August 2000
August 6 - August 13 - August 20 - August 27

Paris Piano Trio
August 6, 2000
Les Musiciens
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In chamber music, three is not a crowd. The piano trio demands the keenest balance of its elements; both individuality and unity must be given their due. Join Bill McGlaughlin this week on Saint Paul Sunday as he welcomes an ensemble in whom the rigors of trio performance find a perfect match.

The Paris Piano Trio began performing together as teenagers at the Paris Conservatory and have remained true to that collaborative spirit in the decades since, in addition to celebrated solo careers. This Sunday, they'll play works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ernst Chausson, and Maurice Ravel.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio in G major, Op. 1, No. 2 -
     IV. Finale: Presto
Ernest Chausson: Trio in g minor, Op. 3-III. Assez lent
Maurice Ravel: Trio in a minor

Musician discography - More about this week's program

Anonymous 4
August 13, 2000
Honoring Ursula
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Talk about cult followings! This week the female vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 will sing bring the music of Hildegard of Bingen to Saint Paul Sunday. Both the singers and the composer, a medieval abbess, have won fervent popularity in recent years. Hildegard's visionary contributions to medicine, natural history, and theology have a timeless reach. Anonymous 4 will perform the festal chants she composed to honor Ursula, a fifth-century saint who, along with the 11,000 women she inspired, chose martyrdom over forced pagan marriage.

This week's program places the ecstatic works Hildegard composed for Ursula's feast day in their original liturgical setting so that modern listeners can, in the words of Anonymous 4's Susan Hellauer, "experience the powerful impression they made on their first hearers, both as evocations of the holy events they commemorate, and as pure works of art." Anonymous 4 animates these ancient musical prayers with virtuosity and excitement.

Ahrweil Antiphoner (13th c.): Hymn: Jesu corona virginum
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179): Responsory: Spiritui sancto
Engelberg 314 (14th c.): Benedicamus domino
Hildegard von Bingen: Antiphon: Studium divinitatis
Antiphoner: Psalm 92: Dominus regnavit/Studium divinitatis
Hildegard von Bingen: Hymn: O Ecclesia
Engelberg 314: Benedicamus domino
Hildegard von Bingen: Hymn: Cum vox sanguinis
Hildegard von Bingen: Antiphon: O rubor sanguinis
Antiphoner: Canticle: Magnificat anima mea

Read more about Hildegard von Bingen - Musician Web site - Musician Discography

Škampa String Quartet
August 20, 2000
Slavic Soul
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Czech music reveals a remarkable facet of the Slavic soul: the capacity to shift in a moment from the whimsical to the profound. Bill McGlaughlin's guests this week on Saint Paul Sunday convey this spirit with brilliance and authenticity. The Škampa String Quartet will perform Leóš Janácek's second quartet ("Intimate Letters"), Mozart's Adagio and fugue in c minor, and a Moravian folk tune that shares a surprising resonance with our own Appalachian styles.

Read more about this week's program - Musician Web site - Musician Discography

Garrick Ohlsson, piano
August 27, 2000
Piano Challenge
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From its first appearance, the piano has beguiled and challenged the greatest composers. This week on Saint Paul Sunday, Bill McGlaughlin welcomes a pianist for whom no challenge seems too great. Garrick Ohlsson will perform an unusual Handel suite, rondos by Beethoven and Schubert, and a scherzo by Frederic Chopin. Along the way he'll reveal marvelous connections among each.

George Frederic Handel: Suite in F major
Ludwig van Beethoven: Rondo, Allegretto from Sonata in G major, Op. 31,
    No. 1
Franz Schubert: Rondo, Allegretto from Sonata in A major, D. 959
Frederic Chopin: Scherzo No. 3 in c# minor, Op. 39

Read more about this week's program - Musician Web site - Musician Discography

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

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