|
WWUH Classical Programming
September 2026
Evening Classics – Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/8:00 PM
Drake's Village Brass Band – Mondays 7:00 to 8:00 PM
Week of August 30
Tuesday, September 1
– Leonard Slatkin 82nd Birthday – Tower: Made in America
– McTee: Double Play
– Beal: Four Score
– Various: Pictures at an Exhibition – The Paintings of Bob Peak
Drake's Village Brass Band – Brass for Uncommon Times
Wednesday, September 2
– Hisaishi: Symphony No. 3 “Metaphysica”
– Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”
– Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen
– Françaix: Trio for Oboe, Basson, and Piano
– Hisaishi: Two Dances for Large Ensemble
– Lowry: Shall We Gather at the River (arr. Morgan)
– Joby Talbot: Piedra de sol
– Grieg: Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72
Thursday, September 3
– Passy: Fugue in F Major
– Fabricius: Ballade for Cello and Piano, Dormeuse
– Lack: Caprice-Tarentelle, Op. 190
– VanderCook: Autocrat, Lake Front Park, Royal Potentate, Euphonic
– Collins: Vanity Fair, With Emma to Town
– Mignone: Congada
– Zellbell: Cello Concerto in D Major
– Costanzi: Sinfonia in G Major for Cello & basso continuo
– Locatelli: Concerto Grosso in g minor, Op. 1 No. 12
– Grandjany: Rhapsodie for Harp, Op. 10
– Banchieri: Dances
Classical Comforts
– Mahler: Symphony No. 5 – Adagietto
– Beethoven: Für Elise
– Fauré: Requiem - In Paradisum
– Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 “American” – Lento
– Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24 - Ballet des Sylphes
Friday, September 4
– Host's Choice – My Bride & I are celebrating our anniversary on vacation
Week of September 6
Sunday, September 6
– Dellaira, The Secret Agent
Monday, September 7
– J. S. Bach — Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
– George Frideric Handel — Water Music
– Jan Dismas Zelenka — Miserere in D minor, ZWV 56 — dramatic sacred music
– Joseph Haydn — Symphony No. 104 in D major, “London”
– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
– Johann Nepomuk Hummel — Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 85
– Robert Schumann — Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Tuesday, September 8
– Villa-Lobos: String Quartet #11
– Mason: String Quartet in G Minor (On Negro Themes)
– Joshua Rifkin – Joplin Piano Rags Volume 3
– Daugherty: American Icons
Drake's Village Brass Band – Empire Brass Quintet and Friends, Fennell – American Brass Band Journal Revisited
Wednesday, September 9
– Host's choice
Thursday, September 10
– Lanier: No more shall meads be deck'd with flowers
– Aulin: 4 Swedish Dances, Op. 32
– Bruch: Swedish Dances, Op. 63
– Ciurlionis: Preludes
– Jommelli: Periodical Overture
– Chaykovsky: Andersen Fairy Tales Suite
– Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty Suite, Op. 66a
Classical Comforts
– Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Intermezzo
– Handel: Xerses - Ombra mai fu
– Saint-Saens: The Carnival of the Animals - The Swan
– Liszt: Liebesträume No. 3
– Copland: Rodeo - Corral Nocturne
Friday, September 11
– In Memoriam – Leonard Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony
Week of September 13
Sunday, September 13
– Ades, The Tempest
Monday, September 14
– Béla Bartók — Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 11
– Igor Stravinsky — Violin Concerto in D major
– Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco — Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 72
– Jan Ladislav Dussek — Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 49
Tuesday, September 15
– Anthony Mcgill, Pacifica Quartet – American Stories
– Mildred Miller Sings American Songs
– Danielpour: Cello Concerto
Drake's Village Brass Band – Summit Brass Spirits of Fire
Wednesday, September 16
– Host's choice
Thursday, September 17
– Sacrati: Sinfonie
– Holzbauer: Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op. 3 No. 1
– Griffes: The White Peacock
– Mercadante: Flute Concerto No. 2 in e minor, Op. 57
– Kjerulf: Norwegian Folk Dances
– Grieg: Norwegian Dances, Op. 35
– Wainwright: The Lord is Risen
– Berton: Chaconne in e minor
– Tommasini: The Good-Humoured Ladies
– Inghelbrecht: Sonatine for flute and harp
– Andriessen: Ballet Suite
Classical Comforts
– Bizet: The Pearl Fishers - Je crois entendre encore
– Bach: Goldberg Variations – Aria
– Handel: Messiah - He Shall Feed His Flock
– Rachmaninoff: Prelude in D Major, Op. 23 No. 4
– Massenet: Thaïs – Méditation
Friday, September 18
– Kol Nidre and more to celebrate the Jewish High Holy Days
Week of September 20
Sunday, September 20
– Alfano, Cyrano de Bergerac
Monday, September 21
– Mozart — Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 (complete concerto)
– Georg Philipp Telemann — Paris Quartets, Nos. 1–3
Tuesday, September 22
– Drake's Favs – Tilson-Thomas: Stravinsky in America
– Adams: Chairman Dances
– Bernstein/Kostal: Music from Mass
– Bolcom – Heliotrope Bouquet Piano Rags 1900–1970
Drake's Village Brass Band – River City Brass Band – All American
Wednesday, September 23
– Host's choice
Thursday, September 24
– Nelhybel: Trittico
– Rutter: Suite for Strings, What Sweeter Music, A Gaelic Blessing
– Lemba: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Major
– Osborne: La Nouvelle Pluie de Perles (Shower of Pearls)
– Klengel: Cello Concerto No. 3 in a minor, Op. 31, Hymnus, Op. 57
– Tull: Sketches on A Tudor Psalm
– Panufnik: Old Polish Suite
Classical Comforts
– Debussy: Suite Bergamasque - Clair de Lune
– Albinoni: Adagio in g minor
– Schumann: Waldszenen - Vogel als Prophet
– Puccini: Turandot - Nessun dorma
– Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37 - June Barcarolle
Friday, September 25
– Dimitri Shostakovich would have been 1.2 centuries old today
Week of September 27
Sunday, September 27
– Verdi, Don Carlo
Monday, September 28
– Johannes Brahms — Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
– Antonio Vivaldi — Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, RV 580
– J. S. Bach — Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Tuesday, September 29
– Kostelanetz Conducts – Spirits of ’76
– Harrison: Piano Trio
– Lara Downes: More from American Ballads
Drake's Village Brass Band – Summit Brass American Tribute
Wednesday, September 30
– Host's choice
______________________________________________________________
SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
your "lyric theater" program
with Keith Brown
Programming for September 2026
SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
your "Lyric Theater" program
with Keith Brown
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6th
Dellaira, The Secret Agent The 25th anniversary of the 911 World Trade Center disaster is coming up. This catastrophic event overshadows the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Normally I would try to present a recording of a "labor opera"- something celebrating the lives of the common American working folk in advance of their annually observed end-of-Summer national day off. But this year 911 "trumps" the holiday, so to speak, so I have programmed an opera by a contemporary American composer, Michael Dellaira (b. 1949) dealing with a terrorist act in Victorian times. Dellaira's The Secret Agent (2011) takes its story from the 1907 novel by Joseph Conrad about an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England on February 15, 1894. This building was a symbol of British imperial might which overshadowed the whole world in those days. Remember, "The sun never sets upon the British Empire," or so 'twas said. The Secret Agent was commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Opera and received its world premiere in New York City at the Kaye Playhouse. Sara John conducts the small instrumental ensemble and large singing cast. Thanks to Rob Meehan, former classics deejay here at WWUH, for the download of The Secret Agent online release onto compact disc for broadcast purposes. The Secret Agent won the Armel International Opera Festival's Laureate Award.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13th
Ades, The Tempest It's hurricane season right now, the perfect time to listen to an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's last play The Tempest (1611), which is set on a magical Atlantic isle reminiscent of Bermuda. Shakespeare's original spoken word play has gone over the air on this program during hurricane seasons of 1988 and 2004. The London LP's I drew upon were part of Decca/London's grand audio project: the complete recorded works of the Bard in stereo sound ,1957-64. (Caedmon Records of the UK had a similar project.) Shakespeare's plays always call for music. Henry Purcell wrote extensive incidental music for Thomas Betterton's 1695 production of The Tempest. Purcell's music for the play I aired on Sunday, April 22, 2001. The world premiere 2007 Covent Garden production was recorded live in performance with the composer conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Royal Opera Chorus. Among the UK's vocal luminaries in the singing cast are baritone Simon Keenlyside as Prospero, tenor Ian Bostridge as Caliban and soprano Kate Royal as Miranda. A 2009 EMI Classics release on two compact discs. This isn't the first time I have broadcast a recording of an opera by Ades. His Powder Her Face (1995) went over the air on Sunday, June12, 2002.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20th
Alfano, Cyrano de Bergerac I learned in preparing these notes for the Program Guide that Savinien de Cyrano of Bergerac (1619-55) was indeed a real historical personage: hotheaded fencing dueler, wounded war hero and poet, whose satires got him into trouble with the powerful. There's even a contemporary engraved portrait of him, big nose and all. Edmond Rostand's 1897 play made that name world famous. Many great actors have portrayed Cyrano, among them Sir Ralph Richardson. Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Richardson, with the cast of the Theatre Recording Society of the UK, was recorded for release on Caedmon stereo LP's in 1965. That Cyrano, the spoken word stage play, went over the air on this program on New Year's Day Sunday of 2006 , and prior to that, on Sunday, October 22, 1995. Italian composer Franco Alfano (1876-1954) composed his "heroic comedy" Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) to a French language libretto derived from the Rostand original. Franco Alfano is known to musical posterity as the colleague composer who completed Puccini's Turandot. His own Risurrezione (after Tolstoy, 1903) was one of the most popular Italian operas of its time. (I presented it on Sunday, May 22, 1999.) Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac was revived by Kiel Opera in Germany in 2002. Markus Frank directs the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra. Tenor Roman Sadnik takes the title role. A German cpo compact disc release.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27th
Verdi, Don Carlo This opera is Giuseppe Verdi's answer to the music dramas of Wagner. As Verdi originally wrote it for its 1867 premiere it was planned as the grandest of French grand operas to surpass the works of Spontini and Meyerbeer in that line: five full acts plus ballet sequence. Verdi was forced to scale it down for subsequent production outside Paris, This was the four-act Italian language version- the so-called Modena version of 1886, which was called Don Carlo. That version was recorded in 1971 for EMI/Angel, and had been newly remastered for LP reissue when I presented Don Carlo on this program almost exactly four decades ago on Sunday, September 28, 1986. It was digitally upgraded in sound for CD reissue in 2009 through Warner Classics. Carlo Maria Giulini directs the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus. Heard in the title role is the superstar tenor of that time, Placido Domingo. The other vocal principals are top notch, too. Soprano Montserrat Caballe assumes the lead female role of Elizabeth of Valois. There are many famous names in the rest of the cast: Shirley Verret, Sherill Milnes and Simon Estes among them. The story of the opera is taken from the German poet Friedrich Schiller's drama of political intrigue and national aspiration. Over the long haul of opera broadcasting I have programmed other recordings of the opera. A Naxos CD release of the Modena version went over the air on Sunday, May 23, 2004. (Alberto Hold-Garrido/Royal Swedish Opera prod., 1999.) Bob Walsh was the substitute presenter on that occasion.
keithsbrown1948@gmail.com
|