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Variations on a Theme

NZ Composers - Live and Living

Posted 19/08/2010 - 12:49 by marksmith

 This weeks Variations on a Theme will have a very local flavour.  My theme for the week is Living New Zealand Composers and the show will also feature a "live" composer.  Eve de Castro-Robinson is one of the composers I featured a couple of weeks ago on my show on the Arvo Part Festival.  Eve has kindly agreed to come in to the studio to play and discuss some of her works. 

Playlist for 15th August 2010 - Music for Solo Violin

Posted 15/08/2010 - 19:23 by marksmith

 

 



Composer

Titles

J. S. Bach

Sonata No.1, BWV 1001, G minor - IV. Presto

Eugene Ysaye

Sonata No.1 in G minor - I. Grave

J. S. Bach

Partita No.1, BWV 1002, B minor - IVa. Double

G. F. Telemann

Fantasia 9 in B Minor

J. S. Bach

Sonata No.2, BWV 1003, A minor - IV. Allegro

N. Paganinni

No.24 a-moll: Tema con variazioni. Quasi presto

J. S. Bach

PARTITA II BWV 1004 in D minor - V. Ciacina

Bela Bartok

Solo Violin Sonata -II- Fuga

J. S. Bach

Sonata for solo violin No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005: Allegro assai

N. Paganinni

No.11 C-Dur: Andante-Presto

J. S. Bach

PARTITA III BWV 1006 in E major - VII. Gigue

 

 

Playlist for 8th August - an Arvo Part Festival

Posted 08/08/2010 - 12:58 by marksmith

Arvo Pärt was born inEstonia in 1935. In 1944, Estonia saw the occupation of the Soviet Union, which would last for over 50 years, and would have a profound effect on his life and music.  He studied at Tallinn Conservatory in 1957, and while there he started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music for the stage and received numerous commissions for film scores so that, by the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered a professional composer. A year before leaving, he won first prize in the All-Union Young Composers' Competition.
 

Composer Titles
Arvo Part Credo for Piano solo, Mixed Choir and Orchestra
Arvo Part Spiegel im Spiegel (version for clarinet & piano)
Arvo Part Festina Lente
Arvo Part he Beatitudes
Arvo Part Kuus, kuus kallike (estonian lullaby)
Eve De Castro Robinson Commemoration
Arvo Part Credo

 

Variations 1 Aug 2010 - 2nd Viennese School

Posted 01/08/2010 - 13:18 by marksmith

 nd Viennese  - 12 tone.  A few weeks ago I played some early music from the key group of composers who comprised the 2nd Viennese School.  Led by Arnold Schoeberg, the theoretical and compositional work they did had a huge influence on the direction classical music took away from tonality and realistically it was not until the 1970's and the advent of minimalism that idea of tonality in music became common-place and accepted at an academic and critical level.  in this show I'm going to be playing some of the atonal but non 12 tone works  and some of their more mature works that really illustrate 12 tone music and serialism.

Composer Titles
Alban Berg Violin Concerto "To the memory of an angel": 1. Andante - Allegretto
Alban Berg Kammerkonzert: I. Thema Scherzoso Con Variazioni
Anton Webern 5 Movements, op.5 (1909) - 1. Heftig bewegt
Anton Webern Streichquartett op. 28 (1936-38) |
Arnold Schoenberg 5 Pieces For Orchestra, Op. 16 - 1. Vorgefühle
Arnold Schoenberg Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23 - Walzer
Arnold Schoenberg Concerto for piano, op.42 - 1. Andante
Arnold Schoenberg Psalm 130, De Profundis

 

Playlist for 11th May - Solo Cello Music

Posted 12/07/2010 - 18:40 by marksmith

There are some works that hold a special fascination for classical music lovers.  For me, one of those works is Bach's Suites for Solo Cello.  It's one of the pieces that I first came across very early in my first dabblings with classical music and was one of the catalysts in turning a brief acquaintance into a lifelong relationship.  I'm guilty of having mutliple versions of the work in my catalogue so for taday I'm going to play the opening prelude of each of the six suites by a variety of different cellists and  I'm going to intersperse each of these preludes with pieces for solo cello by a range of other composers.

 

Composer Title
J.S.Bach Suite for Cello Solo No.1 in G, BWV 1007 - 1. Prélude
Kaija Saariaho Spins and Spells (1997)
J.S.Bach Bach: Suite No.2 in d-moll - Prelude
Zoltan Kodaly : Sonata, Op. 8 - 1. Allegro Maestoso Ma Appassionato
J.S.Bach Suite for Cello Solo No.3 in C, BWV 1009 - 1. Prélude
Gyorgy Ligeti Sonate - Diologo - Adagio, rubato, cantabile
J.S.Bach Suite Nr.4 BWV 1010 I. Prelude
Benjamin Britten Second_Suite_Op80_I_Declamato
J.S.Bach Suite Nr.5 BWV 1011 I. Prelude
Philip Glass Company
J.S.Bach Suite for Cello Solo No.6 in D, BWV 1012 -  - 1. Prélude

Playlist for 4th July - Modern Choral

Posted 04/07/2010 - 13:18 by marksmith

Dedicated to the NZ Secondary Schools Choir and the NZ Youth Choir on their overseas trips.

Composer Titles
György Ligeti Lux aeterna
Whitacre Lux Aurumque
David Lang come, daughter
Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen 02 - Statements
Vaclovas Augustinas The Stomping Bride
Robert Heppener Im Gestein. VI. Flugelnacht II
David Childs Salve Regina
James Macmillan Seven Last Words from the Cross - 2 - Woman, Behold, Thy Son!... Behold, Thy Mother!
Veljo Tormis Tormis: Kolm eesti mängulaulu - #1 Käsikivimäng
Iannis Xenakis A Colone

Playlist for 20th June - @nd Viennese Infant School

Posted 20/06/2010 - 13:19 by marksmith

This weeks show is the first of two shows that will be based on the music of what is called the 2nd viennese school. Its going to focus on the music of Arnold Schoenberg asn his two key pupils, Anton Webern and Alban Berg. These composers basically changed the face of 20th century classical music with their move away from tradtional notions of tonality and into 12 tone and serial music. This first show is based around some of their earlier music before they had fully developed the theories and modes that came to dominate a great deal of mid 2oth Century composition and also music that retains some sort of contact with traditional tonality- the 2nd Viennese Infants School if you would,

Composer Titles
Arnold Schoenberg Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B flat - Largo-Allegro
Anton Webern Schubert-Webern: German Dances, D820 (orch.1931) - 1. A-flat major
Alban Berg Die Nachtigall [Clytus Gottwald]
Alban Berg Berg: Piano Sonata, op.1
Arnold Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 - 4. Sehr Breit Und Langsam
Anton Webern Passacaglia for Orchestra, op.1 (1908)
Arnold Schoenberg Gurrelieder: Erster Teil: Orchestervorspiel

Variations on a Theme - 6th June - Festival of Story Special

Posted 06/06/2010 - 13:03 by marksmith

Composer Titles
Gabriel Faure Dolly Op.56: I. Berceuse. Allegretto moderato
Karol Szymanowski Songs of a Fairy-tale Princess Op.31 (1933) -I- The Lonely Moon
Kodály - 'Háry János' Suite - II. Viennese Musical Clock
Maurice Ravel : Sheherazade
Sergei Prokoviev Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67
Jaques Ibert The Little White Donkey, for piano (No.2 from "Histories")
Camille Saint-Saens Saint-Saëns: Carnival Of The Animals - Introduction & Royal March Of The Lion
Camille Saint-Saens Saint-Saëns: Carnival Of The Animals - Kangaroos
Camille Saint-Saens Saint-Saëns: Carnival Of The Animals - Aquarium
Erik Satie Le Piccadilly
Aaron Copland Billy the Kid - Mexican Dance and Finale, PO Ormandy

Playlist for 23rd May - Into the Night

Posted 21/05/2010 - 11:33 by marksmith

The days are getting shorter and the nights longer so this weeks show is based on the theme of the night.

 

Composer Titles
Arnold Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 - 1. Sehr Langsam
Takemitsu Toward the sea III - 1 The Night
Maurice Ravel Rapsodie espagnole (1908) - Prelude a la nuit 
Prokofiev Scythian Suite Suite, Op. 20: III. Night
Benjamin Britten Four Sea Interludes - Moonlight
Camille Saint-Saëns Calme des nuits
Pavel Haas String Quartet No 2. IV. Wild Night (Vivace E Con Fuoco)
Brahms Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht, Op.96 No.1
Brahms Die Mainacht, Op.43 No.2
Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit - 01, Ondine - Lent
Poulenc Les Animaux modèles -I- Dawn (Très calme)

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