December 7, 2009. From recent uploads

This week we feature three performances that were recently added to our library. First we'll hear Maurice Ravel's Tzigane. It is performed by the violinist Dmitri Berlinsky, who is accompanied by the pianist Elena Baksht. Then the flutist Kristin Paxinos plays Sonatine by the French composer Pierre Sancan. Sancan died just a year ago but the style of this piece, written in 1946, harkens back to Ravel's time. And lastly, Irina Kotlyar - Gregory Shifrin Piano Duo plays Schubert's masterpiece, his Fantasia in F Minor, D. 940. To listen, click here.

November 30, 2009. Four Ballades

In the music world, the word Ballade usually brings either Chopin or Brahms to mind. Both of them wrote magnificent pieces for piano under that title (we'll hear two of them), but of course many other composers wrote ballades as well. We'll hear one of Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonatas for solo violin, which he called "Ballade," and also a piece by the Swiss composer Frank Martin by the same name, this one written for flute. So, first we'll hear Hayk Arsenyan playing Choipin's Ballade No. 2 in F Major, then the young French violinist Fanny Clamagirand in the Ysaÿe. The fultist Katherine DeJongh will follow with the Frank (she's accompanied by Yoko Yamada-Selvaggio). We'll finish with Sevgi Giles playing Brahms' Ballade No. 2 in D Major, Op.10. To listen, click here.

November 23, 2009. Thanksgiving

This week, we celebrate this most American of holidays with a selection of American compositions. We'll begin with the Fugue from Samuel Barber's Sonata Op. 26 (1949). It's played by Tania Stavreva. We'll then go back in time about 50 years to listen to Amy Beach's Romance for Violin and Piano. It's performed by Rachel Barton Pine, with Matthew Hagle on the piano. Next comes Aaron Copland and his wistful Duo for Flute and Piano, played by the flutist Martha Councell and Richard Steinbach. William Bolcom's Graceful Ghost Rag (Christina Castelli violin, Grant Moffett piano) will follow. We conclude with Elliott Carter, whose career spanned almost 80 years and coincided with some of the most creative periods of American classical music. His Caténaires is superbly played by Ursula Oppens. To listen, click here.

November 16, 2009. Classical Sonatas

These three sonatas were composed in the span of a quarter century. Haydn’s Sonata in E Major is the oldest; it was composed in 1776 while Haydn was comfortably employed by Nikolaus Esterházy. Mozart’s Sonata in D Major (No.18) comes from 1789; as it turned out, it was the last piano sonata he ever composed. We conclude with Beethoven’s sonata No. 13 (Quasi una fantasia). It was composed in 1800, in the middle of a very active period, when Beethoven started experimenting with other musical forms and composing quartets and symphonies for the first time.

The Haydn is played by Chu-Fang Huang, a young Chinese pianist. She studied at the Curtis and the Juillard, and is the First Prize winner of the 2005 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Michael Tsalka plays the Mozart. He was born in Israel and graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music. A prolific recitalist, he also co-founded the Marzec-Tsalka Piano Duo. The Beethoven is performed by Mauro Bertoli, who graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Academy of Music in Milan. He maintains an active career, performing recitals and playing with orchestras in Italy and other countries. To listen to the sonatas, please click here.

November 9, 2009

As Eric Henderson writes himself, when he was 13, his teacher took him to attend a concert by the great Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia. His teacher also arranged a private meeting with Eric and the maestro. Upon hearing him play, Segovia invited Eric to come study with him in Spain. Eric became only the third person ever invited to study privately with Segovia. We'll hear Eric Henderson playing several pieces, including one of his own compositions. We'll start with the Bach-influenced Etude No. 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Then we'll hear another small etude, by Fernando Sor (No. 9). Then comes Henderson's own Prelude No. 3 ("Homage"). We finish with Moreno Torroba's wonderful Sonatina. To listen, click here.

November 2, 2009. Recent uploads

Peter Schickele is best known as the creative force behind P.D.Q. Bach, "the oddest of the twenty odd children" of J.S. Bach. Schickele is also recognized as a serious composer in his own right. The Orion Ensemble recently uploaded a performance of Schickele’s Serenade for Three. Note that the third movement contains variations on a theme by P.D.Q. Bach's Oedipus Tex, "opera/oratorio in one cathartic act."

We continue with a much darker piece, Augusta Read Thomas' Angel Musings. It was commissioned by the Orion Ensemble in 1998. This composition consists of two movements, "Nightfall" and "Daybreak." To listen, please click here.