The Master General of the Ordnance told the Comptroller of His Majesty's Fireworks in 1749, that "the King objected to there being any musick, but when I told him the quantity and number of (trumpets and drums) martial musick there was to be, he was better satisfied, and said he hoped there would be no fiddles." George Frideric Handel got wind of that, and left the fiddles out of his Royal Fireworks Music. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Herbert Blomstedt give a performance, in honor of the 4th of July holiday.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
William Grant Still: Third movement from Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American)
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, conductor
William Grant Still: First movement from Folk Suite No. 4 for Flute, Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
Leonard Garrison, flute, Robert Umiker, clarinet, Samuel Magill, cello, Arthur Tollefson, piano
John Stafford Smith: The Star-Spangled Banner
The Dallas Wind Symphony, Jerry Junkin, conductor
Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
Maurice Ravel: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis and Chloe
The Academy Festival Orchestra, Larry Rachleff, conductor
Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, California
John Philip Sousa: The Washington Post March
The Dallas Wind Symphony, Jerry Junkin, conductor
Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
Traditional: All the Pretty Horses
Jessye Norman, soprano, and friends
Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
George Frideric Handel: Royal Fireworks Music
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Hour 2
Amy Beach: Dance of the Flowers, from Trois Morceaux Caracteristiques, Op. 28
Joanne Polk, piano
Igor Stravinsky: Fireworks
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Traditional: Jig Medley: Bishop of Chester's Jig, Foxhunter's Jig, St. Patrick's Day
Chatham Baroque, Alison Melville, recorder and baroque flute
Synod Hall, Oakland, Pennsylvania
Mark O'Connor: Excerpts from Strings and Threads Suite
Sharon Isbin, guitar, Mark O'Connor, violin
Symphony Space, New York City
Jon Lord: Excerpts from To Notice Such Things
Cormac Henry, flute, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Clark Rundell, conductor
Jon Lord: Afterwards
Jon Lord, piano, Jeremy Irons, reader
Henri Vieuxtemps: American Souvenir
Joshua Bell, violin
Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany
Virgil Thomson: Fugue and Chorale on Yankee Doodle
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Joann Falletta, conductor
Ferguson Center for the Arts, Newport News, Virginia
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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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