The Vivace Christmas Special

This Friday, we'll broadcast the Vivace Christmas Show, a mixture of classical and Christmas music. 

We start with the Czech Christmas Eve Mass by Jan Ryba, a perennial favorite, followed by some piano music by Beethoven.

We'll devote the first part of the 7 o'clock hour to Suites 3 and 4 of The Many Moods of Christmas, the seminal 1963 work by Robert Russell Bennett. We have the 1983 recording by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.  

After concertos by Albinoni and Vivaldi, we have the brand-new best-selling recording of Angels from the Realms of Glory by cellist Steven Sharp Nelson and The Piano Guys.

There's more Christmas music in the 8 o'clock hour, culminating, as usual with selections from Messiah by Handel.  

You're most welcome to sing along, but above all, I hope you'll join me here on WTJU-Charlottesville for Christmas Vivace, Friday morning, 6-9 am.  And finally, let me wish you and all those you love a peaceful, joyful Christmas and a very happy new year.

The Berlin Wall falls - and a celebration of Dame Joan too!

This Friday, Vivace begins with a delightful piano quartet by Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia and a symphony by Antonio Rosetti. 

At 7:30 am, we'll do our part to mark the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurs next Sunday, including an excerpt from a rare recording of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich playing at the Berlin Wall as it was being hacked down.  (Incidentally, do join my colleague, John Delehanty who will also mark the occasion on Sunday morning 6-9 am)

Just after 8 am, we have another treat for you: a special feature on the great opera singer, Dame Joan Sutherland on the 88th anniversary of her birth. 

Of course, we'll hear Dame Joan singing for us, and my colleague, Tim Snider, host of the Sunday Opera Matinee, will also offer some insights into her magic. 

As ever, I hope you'll join me for an extra-special edition of Vivace, this Friday, 6-9 am, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

October 31st: It's not just Halloween!

This Friday, there are three special days in one and we'll celebrate them all on Vivace.

Of course, it's Halloween, and we'll enjoy the Symphonie Fantastique in the first hour.  After that, we'll focus on the other two special days: All Saints' Eve and Reformation Day.

At about 7:15 am, we'll hear the beautiful Requiem Mass by Gabriel Faure, as we prepare to remember those who have gone before us.

And after 8 o'clock, we have two special works for Reformation Day.  First, we'll hear the Bach Cantata, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, based on the original hymn by Martin Luther, and we'll end with The Reformation Symphony by Mendelssohn.

I hope it will be a spectacular morning of music, something a little different for October 31st - just what you've come to expect from WTJU!  As ever I look forward to the pleasure of your company for Vivace, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

A Morning of Marvelous Musical Treats!

This Friday on Vivace, we have some special musical treats for you. 

We start gently at 6 am with a Sonata for Flute and Piano by Danish composer Friedrich Kuhlau and, for viola fans, a viola concerto by Carl Stamitz. We will also salute British composer Herbert Howells on his 122nd birthday - appropriately with his arrangement of Psalm 122.

Herbert Howells and Domenico Zipoli

At 7, we find Franz Schubert in lively mood as we listen to his Five German Dances, and we'll also have a short work by Domenico Zipoli, whose 326th birthday will be on Friday.

      Felix Mendelssohn at 22

On October 17, 1831, the 22 year-old Felix Mendelssohn gave the first performance of his Piano Concerto No. 1 in G, Op. 25 in In Munich. To commemorate the occasion we'll hear it at about 7:30 am, in a sparkling performance by Sir Andras Schiff, who returned to the same hall in Munich to perform it with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

The real star of this week's show may well turn out to be the Cello Concerto No.6 by Jean Balthasar Tricklir, which we'll hear just after 8 am. We're anticipating a good audience reaction, so here's a photo of the CD cover, just in case you want to buy it.

We'll round out the show with music of Hummel and Mozart. As ever, I hope you'll join me for Vivace, 6-9 am Friday, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Your usual Friday fun ... on Thursday as well!

If you will honor us with your company on WTJU-91.1 FM, this week and next week, you'll have to put up with me for two morning shows.

Thursday Morning

On Thursday, I'll be hosting Classical Cafe, and to celebrate the birthday of French composer, Adolphe Adam, the first hour will be filled with ballet music: two suites from Giselle.

A short sample of the music you'll be hearing!

After 7 am, we'll hear a Boccherini Symphony and a Bassoon Concerto by Johann Christian Bach, and we'll mark the birthday of the inventive 20th Century Canadian/British composer, Robert Farnon.

Our third birthday of the morning is that of Swiss composer, Ernest Bloch:  we'll listen to his Jewish Poem No. 1, Dancing just after 8 am.  A Quartet by Devienne and a Quintet by Mozart will bring Classical Cafe to a delicious and satisfying conclusion.

 Friday Morning

If you'd like to come back for more vivacious music on Friday, Vivace will feature a flute and clarinet work by Franz Danzi and a harp concerto by the rarely-heard English composer, Elias Parish Alvars, whom Hector Berlioz called "the Franz Liszt of the harp".

At 7 am, we have some delightful music for lute by Haydn, a waltz by Carl Ziehrer and an oboe concerto by Franz Krommer.

After 8 am, we'll hear a concerto by Albinoni and music from two of the Mozart family, a Serenade by Wolfgang and a piano concerto by his son, Franz Xaver Mozart.

Wolfgang ....and Franz Xaver Mozart

I hope you'll join us as you start your day.   I look forward to the pleasure of your company, on Thursday and Friday mornings, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

This week's Vivace: An unusual pot-pourri

This week's Vivace will contain a really unusual pot-pourri.  In the first hour, we'll begin gently with a Sonata for Flute and Piano by Danish composer, Friedrich Kuhlau, followed by the last in our occasional series of the five symphonies of Sir Hubert Parry.

At 7 o'clock, we'll feature the symphony that inspired Samuel Smith to write the lyrics to "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in 1831: the Great National Symphony by Muzio Clementi. 

We'll celebrate the birthday of French composer, Marie Auguste Durand, and just before 8 o'clock, we have a very rare recording of the final work of Claude Debussy, a short piano piece he wrote to thank his coal supplier for keeping his house warm during his final illness, a work that was lost until discovered in a trunk in Paris in 2001.

At 8 o'clock, we'll celebrate the birthday of Czech composer Julius Fucik.

Then, we'll have a short tribute to the great conductor, Lorin Maazel, who passed away earlier this week, featuring two of his own compositions.  And finally, we'll hear one of Mozart's early piano concertos, No 9, which he wrote when he was 19.

Lorin Maazel                              Mozart at 19

As ever, I hope you'll join me for what promises to be a busy and, I hope, interesting edition of Vivace, Friday morning, 6-9 am, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Stars and Stripes Forever! Independence from Boring Music!

You know what this Friday is, don't you? Yes of course you do.

While some unfortunate, inward-looking souls in my former home country may prefer to celebrate "Getting Rid of the Troublesome Colonies Day", on Vivace, we know how to give you the best start to your Independence Day! So naturally, we'll have a very special program for the occasion. Of course, we'll feature great American music.

After 7 am, we'll have a work about America that we're pretty sure you've never heard before, a couple of songs from 1776 written by two of the Founding Fathers, and an 1816 version of the National Anthem. You may be surprised by how different it sounds.

 

We'll also celebrate the birthday of the great American songwriter, Stephen Foster, born on July 4th, 1826.

At 8 o'clock, we'll tell you the story of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and we'll hear some unusual arrangements of familiar classics.

All in all, we'll prepare you for our live broadcast from Monticello at 9 am and we'll try to start your Independence Day as you probably hope to end it: with a musical bang!

You don't have to wear your red, white and blue, but if you would like to do that, please feel free!

Whatever you're wearing, as ever, I hope you'll join me for a sparkling, all-American edition of Vivace, 6-9 am this Friday.

Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue!