Giving Thanks - A Celebration of Fall, Food and Gratitude

With music and stories for Thanksgiving, host John Birge creates a thoughtful, contemporary reflection on the meaning of the holiday. This year, a grateful tribute to the great writer Nora Ephron, with a warm and funny highlight of her Giving Thanks visit last year.

New for 2012: original Thanksgiving music in the studio with pianist Jacqueline Schwab, heard by millions for her piano music for Ken Burns' "The Civil War." A Thanksgiving blessing from Baxter Black. And a visit from poet and former NEA chairman Dana Gioia. For listeners in the kitchen, on the road, or relaxing after the feast, Giving Thanks provides the perfect atmosphere for Thanksgiving: the warmth of great music, and truly memorable words.

{% if $service == "apm" %}Two Hour {% /if %}Program

Hour I

• Traditional: We Gather Together — Boston Pops/John Williams (Philips CD 454391)

• Bach: Cantata No. 29, "Wir danken dir" (We Thank Thee): Sinfonia — Tafelmusik Baroque Orch (Tafelmusik CD 1001)

• Dana Gioia on his childhood Thanksgiving

• Telemann: Tafelmusik Book III: Bergerie — Tafelmusik Baroque Orch (Reference CD 2101)

• Nora Ephron remembers Thanksgiving, and reads "What I Will Miss"

• Siegfreid Ochs (attrib. Handel): Dank sei Dir, Herr ("Thanks be to Thee") — Takako Nishizaki, violin Polish National Radio Symphony (Marco Polo CD 223586)

• Traditional: We Gather Together — Peter Barnes: The Invitation | Jacqueline Schwab, piano (Studio recording)

• Richard Strauss: Sonatina No. 2, "The Happy Workshop": 2nd movement — Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (DG CD 445819)

• Mozart Laudate Dominum — Joshua Bell, violin | Orchestra of St. Luke's (Sony CD 97779)

• Dana Gioia on gratitude and humility, and reads his poem Words

• Traditional (arr. Dale Warland): Simple Gifts — Dale Warland Singers (Gothic CD 49243)

• Copland: Corral Nocturne — London Symphony Orchestra/Copland (Sony CD 42430)

• Baxter Black Goat Thanksgiving

Hour II

• Godfrey Ridout: Fall Fair — Edmonton Symphony/Uri Mayer (CBC 5069)

• Dana Gioia on the worst and best Thanksgiving, and reads "Prayer at Winter Solstice"

• Morten Lauridsen: Sure on this Shining Night — Conspirare (HM CD 907534)

• Traditional: Thanksgiving Suite [Wondrous Love/Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing/For the Beauty of the Earth]

• Traditional: Psalm of Life — Jacqueline Schwab, piano

• From Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums," Chartres Cathedral story; Psalm 104 — Read by Charles Laughton (Capitol LP TBO 1650 (out-of-print)

• Traditional (arr. Stephen Paulus): We Gather Together — Dale Warland Singers (Gothic CD 49243)

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One Hour Program

• Traditional: We Gather Together — Boston Pops/John Williams (Philips CD 454391)

• Dana Gioia on his childhood Thanksgiving

• Nora Ephron remembers Thanksgiving, and reads "What I Will Miss"

• Traditional: We Gather Together — Jacqueline Schwab, piano (Studio recording)

• Dana Gioia on gratitude and humility, and reads his poem "Words"

• Baxter Black reads "Goat Thanksgiving"

• Dana Gioia on the worst and best Thanksgiving, and reads "Prayer at Winter Solstice"

• Traditional: Psalm of Life — Jacqueline Schwab, piano

• From Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums," Chartres Cathedral story; Psalm 104 — Read by Charles Laughton (Capitol LP TBO1650 (out-of-print)

• Traditional (arr. Stephen Paulus): We Gather Together — Dale Warland Singers (Gothic CD 49243)

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