After a five-month investigation, the New York City orchestra took action against oboist Liang Wang and trumpeter Matthew Muckey over unspecified misconduct.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" has been played at major sporting events as far back as the Civil War, even before it was officially named the national anthem. How and why did the tradition stick?
The pianist merges jazz and poetry together to make a multi-movement work that explores themes of the human condition.
Watch the young Harvard grad dispatch some of the most "knuckle-busting" piano repertoire with uncommon panache and precision.
The versatile opera star will sing an Irish classic at the memorial service of Senator John McCain Saturday at Washington's National Cathedral.
Kahane's new album, Book of Travelers is inspired by a two-week train trip the composer took across America. Kahane discusses the album and performs a few of the songs in NPR's studio.
To mark the centennial of her father's birth, Jamie Bernstein talks frankly about her new memoir, tracking her life as the daughter of the legendary composer.
The composer, whose music fused many styles with a singular voice, constantly broke new ground. He was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.
Raymond Bisha introduces composer-pianist-academic Tanya Ekanayaka through a new release of music for solo piano, composed and performed by herself. The twelve ‘prisms’ derive their stylistic inspiration from a variety of sources that include classical, contemporary, pop, rock, world and film music. The fusion of styles in each movement is rooted in the folk and Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of music by three Baroque titans: Lully, Telemann and Rameau. The latter two were hugely influenced by the music of Lully, who was powerfully positioned as the chief musician of King Louis XIV of France. Lully left a rich legacy of dramatic music scored for orchestra. It left an Read More ...
Invented during the early part of the nineteenth century, the accordion’s popularity soon soared and has been sustained ever since by its adaptability to many styles of music, from folk to heavy metal. Virtuoso performer Hanzhi Wang presents an intriguing compilation of classical works from Denmark, where numerous composers have followed the example of Per Read More ...
Kenneth Fuchs celebrates a 15-year association with conductor JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra upon the release of these world premiere recordings of three concertos (respectively for piano, electric guitar and alto saxophone) and a song cycle for countertenor and orchestra. Variety is the hallmark of the works’ scoring, while an easy-sounding mastery is Read More ...
Born in Hungary in 1894, Eugene Zádor moved to the USA in 1939 and remained there as a naturalised citizen until his death. He left a sizeable catalogue of works that includes more than 120 film scores, 13 operas and a wide variety of concert music. Zádor has been described as a classicist, a romantic Read More ...
Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner (1791–1856) was a much admired figure in his day, referred to glowingly by such distinguished musicians as Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, who acknowledged respectively his gift for composing operas and his skill as an orchestral conductor. Like the 21 operas he wrote, Lindpaintner himself has since been virtually forgotten, which Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces a new release of three American orchestral triumphs in stunning performances by the youthful ranks of the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic under GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller. Carl Ruggles’ Sun-treader, Steven Stucky’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 and John Harbison’s Symphony No. 4 constitute the programme’s towering trio of symphonic masterpieces. Read More ...
The composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco moved from Italy to the US during the turmoil of the Second World War. That he should have been immediately befriended by such musical giants as violinist Jascha Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky speaks reams about the respect the Italian engendered. His Cello Concerto was commissioned by Piatigorsky, who premiered the Read More ...
Raymond Bisha helps turn the pages of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, following the release of Boris Giltburg’s fine performance of the work with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. Noted for its length and technical difficulty, ‘Rach 3’ (its popular moniker) is reckoned to have more notes than all of Mozart’s Read More ...
Although storm clouds were starting to gather over Robert Schumann’s mental health in the years 1849–50, it proved a remarkably fertile period for his musical output, not least as reflected in works featuring the cello. The majority of the pieces on this new release were composed during that period, some with the instrumentation as originally Read More ...
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Medieval Liturgical Music GLoria, Laus Et Honor Folk Music Isten Veled Bogyiszlo Faluja Dance Music: Verbunkos Ungarischer Tanz Ungarischer Tanz Adagio Presto Andante Ungarischer Tanz Zwei Ungarische Taentze Gypsy Music Old Gyspsy Lament, Verbunkos, and Fast Medley: Street of Acacias, The Rosebush Bends Wranicky Grand Symphony in C […]
With Lew Smoley
With Lew Smoley, and Suzanne Bona
With Lew Smoley, and Dennis Rooney
With Lew Smoley, Dennis Rooney, and Sedgwick Clark
A VALIANT EFFORT TO CHANGE THE WAY WE LISTEN TO BEETHOVEN’S NINTH: CRITICAL COMMENTARY ON A NEW RECORDING WITH THE PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND SOLOISTS (REBECCA EVANS, PATRICIA BARDON, ROBERT MURRAY AND DEREK WELTON] CONDUCTED BY BENJAMIN ZANDER (3-Brattle Media cds) By Lewis M. Smoley For time in memoriam, musicians, musicologists and music critics have […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Josef Strauss Fantasiebilder Walzer Kakadu Quadrille Moulinet Eislauf Avantgarde Marsch Sport Polka Geheime Anziehungskräfte Walzer Les Georgiennes Hochzeit Klänge Schutzen Marsch Schabernack Polka Fashion Lancier Quadrille Frauenwürde Spharenklange Walzer Verliebte Augen Polka Francaise Jocus Polka Perlen Der Liebe, Concert Walzer Dorfschwalben Aus Osterreich Walzer Aquarellen Walzer Die Windsbraut Soll Und […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Johann Strauss I Kettenbrucke Walzer Stelldichein Galopp Hietzinger Reunion Walzer Wilhelm Tell Galopp Das Leben Ein Tanz Oder Der Tanz Ein Leben! Fra Diavolo Cotillons Die Vier Temperamente Walzer Elisabethen Waltz Kunstler Ball Tanze Walzer Mode Quadielle Die Fantasten Walzer Loreley Thein Klange Walzer Johann Strauss II Im Krapfenwaldl Polka […]
This week on the Choral Featured Album, we present 'Of Radiance and Refraction,' the debut album from Indiana University contemporary vocal ensemble Notus.
Get a free MP3 of Robert Schumann - Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish": III. Nicht schnell. And don't forget to sign up for the new Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free MP3!
Get a free MP3 of Johannes Brahms - Intermezzo No. 1, Op. 117. And don't forget to sign up for the new Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free MP3!
Autumn is in the air. We've put together a playlist of classical music to accompany this beautiful time, when the weather starts to chill and the leaves begin to turn. Listen now, and enjoy the sounds of a colorful season.
The Minnesota Orchestra opens its 2018-2019 season with music from Joan Tower, Aaron Copland and a Brahms concerto performed by pianist Emanuel Ax. Listen to the concert live on Classical MPR at 8 p.m. Friday, hosted by Alison Young.
This week on New Classical Tracks, Boston-based ensemble, A Far Cry, explores the music of Prokofiev, Britten and Mozart in 'Visions and Variations.' Enter the giveaway for a chance to win the CD!
Get a free MP3 of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Quintet for Piano and Winds: II. Larghetto. And don't forget to sign up for the new Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free MP3!
On this episode of YourClassical Story, Henry Aldridge of Chattanooga, Tenn., shares how his history with classical music began with an innocent mistake. What's YourClassical Story?
Rachel Martin talks to NPR Music critic Ann Powers about Piano & a Microphone 1983, Prince's first posthumous album of previously unreleased material, out now.
Giorgio Moroder will be DJing tonight at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Moroder has been dubbed the father of Disco.
"Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard was number one on the Billboard Country chart 50 years ago today. The song reflects on the pain and suffering Haggard caused his mother when he was sent to San Quentin Prison after trying to rob a roadhouse in his hometown of Bakersfield, California. Haggard says he was inspired to join the prison country band after seeing Johnny Cash perform at San Quentin on New Years Day, 1959. Haggard turned his life around after his release from prison in 1960.
Dessa is a singer and writer from Minneapolis who spent years trying to fall out of love and get over her ex. Nothing seemed to help -- until she visited a research lab for a brain scan.
"People Got To Be Free" by the Rascals was number one on the Billboard pop chart 50 years ago today. Felix Cavaliere, the co-author of the song, says it was written in reaction to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.