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WWUH Classical Programming
December 2024
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera… Sundays 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Evening Classics… Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 8:00 pm
Drake’s Village Brass Band… Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 pm
Sunday 1st
Beethoven, Fidelio
Monday 2d
Host's Choice
Tuesday 3d
Maurice Sharp – Music for a Golden Flute; Gershwin: Lady Be Good
Drake’s Village Brass Band Alison Balsom Trumpet – Baroque Concertos
Wednesday 4th
John Cook: Paean on “Divinum Mysterium”; Herbert Howells: A Spotless Rose; Tomas Luis de Victoria: Missa: O magnum mysterium (entire work);
Nico Muhly: Bright Star; Carol John Gardner: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day; Traditional (arr. Willcocks): Gabriel’s Message; Hugo Distler: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (entire work); Gustav Holst: This Have I Done for My True Love; Martin Luther (arr. Praetorius): Vom Himmel hoch;
Ottorino Respighi: Lauda per la nativita del Signore; Conrad Susa: Carols and Lullabies (entire work)
Thursday 5th
Novak: South Bohemian Suite Op. 32, Piano Works; Geminiani: Concerto Grosso after Corelli No. 12 in d minor 'La Folia'; Golijov: Omaramor; Schubert: Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, D. 485; Keiser: Ouverture a 4 in D Major.
Friday 6th
Remembering Dave Brubeck
Sunday 8th
Donizetti, Gemma di Vergy
Monday 9th
Hosts Choice
Tuesday 10th
Lloyd: Symphony #2; Ruggles: Men and Mountains; Ives: Orchestral Works and Transcriptions; Respighi: Pines of Rome
Drake’s Village Brass Band Royal Danish Brass and Anders Johnson – Music for Brass and Organ
Wednesday 11th
Gaetano Donizetti: Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera: Sinfonia; Adolf von Henselt: Variations on Quand je quittai la Normandie from Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, Op. 11;
Giacomo Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots, Act I: Nobles seigneurs salut - Une dame noble et sage; William Henry Fry: Santa Claus, Christmas Symphony; Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola (Cinderella): Overture; Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola (Cinderella), Act II: Sì, ritrovarla io guiro; Leo Delibes: Delibes: Lakme, Act I: Sous le dome epais, "Flower Duet" (arr. for wind quintet); Jules Massenet: Manon, Act II: Instant charmant (arr. for wind quintet); Franz Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum, S186/R71 (arr. G. Jacob and P. Lane as Christmas Tree Suite for orchestra) (excerpts); Ottorino Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque Suite, P. 120a (after Rossini) (arr. M. Sargent for orchestra); William Vincent Wallace: Fantaisie de salon sur l'opera Lucia di Lammermoor; J.S Bach – Charles Gounod: Ave Maria; (Holiday Music – Instrumental); Julius Chajes: The Chassid (Prayer); (Holiday Music – Instrumental) Louis Lewandowski: Haunerot Hallalu; (Holiday Music – Instrumental); J.S. Bach: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; (Holiday Music – Instrumental); Giuseppe Verdi: Notturno; Franz Liszt: Annees de pelerinage, 2nd year, Italy supplement, S162/R10: Venezia e Napoli: No. 1. Gondoliera (Gondolier's Song); Otto Nicolai: Die Heimkehr des Verbannten: Overture; (Evening Concert – Early Start); Camille Saint-Saens: Morceau de concert in G Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 62; Johannes Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1 (version for orchestra), Nos. 17 – 21 (orch. Antonin Dvorak); Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve Suite; Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlo, Act III: Ballo della regina, "La Peregrina"
Thursday 12th
Schulz-Evler: Arabesques on themes from 'The Beautiful Blue Danube'; Atterberg: Suite No. 3; Canning: Fantasy on a Hymn by Justin Morgan; Douglas: Cantilena; Dittersdorf Symphony No. 2 in D Major 'The Fall of Phaeton'; Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, K. 466.
Friday 13th
Today’s a holiday: National Violin Day is celebrated, recognizing the instrument's significant contributions to music and culture.
Sunday 15th
Humperdinck, Dornroschen
Monday 16th
Host's Choice
Tuesday 17th
De Hartmann: Cello Concerto; Copland: El Salon Mexico, Dance Panels
Drake’s Village Brass Band American Brass Quintet - Fyre and Lightning Consort Music of 1600
Wednesday 18th
William Mathias: Sir Christemas; Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata BWV 1: Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern (entire work); Felix Mendelssohn: Da Jesus geboren ward; Gerald Finzi: Christmas Scene; Gustav Holst: Christmas Day; Stephen Paulus: Jesu Carols (entire work); Traditional (arr. Cleobury): Joys Seven; Henryk Gorecki: Totus Tuus; Felix Mendelssohn (arr. Willcox): Hark! The Herald Angles Sing!; Ralph Vaughn Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols; Camille Saint-Saens: Oratorio de Noel (entire work)
Thursday 19th
Giordani: Sonata for Keyboard and Violin No. 3 in G Major; Bristow: Symphony in f-sharp minor, Op. 26; Clerambault: Trio Sonata in G Major "La felicite”; Braunfels: Divertimento for Radio Orchestra; Olsson: Introduction and Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra Op. 19; Dessau: 10 Kinderstucke.
Friday 20th
Winter comes tomorrow at 4:19 am EST.
Sunday 22d
Handel, Messiah (1742 Dublin version)
Monday 23d
Host's Choice
Tuesday 24th
Hanson: Dies Natalis; Bach Magnificat; Bach/Walton: The Wise Virgins Suite; Hovhaness: Symphony #6 “Celestial Gate”
Drake’s Village Brass Band Canadian Brass, Elmer Iseler and the Festival Singers – Joyful Sounds
Wednesday 25th
Host’s choice
Thursday 26th
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 in A Major; Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Op. 108; Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15: Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69; Puccini: Crisantemi; Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a.
Friday 27th
Another holiday this month: Today we celebrate Visit the Zoo Day with “Carnival of the Animals” and more.
Sunday 29th
Salieri, Falstaff
Monday 30th
Host's Choice
Tuesday 31st
Philippe Entrement – A La Francaise; Bernstein: Fancy Free; Elman: Edward Scissorhands
Drake’s Village Brass Band The Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago Brass – Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli
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SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
your "lyric theater" program
with Keith Brown
Programming for the month of December 2024
SUNDAY DECEMBER 1ST Beethoven, Fidelio Ludwig Van Beethoven's one and only opera Fidelio ((1814) is well represented in the discography. I have presented several historic recordings of it over the years, notably of the 1961 Covent Garden production, as recorded live in performance on opening night, directed by Otto Klemperer and starring soprano Sena Jurinac and tenor Jon Vickers. It was aired on this program on Testament CD's on Sunday, June 9, 2013. Then there was Karl Bohm's interpretation of Fidelio as produced at the Met in 1960, with the incomparable Birgit Nilsson as Leonore opposite Vickers as Florestan. That historic Fidelio I presented on Sunday, September 25, 2011 on Sony CD's. Klemperer was a renowned interpreter of Beethoven and Fidelio was his special operatic calling card. He directed it whenever he could in opera houses all over the world. There are several Klemperer Fidelio recordings in the discography. One is a studio recording taped in Kingsway Hall,London in 1962 in early stereo sound. Klemperer leads the Philharmonia Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorus. Vickers reprises the role of Florestan, this time opposite another stellar soprano of his time, Christa Ludwig as Leonore/Fidelio. Veteran opera greats bass Gottlob Frick as Rocco and bass/baritone Walter Berry as Don Pizarro fill out the cast. EMI/Angel released this Fidelio on disc several times. The 1994 CD release was picked up in the US by Musical Heritage Society for their own two-CD reissue in 2000. In the mono recording Klemperer inserted the well known Leonore No. 3 overture between acts as a particularly dramatic interlude. In this EMI studio session he sticks to the opera score. I last presented a recording of Fidelio on this program on Sunday, December 11, 2016 (Decca/2010 Lucerne Festival/Claudio Abbado).
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8TH Donizetti, Gemma di Vergy
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) was an amazingly prolific composer of operas in the bel canto style. One of the gems of bel canto,the forty fifth of sixty nine such works he wrote, was Gemma di Vergy, which opened with much success at La Scala in Milan the day after Christmas, 1834. Gemma remained the composer's most popular opera to the very end of the nineteenth century. Then it vanished from the repertoire until 1975, when the diva soprano Monserrat Caballe had it revived, since the title role suited her voice so well. It was recorded for the first time in concert performance at Carnegie Hall, March 16, 1976. The following year CBS Masterworks issued Gemma di Vergy on stereo LP's. I broadcast that LP issue twice on this program previously, first in 1988 and again in 2008 (Eve Queler/Opera Orchestra of New York/Schola Cantorum Chorus). Madame Caballe repeated her portrayal of the tragic heroine in another live performance recorded at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris, April 20, 1976. On that occasion Armando Gatto was directing the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique and Chorus of Radio France. This Paris Gemma appeared in compact disc format in 1995 courtesy of Phoenix Opera. The opera presents a gothic romance set in France in the time of Joan of Arc. Gemma herself is a noblewoman spurned by the knight she loves and served by a murderous Arab lackey who is mad for her. In the Paris Gemma recording tenor Luis Lima is heard as the love-stricken Moorish servant Tamas.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 15TH Humperdinck, Dornroschen People say that the Christmas season is meant for the children: it's their own special joyous time. Fairy tales are said to be stories meant for children, so on this pre-Christmas Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent, I present an operatic fairytale by Engelberty Humperdinck (1854-1921). No, not the famous one, Hansel und Gretel (1890-93). I have broadcast that one twice before in December of 1997 and 2007. There's another one called Konigskinder ("The King's Children") that premiered in New York in 1910. That one I featured way back on Sunday, December 21, 1986 on German EMI Odeon LP's. Released on CD through the German cpo label is the world premiere recording of Humperdinck's Dornroschen ("Sleeping Beauty," 1902). The same musical resources employed for the Konigskinder recording in 1977 are called upon again for "Sleeping Beauty:" the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Bavarian Radio, this time directed by Ulf Schirmer rather than Heinz Wallberg. Dornroschen went over the air on radio Bavaria live in performance on December 14, 2008. The distinguished mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender gets top billing in the cast, even though she doesn't sing. She speaks the role of Daemonia, the Wicked Fairy. (Actually, she puts in a very effective portrayal,) Dornroschen was first presented on this program on Sunday, December 11, 2011. Seasonal music will follow its second presentation this Sunday.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 22ND Handel, Messiah (1742 Dublin version) Messiah is the obvious Christmas programming choice. There are so many recordings of Handel's immortal oratorio to choose from. I try to feature Messiahs that have some special characteristic which might make the recording more interesting for the listener. Often that characteristic involves authenticity. Consider the 1992 Naxos CD release of the "original" 1742 Dublin Messiah as performed by the singers and instrumentalists of the Scholars' Baroque Ensemble. Director David Van Asch founded this "period" ensemble in 1987. He writes," The Scholars' Baroque Ensemble version of Messiah is an attempt to be faithful to Handel's original intentions and provides an opportunity to hear the work as first performed on 13th April, 1742." The Scholars' recording was made to celebrate the 250th anniversary of that world premiere performance in Dublin, Ireland. That first performance was a surprisingly small-scale affair, compared with the grandeur of later performances in Handel's own lifetime and thereafter. He originally wrote the score for a minimal string ensemble with only one or two players per part and no oboes or bassoon at all. (There are trumpets and drums at the expected moments.) The Scholars' Baroque Ensemble offers us Messiah wrapped in a delicate transparent tissue of authentic instrumental sound. The director also sings bass in the equally minimal chorus. Handel revised and expanded upon many sections of his work and added whole new numbers to it, all of which Van Asch has purged from the Scholars' version. It was last broadcast on this program on Christmas Day Sunday, 1994.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 29TH Salieri, Falstaff The popular film about Mozart's life Amadeus did not portray the figure of Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) in a particularly flattering light, yet for a supposedly second rate composer he was a greater success than Mozart in his chosen profession. Salieri was a prolific composer,too, and he was in the main a composer of operas. He wrote at least forty of them, compared to Mozart's twenty two. Salieri's comic opera Falstaff (1799) is Mozartean at every turn- so much so that at times it seems like he's quoting Mozart. Falstaff is also an innovative work in that it was the first time an Italian language adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor was set to music. Salieri wrote some very popular, memorable tunes for the score of Falstaff. Young Beethoven made one the theme for a set of piano variations. In the history of opera Salieri's Falstaff is an excellent specimen of Italian opera buffa in the period immediately before Rossini came on the scene. Falstaff got the recorded treatment it had long deserved from Hungaroton, the former Hungarian state record label, who issued it on three CD's in 1985. Tamas Pal directs the Salieri Chamber Orchestra and Salieri Chamber Chorus. Hungarian basso Joszef Gregor portrays Sir John. This will be the third time I've drawn upon for broadcast what I presume is the world premiere recording of this work. It gives us the complete score as derived from Salieri's autograph, which is preserved in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
keithsbrown1948@gmail.com
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