Quartet concludes its six-concert Bach-'n'-Bartok cycle at Emory's Schwartz Center this Friday. Clayton State pianist Michiko Otaki and the Czech Graffe Quartet play Schumann, Mozart and Smetana Saturday in Spivey Hall. The Augusta Choral Society offers Mozart's Coronation Mass, Saturday at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center. On the other side of the state, the LaGrange Symphony plays its Annual Pops Concert, also Saturday. And there's gobs happening at the Savannah Music Festival right now; I mentioned Boston Camerata, the marital-musical duo of David Finckel and Wu Han, and Bach's St. Matthew Passion in particular.

Happy spring!

Tuesday, March 20

A couple of notes on today's playlist:

Haydn wrote his Mass in Time of War at a moment of Austrian patriotic frenzy, as the empire mobilized against Napoleon. It concludes, as masses are wont to do: "Dona nobis pacem," Give us peace.

Three of today's selections come from the gorgeous new CD Music for Compline, with Stile Antico singing sacred choral music from Renaissance England.

John Adams' most famous four minutes of music are probably his Short Ride in a Fast Machine. We hear a mellower side of Adams in the third hour of the show: his Berceuse elegiaque.

Connections to real-time music-making:

• Violinist Midori (featured in the Mozart) plays music of John Adams (featured in the, um, Adams) with the Atlanta Symphony this Thursday and Saturday. By the way, both Midori and John Adams will be at GPB Friday for an interview with Terrance McKnight. If you've got questions for either artist, please e-mail studiogpb@gpb.org.
• Clarinetist John Bruce Yeh (featured in the Babin) performs tonight with the CSU Wind Ensemble at Columbus's RiverCenter.
• Pianist Philippe Entremont (featured in the Franck) gives a recital Friday as part of the Savannah Music Festival.

And now, the list you've all been waiting for.

11 AM

• Byrd: Miserere mihi, Domine. Stile Antico (Harmonia Mundi 907419)
• Haydn: Missa in Tempore Belli, 'Paukenmesse' (Mass in Time of War, 'Kettledrum Mass'). Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Gaechinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Ziesak et al., Rilling
• Lhoyer: Duo Concertante in E minor for two guitars, Op. 31/3. Rabemananjara and Spinosi (Naive 30396)
  

12 N

• Sheppard: Libera nos. Stile Antico (Harmonia Mundi 907419)
• Tallis: In manus tuas. Stile Antico (Harmonia Mundi 907419)
• Mozart: Concerto in D for Violin and Piano, K.Anh.56 (315f), reconstr Wilby. Midori, Eschenbach, North German Radio Sym (Sony 89488)
• Prokofiev: Love for Three Oranges: March. Cincinnati Pops, Kunzel (Telarc 60657)
• Franck: Symphonic Variations. Entremont, Philharmonia Orch, Dutoit (CBS 46276)

1 PM

• Arndt: Nola, A Silhouette for the Piano. Dowling (Klavier 11164)
• Adams: Berceuse elegiaque. Bournemouth Sym, Alsop (Naxos 559031)
• Kodaly: Hary Janos, Suite. Budapest Festival Orch, Fischer (Philips 289 462 824)
• Babin: Hillandale Waltzes. Yeh, DePaul Univ Wind Ens, DeRoch (Reference 55)

Monday, March 19

Hi, everyone! I'm the host of GPB's Midday Music, heard weekdays 11-2 in Georgia or streaming at www.gpb.org anywhere.

With this blog I'm out to connect you to classical music any way I can. It's a challenge when we serve so many communities, but I'll do my best. In my dream world this blog would transcend playlists and comments to become a one-stop clearinghouse for concert listings across Georgia, a meeting place for the arts community statewide. More realistically, I'll be providing details on the recordings I play and concerts I mention on air.

So, down to business. Here's what hit the air today:

11 AM

• Haydn: Symphony No. 47 in G major. L'Estro Armonico, Solomons (CBS 39685)
• Hindemith: Clarinet Sonata. John Bruce Yeh, Easley Blackwood (Cedille 90000 072)
• Dvorak: Romance in F for violin and orchestra, Op. 11. Midori, New York Philharmonic, Mehta (CBS 44923)

12 N

• Scarlatti, A.: Concerto in A major for recorders, violins and continuo. Il Rossignolo, Tenerani (CPO 999 856)
• Satie: Three Gymnopedies, arr guitar. Peter Fletcher, guitar (Centaur 2731)
• Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, "Kreutzer." Henryk Szeryng, Ingrid Haebler (Eloquence/Philips 289 468 152)

1 PM

• Henestrosa: El libra de cifra nueva (1557): Finale. Andrew Lawrence King and The Harp Consort (Harmonia Mundi 907316)
• Schumann: Symphony No. 1, "Spring." Cleveland Orchestra, Szell (CBS 38468)
• Bach: St. Matthew Passion: Chorale "Erbarme dich," arr cello and orchestra. Yo-Yo Ma, Amsterdam Baroque Orch, Koopman

And here are some of the goings-on I mentioned along the way:

• Chicago Symphony clarinetist John Bruce Yeh performs with the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble at Columbus's RiverCenter, Tuesday evening.
• On Thursday and Saturday, violinist Midori performs John Adams' Violin Concerto with John Adams guest conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
  
• And the Savannah Music Festival continues apace, with chamber musicians playing Beethoven and Dohnanyi in Wednesday's "Stirring Strings" program and Martin Haselbock leading a touring performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion on Thursday.

See you round!