How are your bodily fluids today? Too much black bile? Not enough phlegm? Ridiculous questions today, but in medieval times, people believed that there were four fluids that ruled our moods. Depending on the mix, you were choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, or sanguine. Carl Nielsen ran across four comical paintings based on these four temperaments, and based his Second Symphony on them. We'll hear it, from a concert by the San Francisco Symphony.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Carl Nielsen: Overture to Maskarade
The San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
George Gershwin: Prelude No. 2
Red Cedar Chamber Music
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 (The Four Temperaments)
The San Francisco Symphony, Alan Gilbert, conductor
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sleepers Awake
Joshua Smith, flute, Cynthia Phelps, viola
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul
Jean Marie LeClair: Sonata No. 6 for Two Violins
Caterina Lichtenberg and Mike Marshall, mandolins
Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, Georgia
Hour 2
Stephen Paulus: Playful, from Dramatic Suite
Mina Fisher, cello, and friends
Johann Sebastian Bach: Gavotte from Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830
Jeremy Denk, piano
Bedrich Smetana: Polka in A Minor, from Czech Dance Book I
Jeremy Denk, piano
Alice Tully Hall, New York City
Stephen Paulus: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Lynn Harrell, cello, the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, Donald Runnicles, conductor
Grand Teton Music Festival, Teton Village, Wyoming
Franz Schubert: Quartet Movement in C Minor, D. 703
The Shanghai Quartet
Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene, Oregon
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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.
Hosted by Valerie Kahler, Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country.
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