American composer William Schuman, born 100 years ago, was one of the best-known composers of his day. He was also an arts administrator of great skill who was at various times President of The Julliard School and President of Lincoln Centre. In this podcast, Dr. Joseph Polisi, current President of Julliard and Schuman’s friend and biographer, talks about Schuman and his music. The music featured in this podcast comes from a new CD on the Naxos American Classics series featuring the Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz playing Schuman’s Symphony No. 8, Night Music, and Schuman’s arrangement of Charles Ives‘ “Variations on America”.
Roy Harris, along with colleagues such as Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions, were among the leading American symphonists in the first half of the 20th century. Collectively, they helped to create an “American” symphonic sound. In this podcast, conductor Marin Alsop talks about the music of Roy Harris, and his Symphonies 5 and 6 which are featured on this new recording with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
On Christmas Day 1999, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, together with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, embarked on one of the most remarkable musical projects ever undertaken. The began their “Bach Cantata Pilgrimage” in which they performed all 200 Bach Cantatas, each on the feast day for which they were composed, in one year. Out of that project came recordings of every cantata, and a new record label, SDG, to release them. This podcast looks at the project, and Eternal Fire, a collection of choruses from the cantata project.
Our first podcast featuring a release on CSO-Resound, the record label of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra. All CDs on this label come from live performances by the Chicago Symphony, and feature the orchestra with some of the world’s finest conductors, including Bernard Haitink, conductor of this performance.
American composer Avner Dorman, a protégé of John Corigliano and Zubin Mehta, is emerging as one of the leading composers of his generation. The diverse concertos presented here combine the excitement and spontaneity associated with jazz, baroque, rock and ethnic music. Dorman writes in the liner notes: ‘I have always loved baroque music…the clear rhythms, the strong reliance on the bass, and the extreme contrasts.’ This podcast and CD feature the Metropolis Ensemble and soloists Avi Avital, Mindy Kaufman, Avni Eliran, Lily Francis, Aya Hamada, Michal Korman, Eric Nowlin and Arnaud Sussmann, all conducted by Andrew Cyr.
Join Raymond in a special Christmas podcast as he features three of his favourite Christmas CDs – two new CDs, plus an old favourite. The new CDs featured are A Stephen Chatman Christmas, and Marc Hervieux’s “Le Premiere Noel” while the old favourite is The Mystery of Christmas with the Elora Festival Singers.
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