"I thought I was going to be a pop star," Eric Whitacre told Performance Today. "I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I'd be a classical composer." In a sense, Whitacre is now both. He is a choral composer. When it comes to the world of choral music, though, Whitacre is welcomed like a rock star. On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear Eric Whitacre's latest, a 2013 composition for the Tallis Scholars.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Intro & V1, Theme, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, & V24
Dmitri Alexeev, piano; St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
Album: Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Aleko Overture
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Mozart): Three Fugues from The Well-Tempered Klavier for String Quartet, K. 405 - No. 7 in E-flat Major, BWV 876, No. 8 in d-sharp minor, BWV 877, No. 4 in D Major, BWV 874
Orion String Quartet
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, CA
Anonymous (arr. Palladian Ensemble): A New Tune
The Palladian Ensemble
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul, MN
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Op. 47 - III. Largo, IV. Allegro non troppo
St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
Album: Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6, Warner 62354
Ludwig van Beethoven: Rondino in E-flat for wind octet, WoO 25
Chicago Chamber Musicians
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Hour 2
Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque
Eric Whitacre Singers and Laudibus; Eric Whitacre, conductor
St. Silas Church, Kentish Town, London, Album: London/Decca 14850
Richard Strauss: Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59
Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra; Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Aspen Music Festival; Benedict Music Tent, Aspen, CO
Eric Whitacre: Sainte-Chapelle (2013)
The Tallis Scholars; Peter Phillips, director
Album: Eric Whitacre Sainte Chapelle, Gimell Records
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major ("Hammerklavier"), Op. 106 - 3. Adagio sostenuto, Appassionato e on molto sentimento
Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano
Van Cliburn Piano Competition 2009, Semifinal round; Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX
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About Performance Today®
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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.
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. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.
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