When Gustav Mahler was working on his Symphony No. 10, his heart was broken -- literally and figuratively. He had contracted an incurable heart disease, and his wife was having an affair. Pondering mortality, love, and loss, he finished his last work: the opening movement of his Symphony No. 10. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas talks about Mahler's heartache, and leads the San Francisco Symphony in a concert performance. MTT also guides us, and the San Francisco Symphony, through the final section of Mahler's Symphony No. 8. And in part two of this month's edition of our occasional series, "Music That Matters," we'll hear from the inmates at a women's prison in Alaska whose lives are being changed by the chance to play in an orchestra.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Antonio Vivaldi: Two movements from Concerto in D Minor, Op 3, No. 11, RV 565
Daniel Hope, violin, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Isaac Albeniz: Rumores de la Caleta
Pepe Romero, guitar
Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Ballo del Granduca
The Flanders Recorder Quartet
Boston Early Music Festival, Boston
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Continuo in F, RV 433 (The Storm at Sea)
Michele Favaro, Baroque flute, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Luca Mares, conductor
Schwetzingen Festival, Schwetzingen, Germany
Gustav Mahler: Excerpts from Symphony No. 8
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and soloists, Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Hour 2
Alma Mahler: Laue Sommernacht (Balmy Summer Night)
The Bergonzi String Quartet
Pine Mountain Music Festival, Houghton, Michigan
Agathe Backer Grondahl: Fantasy Pieces, Op. 45 (Summer Song)
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Bjarte Engeset, conductor
Richard Danielpour: Adagietto from A Child's Reliquary
The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul
Music That Matters: Prison Orchestras, Part II
Gustav Mahler: First movement from Symphony No. 10
The San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
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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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