This Weekend on Classical 101

Thursday, January 7th

7:00 pm  Symphony @7, with host John Rittmeyer
Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 takes the center stage this week on Symphony @7. If you cannot attend the Columbus Symphony Orchestra's Access Concert presentation of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, you can still hear a fantastic work of his performed by the Boston Symphony. John Rittmeyer will even have special insight into Symphony No.10 on the Classical 101 blog later today! (Thursday)

1:00 PM  –Metropolitan Opera Broadcast

Gaetano Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena is a lyric trajedy in two acts. As you might imagine, all does not end well for the cast.This opera is the second of Donizetti's four operas set in the Tudor period in England, and it debuted on the 26th of December in 1830. 

This opera is worth the listen if only for the duet, "Sul suo capo aggravi un Dio," between Anna Bolena (soprano) and Jayne Seymour (mezzo soprano) who, historically and dramatically, became her successor in the long list of Henry VIII's wives. 

6pm – The American Sound, with host Jennifer Hambrick

This week on The American Sound, we'll head west with Gordon Goodwin's jazzy portrait of Oakland, California. James Horner's beautiful Pas de Deux will take us to the movies and to the concert hall.  And we'll go out in style with Three Rags by William Bolcom.

7pm – Fretworks, with host John Rittmeyer

Jason Vieaux begins the hour with the beautiful Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega, and there’s a concerto for mandolin and guitar by Carlo Munier, a leading mandolin virtuoso from Naples in the late 19^th century.  The Guitar Quintet of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco will be played by Kazuhito Yamashita and the Tokyo String Quartet, and David Russell performs a suite by French Baroque composer Francois Couperin.

Concerts at Ohio State, with host Christopher Purdy
Mahler's Um mitternacht performed by the Ohio State University Wind Symphony with Dr. Katherine Rhorer, mezzo-soprano. Translated as: "At Midnight," this work was completed by Mahler in 1901and is best described as an independent lieder even though it was written in tandem with four other works of a similar nature.

Then Beethoven's Piano Trio 7 Archduke, Op. 97 presented by the iconic Leonid Polonsky on violin, Wendy Morton playing cello, and Stephen Glaser on piano. This work takes its name from its dedication to the Archduke Rudolf of Austria and can be attributed to Beethoven's "Middle Period" also known as his "Heroic Period." This term is under some consideration by many musicologists, but it is notably the period in which Napoleon bombarded Vienna and Beethoven is said to have expressed concern that the noise of nearby battle would destroy the remnants of his hearing. 

Musica Sacra, with host Christopher Purdy

Rossini began composing his Stabat Mater touring Spain with his friend, a notable Spanish banker, Alenxandre Aguado. During this particular roadtrip, Spanish state counselor, Fernández Varela, commissioned a setting of the Stabat Mater liturgy. 

Rossini completed a first edition of the work which was performed on Holy Saturday, 1833, in the Chapel of San Felipe el Real in Madrid. This edition was never again performed, and Rossini finalized the work in 1841 after several years of interesting lawsuits over music by Rossini's contemporary, Giovanni Tadolini who composed an additional six movements. 

Apparently, Richard Wagner thought well enough of Rossini to comment about the Stabat Mater: "It is extraordinary! So long as this man lives, he'll always be the mode."