Onward into the fog

I started archiving Classical Edge programs through this blog because we had trouble archiving the first few programs on the KVMR website. That problem has been taken care of, so you can can now click here to find more recent programs.

Sunday 15 February: Carmina Buranas

Eric Tomb presents two versions of the medieval songs discovered at the Benediktenbeuren Monastery in Bavaria in 1803. We first get to hear Thomas Binkley and the Studio der fruehen Musik perform a reconstruction of 21 of the songs in a carefully researched medieval style. We then hear Carl Orff's famous revisioning of another 24 of the songs (the two versions share one song in common), performed by the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Shaw Chorale.

It would be wonderful to complete this set with some or all of Ray Manzarek's 1983 minimalist/rock reworking of Orff's music. If anyone has a digital file of this piece, we'd love to get a copy.

Sunday 8 February 2009: violinist Sherban Lupu

Eric Tomb presents excerpts from two CDs by Romanian-born violinist Sherban Lupu, who is currently professor of violin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From his George Enescu CD, which contains four of Enescu's violin works, we get the Violin Sonata #3 and the Caprice Rumain, which Lupu reconstructed from drafts Enescu had worked on for almost three decades. From his Sherban Lupu and the Peasant Virtuosos of Romania we get the first 16 of 31 tracks. Each piece is preceeded by a brief discussion with Lupu.

Sherban Lupu will perform in a Twin Cities Concert Association concert with Nevada County pianist Aileen James at 2 PM on Sunday 15 February at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 12889 Osborne Hill Road in Grass Valley. The concert will feature works by Brahms, Dvorak, Enescu and Bartok.

To hear this program, click here or go to the Classical Edge page at kvmr.org.

Sunday 1 February 2009: Music in the Mountains Highlights 2008

Eric Tomb talks with Maestro Paul Perry about the highlights of his final season as Artistic Director and Conductor of Music in the Mountains. The pieces played include Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, the third movement of Haydn's Cello Concerto #1, featuring cellist Kristina Cooper, the second movement of Barber's Violin Concerto, featiuring MIM's concertmaster Robin Mayforth, and Beethoven's Symphony #7.

To hear this program, click here or go to the Classical Edge page at kvmr.org.`

Sunday 25 January 2009: Messiaen for Beginners Part 2

Eric Tomb continues his self-education in the music of Olivier Messiaen. In the first half of the program he plays the Turangalila Symphony, featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer, pianist Roger Muraro and ondes martenot player Jacques Tchamkerten.

In the second half of the program he presents Messaien's last work Eclairs sur l'au dela (Illuminations of the Beyond) performed by the Orchestre de l'Opera Bastille conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.

To hear the first half of this program, click here.

To hear the second half, click here.

To see more options, click here.

You can also get the entire program at the Classical Edge page at kvmr.org.

Sunday 18 January 2009: Messiaen for Beginners Part 1

Eric Tomb introduces the music of of Olivier Messiaen, whom he is just beginning to appreciate. In the first half of the program he presents the American organist Jon Gillock performing Messiaen's two major organ works from the 1930s, Diptyque (1930) and Les Corps Glorieux (1939) on the grand organ of the Church of La Sainte-Trinite, where Messiaen was organist from 1931 until his death in 1992.

In second half of the program he presents Messiaen's most famous work Quartet for the End of Time, which was first performed in a German prisoner of war camp in 1941. It's performed by Gil Shaham, piano; Paul Meyer, clarinet; Jian Wang, cello; and Myung-Whun Chung, piano.

To hear the first half of this program click here.

To hear the second half, click here.

To see more options, click here.

You can also get the entire program at the Classical Edge page at kvmr.org.

Sunday 11 January 2009: Gold Country Piano Institute's Gala Concert

Eric Tomb introduces a complete recording of the Gold Country Piano Institute's Gala Concert, which took place on 22 June 2008 at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City. The concert featured the young Polish pianist Marta Kucbora performing J S Bach's English Suite #2 in A minor; Fryderyc Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op 60; Isolde's Liebestod from Act III of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (arranged by Franz Liszt); and Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata #8, Op 84.

To hear this program, go to the Classical Edge page at kvmr.org.