March 2000

March 5 - March 12 -  March 19 - March 26

Bridge Ensemble
March 5, 2000
Sounds of Silence
Seattle is a lacework of bridges, and this week on Saint Paul Sunday Bill McGlaughlin welcomes a Seattle-based piano quartet who are as devoted to linking diverse kinds of music as their home city is to connecting islands. The acclaimed Bridge Ensemble will bring us music from one of Johannes Brahms's most hauntingly beautiful chamber works, his Piano Quartet in A Major, Opus 26. Then we'll hear two works by Giya Kancheli, whom Time magazine dubbed the most significant Russian composer since Shostakovich. Giya Kancheli has often collaborated with the Bridge Ensemble, and the group will perform a work both composed for and dedicated to them. Throughout this unusual program, McGlaughlin and the ensemble note the resonances shared by both the newer and older works.

Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 26, No. 2
    II. Poco Adagio
    III. Finale: Allegro
Giya Kancheli: Piano Quartet in L'istesso Tempo (excerpt)
Giya Kancheli: "Instead of a Tango"
Arkadi Serper: Why Not?

More about this week's program - Musician Discography

Altramar
March 12, 2000
Celtic Saga and Song
Few of us realize just what vital importance the medieval Celtic world held for the ongoing legacy of Western culture and civilization. The monks, scholars, and clergy of this otherwise obscure time and place encompassed the sacred world of chant; the secular world of magic, mortals, and epic song; and a rich tradition of singing and learning. For the most part, the Celts recorded their "laughing, weeping, and sleeping" music in memories, not manuscripts, but the vibrant oral tradition of the medieval Celts comes alive as Altramar weaves together the diverse threads of voices and instruments;story and song-pagan; and Christian, cleric, and bard.

May Song
Cristo canamus gloriam
A vous amours ains c'a nului
The Lay of the Forge
Columba, insignis signifer
Stantipe Smarmore

More about Altramar and Celtic instruments - Musician Discography

Leif Ove Andsnes
March 19, 2000
Peak of Perfection
Listen
A quick glance at reviews for Leif Ove Andsnes might lend the momentary impression that he's an Olympic skier. One critic lauds his "steely nerves," and yet another places him "at the top of the tree, even in his hazardous profession." Then, too, Andsnes is from Norway, where skiing is second only to walking. But as Saint Paul Sunday listeners will discover this week, the heights Andsnes masters with such breathtaking command aren't snow-capped peaks - they're pinnacles of Western music. A regular soloist with the world's major orchestras, in 1998 Andsnes earned a coveted piano "genius grant," the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Artist Award. On Saint Paul Sunday he'll play a Brahms intermezzo, Debussy's Estampes ("Engravings"), and an Italian excerpt from Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage cycle.

Claude-Achille Debussy: Estampes
Franz Liszt: Deuxième année: Italie
Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in B flat major, Op. 117, No. 2

More about this week's program - Musician Discography

Jacques Thibaud String Trio
March 26, 2000
Lasting Influence
Listen
The great French violinist Jacques Thibaud, born in 1880, was revered as a soloist and as a devoted chamber music partner. Many illustrious musicians found their way to his Paris apartment to play with him, and his influential artistry still animates generations of performers. This week on Saint Paul Sunday, Bill McGlaughlin welcomes a young Berlin-based ensemble who have embraced both Thibaud's mastery and his legendary name. The Jacques Thibaud String Trio will perform the inspiring andante movement from Mozart's Divertimento in E Flat Major, two movements - a march and a rondo - from Ernö Dohnányi's evocative Serenade in C Major, and Ludwig van Beethoven's expansive third Opus 9 String Trio in C minor. Don't miss these rising young stars.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento in E flat major, K.563-
IV. Andante
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio Op.9, No. 3 in c minor
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Adagio con espressione
III. Scherzo: Allegro molte e vivace
IV. Finale: Presto
Ernö Dohnányi: Serenade in C Major for String Trio, Opus 10
I. Marcia
II. Rondo (Finale)

More about this week's program

Audio from previous shows is archived in the program catalog. Go to the catalog to listen to previous shows.

Broadcast Stations