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May 2005 Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Mixed Company Web log:
"Integrated Pianist" Bill McGlaughlin, April 27, 2005 Post a comment (7) | read more Web log posts Even thinking back over the tremendous artists who have appeared on Saint Paul Sunday over the years, it's hard to come up with a partner who's more fun to make radio with than Leif Ove Andsnes, who brings a rare combination of high intelligence, lovely sense of humor, wisdom far beyond what you might expect in such a young artist and a fabulous willingness to dive into the radio experience. For Leif Ove, this radio program is not simply a performance, but a conversation, an exposition, an exchange of ideas. He offers his own experience of learning and performing the music, adds depth to whatever I might bring up and is only to happy to play a phrase at the piano to make what we've been talking about more clear. Further, I ought to mention that Leif Ove is also one of the best pianists on the planet. Listen to his performance of the Schumann, a tortured genius who continually struggled with what we would now call a bi-polar condition. Schumann even named the two principal sides of his personality — Florestan, the extrovert and Eusebius, the sensitive poet. Faschingschwank aus Wien presents these two personalities side by side, again and again, sometimes uncomfortably close. The great virtue of Leif Ove's reading is that he brings out fully the depth of these contrasts while somehow managing to hold the structure together. This is not only exciting and satisfying, it's also high art, courtesy of this sensible and warm-hearted young pianist from Norway. Program For more information on Leif Ove Andsnes visit Public Radio MusicSource Charles Wadsworth and Friends Links
Historic Charleston, South Carolina is a beguiling maze of alleys and churchyards, and if you're lucky enough to find yourself meandering through it on an early summer evening, you might also hear some of the best chamber music playing in the world through open windows... This week, Saint Paul Sunday welcomes Charles Wadsworth, founder of Charleston's renowned Spoleto Chamber Music Festival, who brings along with him four of the younger artists who make the event so special year after year. Violinist Chee-Yun, clarinetist Todd Palmer, cellist Andrés Díaz, and pianist Wendy Chen join Charles for in various combinations for music of Dvořák, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and another Spoleto regular (and Saint Paul Sunday guest), Stephen Prutsman. It's more than enough to whet your appetite until you can make the pilgrimage to Charleston yourself. Antonín Dvořák: Waldesruhe, Op.68, No. 5
Returning years later with friends, I found that each summer Charleston hosts its perfect soul mate—the Spoleto Festival—which among many other things keeps the historic wooden Dock Street Theater humming with superb chamber music performances. This week, Charles Wadsworth, founding granddaddy of Spoleto’s Chamber Music Festival-within-a-Festival, brings several young friends along for a taste of those occasions. Charles, often in seersucker, announces music from the stage, sometimes joining in himself. He does the same here this week with Chee-Yun, Todd Palmer, Andrés Díaz, and Wendy Chen. When we recorded them, their affection for each other was obvious, and I felt, as maybe you will, that this was the perfect way to hear Dvořák and Mendelssohn—with friends, on a Sunday, followed by a stroll or a mint julep in the summer sunshine. Please let us know any Spoleto (or Tanglewood or Santa Fe) memories of your own…
Paul Coletti, viola; Lydia Artymiw, piano
Viola Voilà! Felix Mendelssohn: Viola Sonata in c minor Mixed Company Web log: Even before he began to play that day I sensed something wonderful about this Scotsman of Italian descent. His warmth as a human being shone through right away, and when he spoke and played he was not only passionate about the many artistic and historical facets of his program, he was uniquely vulnerable to the music's emotional currents, which he in turn expressed masterfully. You'll hear what I mean again this Sunday when Paul returns to the studio with another returning friend, the marvelous pianist Lydia Artymiw, who like Paul shares the same sense of engagement with the composers whose music she performs. Nowhere in their program is this truer than in their performance of Schumann's "Scenes of a Fairyland." It comes "straight from a higher power, as I see it," Paul says. "Whatever your belief in things, this is music that comes from deep deep deep inside the soul." Post a comment | read more Web log posts For more information on Paul Coletti and Lydia Artymiw visit Public Radio MusicSource
Takács String Quartet
Nature and Nurture Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in f minor, Op. 95 Mixed Company Web log:
"There's no place like home..." Suzanne Schaffer, May 18, 2005 Post a comment | read more Web log posts For me, one line really stands out about this Saint Paul Sunday program with the Takács Quartet, of which two members are Hungarian: right before playing the piece by Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer, one of the musicians said that the melody really reminds him of home. At that moment, playing a movement from Bartók's String Quartet No. 6, he felt homesick for Hungary. It reminded me what personal meaning a piece of music can carry, even if it's something the composer never imagined. It also reminded me that being a professional musician is not easy. When I tried to think of a piece of music that really reminded me of home, I realized I've never been out of the country long enough to be that homesick. I do remember, though, listening to Ravel's string quartet while I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed the woodwork in my first apartment. What piece of music, or even type of music, reminds you of home? For more information on Takács String Quartet visit Public Radio MusicSource Milan Turkovic, bassoon; David Shifrin, clarinet; Shai Wosner, piano
Trio Bel Canto Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 11
As time when on and I kept spotting Milan's name on recordings (especially those of Musicus Concentus Wien, under Harnoncourt), I resolved to make the acquaintance of this demon bassoon player. He was touring with Ensemble Wien-Berlin, the superstar wind quintet made of soloists from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics but we never seemed able to make the dates work. Finally I just asked Milan's manager if he would consider coming to Eugene, Oregon to play with the orchestra I was leading there. He would, it turned out and delighted us all with his Vivaldi and Mozart and extraordinarily deft coaching and lovely story telling. Here was the complete package it seemed. I had to leave Eugene on the morning after the concert but left my car keys and directions to Hobbit Beach, a favorite secluded spot on the coast. When I got back from L.A., there were my car keys and a snapshot of the beach signed "Viele Danken, Milan." We've been friends ever since and it has been a special pleasure to invite Milan Turkovic to play on Saint Paul Sunday. Post a comment | read more Web log posts More about: For more information on Milan Turkovic, David Shifrin, and Shai Wosner visit Public Radio MusicSource Audio from previous shows is archived in the program catalog. Go to the catalog to listen to previous shows. |
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