The term "Little Russia" sounds innocuous to our ears, even charming. But say those words to a Ukrainian, and you might just wind up with a black eye. "Little Russian" is a demeaning term for all things Ukrainian. It's also the nickname of Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony. A critic gave it the label, because it's infused with Ukrainian folk melodies. We'll hear a performance by the Sydney Symphony and conductor Hans Graf.
Alexander Borodin was a professional chemist, with little time to compose. Usually, he took forever to finish a piece of music. But one summer, he took some time off work and wrote a string quartet. The Jerusalem String Quartet plays Borodin's String Quartet No. 2, in concert in New York City. And Yefim Bronfman (pictured) plays Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, from a concert in London. Shostakovich wrote it in honor of his son Maxim's 19th birthday.
They're two works that were almost lost forever. Georges Bizet's Symphony in C sat on a shelf at the Paris Conservatory library for 60 years, a long-forgotten homework assignment by the 17-year-old composer. A researcher discovered it in 1933, dusted it off and got it published. And Anton Webern's lovely "In the Summer Breeze" spent some time in a hole in the ground, hidden by Webern himself as Russian troops marched into Vienna in 1945. We'll hear both, from concerts in Switzerland and New York.
It's not that Gustav Mahler found his visit to Niagara Falls uninspiring. Far from it - he thought it was spectacular. It's just that, when he and his wife visited there in 1910, there was something bigger on his mind, something he thought was even more impressive. It was the piece he was to conduct that night in nearby Buffalo, the Symphony No. 6 by Beethoven. We'll hear the piece that outshines Niagara Falls, in a concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane sums up the dilemma of musical fatherhood: How do you encourage your child as a musician without living your life and dreams through him or her? Kahane's son Gabriel is a successful composer and songwriter. He joins host Fred Child for music and conversation, and to talk about his dad. Plus, the father-and-daughter team of Mischa (pictured) and Lily Maisky, in concert in Croatia.
Pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane sums up the dilemma of musical fatherhood: How do you encourage your child as a musician without living your life and dreams through him or her? Kahane's son Gabriel is a successful composer and songwriter. He joins host Fred Child for music and conversation, and to talk about his dad. Plus, the father-and-daughter team of Mischa (pictured) and Lily Maisky, in concert in Croatia.
In 1607, there was no such thing as time off work to mourn the death of a spouse. So when Claudio Monteverdi's wife died, he had to keep putting pen to paper, composing music for, of all things, a royal wedding. Monteverdi can be forgiven if it's not the jolliest of wedding music. But his Vespers are quietly, hauntingly beautiful. We'll hear a performance from suburban Cleveland.
Violinist Julia Fischer has been playing to packed concert halls ever since she was a child. She says, "I was already extremely conscientious when I was 10 years old. I was always aware of what it meant to go onstage and stand in front of a thousand people...I was very self-critical, and strict with myself." That self-discipline paid off. Today, she's one of the top violinists in the world. In today's show, Julia Fischer plays the Bruch Violin Concerto, from a concert in Geneva.
Heironymous Bosch painted dark, frightening pictures of hell in the 15th century, with tortured souls suffering in agony. Dante used words rather than paint in his Divine Comedy. But he came up a similar picture of hell, along with the inscription "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" on the gates. Composer Luigi Boccherini painted a lively, boisterous picture of hell, one that draws us in rather than sends us fleeing. No need to abandon hope in today's show. We'll hear Boccherini's "The Devil's House," from a concert by Mercury Baroque in Houston.
