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.

This week's Vivace: Melody and Enchantment

One of the least-known 19th Century British composers must be Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen (right), who was born Hyman Cohen in Kingston, Jamaica.  We'll hear a symphony by him during the first hour of Vivace this Friday.

At 7 am, we have a delightful trio for guitar by Francois de Fossa, whose music was heard recently on Melodiya.  At 7:30, we have a Violin Sonata by Franz Xaver Mozart and then some tranquil music to keep you calm in a busy morning.

After 8 am, we have a harp sonata by Rosetti and then we head over to France.

We will have a birthday celebration for Cecile Chaminade and then we stay in France for music of François-Adrien Boieldieu. 

Cécile Chaminade and François-Adrien Boieldieu

We'll end by heading south to Spain for a delightful work by Joaquín Rodrigo, the 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez. 

The focus is on melody and enchantment this week on Vivace.  As ever, I hope you'll join me, 6-9 am, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Another vivacious double-dose!

Once again this week, I'll have the joy of presenting Classical Cafe, serving up some delicious music to start your Thursday on just the right note.

The first hour features a well-known work, which is not, perhaps, aired quite so often, the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Beethoven: we have a sparkling version from the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg.

 

Haydn and Kozeluch

At 7 am, we'll have an oboe concerto that wasn't written by Joseph Haydn, though many people think it was. It was, in fact, the work of Johann Antonin Kozeluch.

We'll also enjoy a Piano Trio by Josef Rheinberger.

After 8 o'clock, we'll hear a musical parody by Dmitri Shostakovich all about the challenging housing conditions in the Soviet Union of the 1950s in the Cheryomushki Suite, and we'll end with the Concertone, which means big concert or concerto by Mozart.

There are plenty of delicious treats in store in the Classical Cafe, this Thursday morning.  I hope you'll join me.

_____________________________________________________________

On Vivace this Friday, the first hour features some peaceful music:  the String Octet by Mendelssohn and a  symphony by Vanhal.

At 7 am, I'd like to introduce you to the music of Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi, a largely-forgotten Italian violinist and composer who was born on August 1, 1755.  We'll hear his delightful Concerto for double bass and orchestra in D-Major.

The Capuzzi concerto and Mr. Albrechtsberger

After that, we have another equally delightful work: the Partita in C-Major for harp, flute and cello by Johann-Georg Albrechtsberger, who was a classmate of Michael Haydn, and taught music theory to Johann Hummel, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Xaver Mozart. 

Austrian composer and organist Hans Rott also has a birthday this Friday and of course, we'll celebrate it, with his Pastoral Prelude in F Major.  We'll round out the hour with music of Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel.

The great horn player, Hermann Baumann (right), celebrates his 80th birthday this Friday.  Before the champagne is opened, he will join us to play the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 2.

And we'll end with one of those enchanting guitar and piano duos by Ferdinando Carulli.

I hope you'll join me Thursday and Friday mornings, 6-9 am, to start your days with that touch of je ne sais quoi, 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.

The Rare and the Familiar

When you start your Friday with Vivace, as we hope you always do, it sometimes means hearing music by rarely-heard composers, and that will certainly be true this week.  We'll start with a symphony by Carl Loewe and a flute quintet by Andreas Romberg. At 7 o'clock, we have a delightful harpsichord concerto by Simon Mayr and a piano fantasy by Franz Schubert ... 

 

... and we'll find out if you know which famous composer wrote the music for the US Marine Corps hymn as we celebrate the 216th anniversary of the US Marine Band, which was established by an act of Congress on July 11, 1798.

After 8 o'clock, we'll have music of Hummel and Mozart and we'll celebrate the 153rd birthday of Russian composer Anton Arensky.

Anton Arensky

As ever, I hope you'll join me for 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!

Vivace: Where unknowns mingle with megastars!

On this week's Vivace, we have the normal abnormalities.

At 7 am, we'll have a half-hour of musical megastars: a marvelous Mozart sonata for violin and piano performed by the great Isaac Stern and Yefim Bronfman, followed by a Beethoven work with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman and Lynn Harrell.

Just before 8 am, we'll celebrate the 155th birthday of this good lady, Mildred Hill, a Victorian-era spinster who was a Sunday-school teacher, church organist and pianist.  She didn't have a dazzling career, and she didn't write anything particularly noteworthy or memorable ... except for one short song.

At 8 o'clock, we have a dazzlingly unique version of a well-known favorite, cooked up by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet,

... and we'll round out the show with a Hoffmeister Clarinet Quartet and a sonata by Mendelssohn.

A cheerful start to your Friday is guaranteed, so, as ever, I hope you'll join me for Vivace, this Friday, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.  I look forward to the pleasure of your company.

This week's Vivace: Not just for humans!

This Friday, Vivace will open with two long works:  Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Beethoven, and the Serenade No. 1 by Mozart. 

At 7 am, we will celebrate the birthday of the German-Swedish composer, Joseph Martin Kraus, with his viola concerto.

At about 7:30 am, we have a special treat for your four-legged furry friends:  It's National Take Your Dog to Work Day, and we'll have almost half an hour of calming music specially designed to please those of a canine or feline persuasion.

Dioji will join me in the studio

After 8 am, we'll celebrate another birthday, that of Jacques Offenbach with a surprising work, one of his Suites for Two Cellos, and we'll end with a rarely-heard piano concerto composed by Beethoven when he was only 13.

Beethoven at about 13 years old

As ever, I hope you (and your four-legged companion) will join me for Vivace, 6-9 am on Friday morning, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Running the European Gamut ... and saluting while we're at it!

This Friday on Vivace, we'll really "run the gamut" of European music, (as it has been said - Book of R. Graves, Chapters 1-1050).

In the first two hours, we'll start with a long work by Mozart, and move on to music by Czech composer Václav Pichl, French composer Francois Devienne (his delightful Bassoon Concerto No.1), Italian composer Ferdinando Carulli, Johann Christian Bach (the London Bach), Austrian composer Ignaz Holzbauer and Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.

After 8 o'clock, we'll celebrate some birthdays including those of the US Army, the Flag of the United States and the Austrian composer, Anton Eberl, who was a student of Mozart.

As ever, I hope you'll allow me to keep you company as you go about your preparations for the day, for Vivace, this Friday, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

The D-Day 70th Anniversary Special

On Vivace this week, we have some musical birthdays to celebrate: Siegfried Wagner, Aram Khachaturian and Ignaz Pleyel.   

However, the main focus of the show will be to mark the 70th anniversary of a date that everyone knows: June 6, 1944.

It was on that morning that Allied forces crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, in northern France to liberate Western Europe from the occupation of Nazi Germany. 

 

On the first day, 176,000 troops, including 73,000 Americans, arrived by landing craft and ships as well as nearly 14,000 aircraft. The Allied forces were able to secure Northern France within 3 months, despite considerable resistance by Nazi forces. It proved to be the turning point in World War Two.

Early on Friday morning, exactly 70 years after that momentous morning, many world leaders, including Britain's Queen Elizabeth, 28 European Heads of Government and the presidents of Russia and the United States will gather in Normandy to remember and pay homage to those who died. The American commemoration will be a concert, which we will reproduce for you in its entirety starting at 7 am. 

This is sure to be compelling listening. As ever, I hope you'll join me for this special D-Day edition of Vivace here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

A gentle end to May

This week's Vivace begins with one of the real classics, the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor by Chopin, composed in 1830 and first performed in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland.

At 7 am, we'll enjoy one of those fine oboe concertos of Antonio Rosetti, after which we have an all-star quartet for a Mozart Quartet for flute and strings. 

At 8 o'clock, we'll have an enjoyable, dramatic work by French baroque composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and to conclude the program, a very rarely heard piano work by the Russian conductor, Evgeny Svetlanov.

As ever, I hope you'll join me Friday morning, 6-9 am, for Vivace, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Rarely-heard music, Evgeny Sudbin ... and HM The Queen!

Have you ever heard of Joseph Jongen? No, neither had we, but our first hour will feature his Piano Quartet Op.23 on this week's Vivace. 

At 7 o'clock, we have a well-known trio by Mozart to enchant you.  Then, after selections by Lumbye and Ponchielli, we'll feature a work by CPE Bach played on a rarely-heard instrument, the tangent piano. And just before 8 o'clock, we have a super-special royal birthday to celebrate.

During the 8 o'clock hour, we'll start a few days of celebration to mark the visit to Charlottesville next week of the great Russian-born pianist, Yevgeny Sudbin, whose concert on Tuesday, April 29 at the University of Virginia will be the season finale for the Tuesday Evening Concert Series. He will join us on Vivace to play one of Beethoven's great piano concertos.

As ever, I hope you'll join us for Vivace, three hours of entertaining and interesting music, this Friday, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

PS.  If you also tune in Sunday morning at about 8 am, Mr. Sudbin will be interviewed by Deborah Murray on Classical Sunrise.  In fact, why not start your Sunday on a gentle note by tuning in from 6-9 am.

A joyful, tuneful way to start your Friday

This week's Vivace begins with another in our occasional series of rarely-heard symphonies by Sir Hubert Parry: the Symphony No. 3 in C-Major, "The English" symphony. 

After 7 o'clock, we'll hear one of those fine flute concertos by Antonio Rosetti, and a Mozart horn concerto - some delightfully tuneful melodies. 

In the 8 o'clock hour, we have a rarely-heard Trumpet and Oboe Concerto by Johann Hertel, as well as music by Salieri and Sarasate, and an unusual arrangement of a well-loved favorite by Johann Sebastian Bach. 

As ever, I look forward to the pleasure of your company on Vivace, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

You can also replay the program anytime from the WTJU archives. This program will be available for replay through 4/11/14.

Celebrating JS Bach and three other musical birthdays!

On March 21st, 1685, Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the musicians of Eisenach in Germany, and his wife, Maria Elisabeth, welcomed their eighth child, Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Less than a month earlier, Georg Frederic Handel had been born less than 100 miles away.  The two boys grew up to be the guiding musical lights of the Baroque period.   We'll celebrate Bach's birthday in fine style this week on Vivace.

There are also three other remarkable anniversaries:  the debut of the Great Symphony No.9 in C-Major, by Schubert, a performance of which will fill our first hour;  the first performance of the String Quartet No. 13 in B Flat Major, by Beethoven, which we'll hear after 8 o'clock, and the 75th anniversary of one of the most famous songs of the modern era.  We'll also have a piano concerto by Puccini, but not the Puccini you know.

As ever, I hope you'll join me for a show full of entertainment and surprises.  That's Vivace, this Friday, March 21, 6-9 am right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Vivace! A compilation of celebrations and cheerful classical choices!

The first performance of the String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, the Rosamunde Quartet, D 804 by Franz Schubert took place on March 14, 1824. On the 190th anniversary of that debut, we'll start this week's Vivace with a sparkling performance of it.

Just after 7 am, we'll hear some music of Ernst Eichner, a rarely heard 18th Century German composer.  We will celebrate the birthdays of two famous composers: Georg Telemann and Johann Strauss 1 ...

... and as mathematicians and scientists celebrate National Pi Day, we'll have some special music for them at 8 o'clock.  Don't forget to eat some pie as you listen!

At about 8:30 am, we'll have a special treat for Gilbert & Sullivan fans as we celebrate the anniversary of The Mikado's first performance in London.

As ever, I look forward to the pleasure of your company this Friday for another fun-filled edition of Vivace, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Raise a glass as you tune in this Friday!

We often celebrate musical birthdays and anniversaries, but I don't recall ever doing an entire show before in which every single work has significance in that regard.  This Friday, that's exactly what we have on Vivace.

We'll celebrate some major birthdays this week.  The first hour will be taken up with an entire performance of the ballet Daphnis and Chloe, as we celebrate the birthday of French composer Maurice Ravel, and later, we'll hear a short work performed by the composer himself.  We'll also celebrate the anniversary of the first performance of The Nutcracker Suite, with an unusual arrangement for classical guitar. 

At about 7:30 am, we'll begin a major celebration to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of CPE Bach.

Just after 8 o'clock, we will reach out to the people of Ukraine with some special music, and in the final hour we'll also raise a glass to Dame Kiri te Kanawa, who celebrates her 70th birthday this week.

Party hats and champagne are not required, but are always useful to have on hand as you enjoy a sparkling, celebratory edition of Vivace this Friday, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.  I look forward to the pleasure of your company.