GPB's shortened spring 2009 membership campaign runs just a week, from Tuesday, April 28 to Monday, May 4. Support public broadcasting by calling 1-800-222-4788 or going to gpb.org and becoming a contributing member at any level. Ensure the availability of the music you love and the news you rely on on GPB.
If you'd like a thank-you gift as a token of our gratitude for your contribution, take your pick. They're all listed at gpb.org. Here let me just point out our new classical music gifts.
For a kid in your life, how about a beautifully illustrated retelling of Peter and the Wolf. This hardcover book and the accompanying CD tell of adventurous, resourceful Peter's exploits in rural Russia. It's narrated together with Sergei Prokofiev's tuneful music. Meet the instruments of the orchestra through the small-scale drama of Peter, his grandfather, the cat, the bird, the duck, the wolf and the hunters, in this colorful repackaging of a children's classic. Available at the $90 membership level.
Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are colorful, too, in the sonic sense. Bach wrote these v
aried, delightful six pieces on spec for a potential employer, but the real beneficiary is posterity. From the brilliant trumpet of the second concerto to the recorders of the fourth and and the violas of the sixth, each piece highlights a different instrument or instruments, and they're all great listening. This superlative new two-disc super-audio recording features the super Academy of Ancient Music, directed from the harpsichord by Richard Egarr. The group performs with just one player per part, baroque-style, and they play at an extra low, "French baroque" pitch, giving the sound a mellow richness. Update your collection or get your first Brandenburgs right here. (For more on this, check out YouTube.) Available at the $75 membership level and up.
Final
ly, in this new era we're all living through, we're pleased to offer Antonin Dvorak's beloved, beautiful "New World" Symphony - along with three other Dvorak symphonies (nos. 5, 7 and 8), two shorter orchestral pieces by Dvorak and, as a bonus, Smetana's Moldau. This much-praised three-CD set features conductor Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic. Our gift to you, if you like, at the $100 level.
Or...can't choose? Join at the $250 level and we'll send you our Classical Combo: all three of the thank-you gifts above. That's a total of six discs and a book, with music of Prokofiev, Bach and Dvorak (plus a pinch of Smetana).
Public broadcasting relies on you. I look forward to hearing from you during GPB's spring drive, April 28-May 4. Thank you for your support at any level!
-Sarah
Tuesday, April 28: In addition to selections from the recordings above, we hear music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Strauss's Fledermaus Overture, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 and more.
Wednesday, April 29: In addition to Bach and Dvorak from the sets described above, we hear Mendelssohn's D major string quartet (Op. 44/1), short selections from 17th century Venice by Storace and Uccellini, Mozart's Overture to Cosi fan tutte, Schubert's G-flat impromptu (Op. 90/3) and Haydn's Trumpet Concerto.
Thursday, April 30: More Bach Brandenburgs, Dvorak's Fifth, Glazunov's Mazurka-Oberek, Chabrier's Espana, Arensky's Piano Quintet, a couple of quick numbers from the Italian baroque, and the Strings & Threads Suite by Mark O'Connor for violin and guitar, featuring him and Sharon Isbin.
Friday, May 1: The customary Bach and Dvorak, plus...Strauss's Violin Sonata, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, Smetana's Moldau (stowing away with that Dvorak set), Palestrina's Osculetur Me and Chaminade's Flute Concertino.
Monday, May 4, last day of the spring drive: Yes, yet more fine Dvorak and Bach, plus Wagner's Tannhaueser Overture, Beethoven's "Pathetique" Piano Sonata, Liszt's Fantasy on a theme from The Ruins of Athens, Huang Zi's Plum Blossoms in the Snow, Bernstein's Candide Overture, Granados's Caress Waltz, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola and Holst's First Suite. Thank you for your support!
