Composer John Adams was astonished at the reaction to his sprawling 1982 piece for two pianos, three singers and orchestra, his "Grand Pianola Music." Adams says the "piece genuinely upset people...I meant it neither as a joke...nor as a provocation of any kind. It was rather, in its loudest and most hyperventilated moments, a kind of Whitmanesque yawp, an exhilaration of good humor, certainly a parody and therefore ironic." We'll hear it in all its yawping glory, from a concert last month by the London Sinfonietta at the Proms in London.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor: III. Scherzo
Lahti Symphony; Osmo Vanska, cond.
J.S. Bach: "Badinerie" from Suite No. 2 in B minor
Sharon Bezaly, flute; Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London
C.P.E. Bach: Solfegietto
Olga Moroz, clarinet
NRCU (National Radio Company, Kiev, Ukraine)
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, I: Aria, Cantilena
Ailish Tynan, soprano; Marie Macleod, cello; Claudio Bohorquez, cello; Christian Poltera, cello; Li Wie, cello; Donjulo Ishizaka; Natalie Clein, cello; Guy Johnston, cello; Marcin Sieniawski, cello
BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London
George Frederic Handel: Ombra mai fu, from "Xerxes," HWV 40
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Sir Roger Norrington, conductor
BBC Proms 2009, Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Franz Joseph Hadyn: Symphony No. 101, Hob. I: 101, "Clock"
BBC Symphony Orchestra; Osmo Vanska, conductor
Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Hour 2
Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite: Deciso
Sergio and Odair Assad, guitar
Benedetto Platti: Trio in C minor "Giovanni," for oboe, bassoon & basso continuo
Ensemble Zefiro; Alfredo Bernardini, director & oboe; Alberto Grazzi, bassoon; Lorenz Duftschmid, violone; Evangelina Mascardi, theorbo; Luca Guglielmi, organ
Boston Early Music Festival, Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston, MA
John Adams: Grand Pianola Music
Rolf Hind, piano; John Constable, piano; Synergy Vocals; London Sinfonietta; Edward Gardner, director
BBC Proms 2009, Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Astor Piazzolla: Milonga del Angel (encore)
Roberto Plano, piano
Wellspring Theater, Kalamazoo, MI
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
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